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Often under the guise of procedural television that encapsulates suspense, horror, and science fiction, anthologies are a format of cinematic storytelling that often gets tossed under the rug of narrative mediums. However, whenever one does surface, it's often a great labor of love with clever stories, chilling revelations, and spicy plots.

With Prime's Secret Level animated anthology covering stories throughout the gaming universe of both the virtual and tabletop fandoms, it's a great time to revisit or discover some other great televised anthologies that scratch that same itch that present such a variety of style and narrative flare. These anthologies are placed based on their relatability to Secret Level's tone, style, and originality, and how close the listed show relates to that feeling. So what's the next short-story extravaganza to binge to get that fix?

The Outer Limits Zeroed-In On Sci-Fi's Burning Questions

Year

1963-65, 1995-2002

Where Can I Watch?...

We still remember the scary Am radio ads from back in the 6th grade: They Eat Human Flesh! Mainstream ‘nabe theaters that wouldn’t show Herschell Gordon Lewis movies played this proto-gore horror show, an ingeniously crafted thriller that captures the horror comic vibe with clever, gruesome special effects. The flesh eaters are glittering bits of organic matter that can skeletonize a human in fifteen seconds! Martin Kosleck’s mad doctor is happy to welcome tasty human morsels for his ravenous home-grown microbes. An alternate version slides into sleaze territory with a tasteless flashback to a Nazi ‘medical experiment.’ The best extra is a long-awaited audio commentary, recorded for an earlier disc that was never released.

The Flesh Eaters

Blu-ray

1964 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date June 28, 2022

Starring: Martin Kosleck, Byron Sanders, Barbara Wilkin, Rita Morley, Ray Tudor, Barbara Wilson.

Cinematography: Jack Curtis

Film Editor: Radley Metzger

Special Effects:...

There were 8,000 guests - but mercifully no spring rain! - as Queen Elizabeth II held her second tea party of the season on Thursday at Buckingham Palace. Alongside her husband Prince Philip, and aided by her son Prince Charles and daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the 90-year-old monarch moved through the crowd on the lawns, standing out in a one-button coat and a cerise dress by Karl Ludwig Couture with a matching hat by Philip Sommerville. She likes a little gossip, sharing a tidbit with well-wisher Barbara Wilkins, 82: "She said her grandchildren did things for her digitally, but she...

Sometimes great little oddities will fly under the radar. And sometimes they barrel roll out of the sky and blast through the earth never to be seen again. The Flesh Eaters (1964) is a prime example of digging through the filmic wreckage and dredging up a low budget winner. Sure, it’s not Citizen Kane, but it’s probably the Citizen Kane of Killer Microbes Versus Buxom Blondes On An Island With A German Scientist movies.

The Flesh Eaters should be just more low budget fodder from an era when any flickering images were sacrificed to the Drive-In Gods (see the same years’ The Horror of Party Beach – or rather, don’t). The set up and pedigree sure don’t help the argument – five people stranded on an island battle a monster, it’s an independent production, and a first (and last) time director helms – but a convergence of actual talent...

‘Billy Jack’: Tom Laughlin helped to revolutionize Hollywood’s film distribution system (See previous post: “Tom Laughlin: ‘Billy Jack’ Actor and Director, Robert Altman Difficult Star Dead at 82.”) Featuring the titular hero as a semi-mystical figure who, with a mixture of steely determination and purposeful violence, helps to rescue wild horses from becoming dog meat and allows an independent school to continue operating at an Indian reservation in Arizona — against the wishes of white reactionary bigots and ruthless capitalists — Billy Jack was a box office disappointment when released by Warner Bros. at, in Tom Laughlin’s words, "porno houses" (and drive-ins) in 1971. (Photo: Tom Laughlin in Billy Jack.) Unhappy with the studio’s handling of his film, Laughlin sued Warners. In May 1973, following a settlement with the studio, he began self-distributing Billy Jack at small-town movie theaters throughout the United States. He hired marketing expert, former United Artists honcho,...

Britain's Prince William helped save a 72-year-old woman from Mount Snowdon. The second-in-line to the throne piloted a helicopter to rescue Barbara Wilkins after she suffered with a trapped nerve in her foot while she was climbing with her husband Jeffrey and some Canadian friends, although she initially did not believe it was him. She told Stroud Life newspaper: 'I couldn't stand on my foot. The Llanberis Mountain Rescue team came. As we got off the helicopter the pilot put his hand up to us but with his visor down. 'They said, 'Do you know who was flying that helicopter?' I said, 'No'. When they told me I said, You're pulling my leg.' ' Prince William lives in north Wales...