Scary or Die

"Scary Or Die" anthology tells five very different dark and twisted stories with L.A as a backdrop save the first. The first story happens in the borderlands outside the city close to Mexico. The film manages to quietly hint at the interwoven depth of the five tales with carefully hidden elements to the tale which require careful attention from the viewer to catch the connection. "Scary Or Die" has directors Bob Badway, Michael Emanuel, and Igor Meglic coming together to create some clever and fresh urban tales of horror which star Bill Oberst Jr., Alexandra Choi, and Corbin Bleu just to name a few playing out these ill fated lives.

scary or die"Scary Or Die" is a classic horror trilogy that celebrates the classic dark, witty and twisted styles most common in 80's anthologies and television series (Tales From The Darkside is the one I kept coming back to as I watched this film). The stories are "The Crossing" - a very dark and poignant story of prejudice and karma which has a couple of 'good ole boys' seeking to deport immigrants in their own sick manner only to have fate exact a gruesome justice of it's own; "Tae Jung's Lament" - a Korean vampire tale that is both elusive and clever in it's re-imagining of a 'damsel in distress' story; "Re- Membered" – a story that brings a scene of almost demonic or devilish cat and mouse dance between a shady character with someone in the trunk; "Clowned"- is an emotional horror story that has a family torn apart over some demonic case of twisted circumstance which conjures nightmares on so many levels; and "Lover Come Back"- a sinister and justified voodoo love story that proves some emotional bonds go beyond the grave or in this case the gross dumping ground.

For me this is one of the better produced anthologies that flows cleanly between tales as given through us by an unknown person via a website entitled "Scary Or Die". The person becomes known at the end, tying up the thread of continuation in this nice little flick. The stories varied from dark humor to melodramatic despair. Each of the stories held out to the very last scene before unveiling the full scope of the twisted tales which brought a freshness to each of them and made this film very entertaining. It is not a balls out scary anthology but it is clever and modern. "Scary Or Die" is a new urbanized 21st century anthology that holds it's own against the classics. I will watch this one many more times before I tire of it. Mainly because there are some deep messages in these stories that you don't see in a lot of the new anthologies and I am still trying to figure out what those messages actually represent.

Harks back to the days of the Horror anthologies such as Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the dark side.

The stories twists are rather predictable, in keeping with the anthologies of old, pretty shallow, lacking in substance and explanation.

There are one or two moments that make you wince slightly, but that's it, without them this would be the stuff TV Horror is made of.

Initially I thought it was a collection of short films strung together, until the cast started crossing over from one story to the next.

Watchable, but not worth dedicating your movie night to.

To be fair, if you are looking for a scare, I'd look elsewhere.

The main story, Clown, I didn't think was ever so good.

With all the stories, you know what was going to happen, but they were entertaining nonetheless.

Although not entirely original at parts, Scary or Die is a modern "Vault of Horror" or "Trilogy of Terror." We are presented with five tales of the macabre as a zombie clicks on the clips on a you-tube like site.

The Crossing: When three Mexican hating rednecks murder two innocent Latino men at their dump site, they are punished three-fold.

Tajeum Lament: A Japanese man who recently lost his wife saves a woman who looks similar to her. She convinces him to meet her for a night and it's going to be a night to remember.

RE-Membered: A man with a body in his truck is pulled over by a policeman, he's about to let him go when he hears a rattling in the trunk. We've all seen it before.

Clowned - A young man is bitten by an evil clown that eats children. He begins a metamorphism into the same creature that attacked him.

Love Come Back: You can already guess what happens in this revenge story.

I give it a C because although it's entertaining, sometimes it's way too predictable.

SCARY OR DIE is a low budget horror anthology with a few nods here and there to the likes of CREEPSHOW and its ilk. This one ploughs the same territory but is hardly on the same level as the older films, appearing very cheap and amateurish in places, but at least it's watchable and the old standby still works: if there's one story you particularly hate, you can rest assured that another one will replace it soon enough.

The first tale is about Mexican zombies, and I think it's the strongest here: certainly it's the only one that manages a few genuine scares in the Romero mould. The second effort is about a Korean vampire, and it's weaker all round, with a very light story barely sustaining the scant running time and a too obvious twist in the tale. The third story is about a serial killer who dismembers his victims, and is probably the weakest here; there's so little story that a key scene ends up being repeated. The fourth story is about an evil clown who bites a man who finds himself also turning into a clown. It has a neat premise but goes on too long. The wraparound segment isn't worth mentioning.

SCARY OR DIE knows that it isn't up to much in the scare department, so it throws in plenty of gore to make up to it. The acting ranges from poor to adequate, while the technical values are acceptable for what is a low budget genre production. Hardly the worst I've seen then but far from the best; this sits somewhere in the middle of the road.