kannibalcorpsegrinder

Looking to lie low after a crime, a group of robbers seek shelter in a strange old man's house, where his stories about the antiques inside spark their curiosity to check out the other dangerous items in his house.

The Good Stor(ies): Mother-Taking her stepson out to dinner, a couple hosts a dinner date at a strange restaurant where it becomes obvious something supernatural might be haunting the establishment. This was a fairly underwhelming and lackluster way to start this one. The main idea is about ghost children haunting the inner workings of a restaurant and coming to a kid who's already unnerved by being on a date with his stepmom, before introducing a ghost into the equation with the backstory about the restaurant being haunted. These are atmospheric enough and have a lot to like with the genuinely unnerving encounters having some great moments involved, but it's all too brief to make much of an impression with little build-up to what's going on, what they want him for, and much of anything else in the segment, which is the only issue here.

The Dancer-Preparing for a play opening, a woman trying to make sense of her connection to her rival finds that their presence at the theater has triggered a supernatural entity to seek them out. Overall, this was better than expected, with some worthwhile factors. The central idea of the duo is trying to get their relationship under control while being able to find the cursed aspect of the stage that works to her advantage. Once that brings about the opportunity to use it to her advantage, that gives this one the opportunity to go for the surreal performance art that takes place where the possessed dancers are grabbed by the ghost, which is immensely fun and thrilling, some of the ideas presented here do make this run into an overly familiar and routine setup, especially with the concept where it goes for the unscrupulous underling hoping to knock off the more seasoned lead to get what she wants, but it's a minor factor.

The Bad Stor(ies): Nancy-Taking care of his daughter for the day, an absentee father brings her along to a special trolley car where he works, but soon confronts a supernatural entity haunting the location. This was a rather confusing entry that does have some positive points. There are some impressive atmospheric touches here included including the different interactions involving the characters obsessed with the trolley car, where the majority of the horror action takes place, which gives this some enjoyable features. Beyond that, this one just had to get into with the timeline here being incredibly hard to make out what's going on, whether we're stuck in the present or the past due to the ghost being present, and the whole thing is too short to fully explain what purpose or connection everything has. This one could've been more fun if it had had a bit more time to sell everything.

The Banshee's Song-Looking to lie low after a crime, a group of robbers seek shelter in a strange old man's house, where his stories about the antiques inside spark their curiosity to check out the other dangerous items in his house. This was a rather weak way to end the film. The fact that this works as a solid wraparound segment where the means of using the items inside to try setting up the stories to be told is a great touch and is a far better resource for its time than what it tries to do afterward. There are some likable factors here with the ghostly creatures coming after the group, which has a lot to like had it been given a proper segment within the film instead of being presented as the fourth and final segment, which lasts far longer than the other pieces here and stands out for that reason.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Trying to get some inspiration, a struggling writer attempts to use a series of trick-or-treaters who visit her as inspiration for her upcoming work.

The Good Stor(ies): Halloween House-After a haunted house worker and his greedy boss skimp out on paying him because he didn't follow the rules, a former employee seeks retribution with a gruesome twist. Overall, this was a fairly intriguing and somewhat enjoyable way to start this one. The central story has a solid enough starting point, offering the attempt at firing him going awry and then trying to use the local settings to provide some generally chilling scenes. While it comes off nicely enough with the gore, and it ends in a way that really uses the haunted house attraction to its advantage, this is a bit too short to do anything else here beyond focus on the cliched outcome that can be guessed rather easily, but it's not enough to really hold this down.

Talking to the Dead-Trying to spice up their Halloween night party, a group of girls use an Ouija board to connect with their friend who passed away due to a tragic accident last Halloween. This segment may be the best one out of them and has a lot to like. The simple setup featured here, involving the rude teens and their lack of respect for the traditions of the night, being given their comeuppance and turning a series of secrets on each other, is classic holiday shenanigans. As it slowly transpires what the secret is and how everything is flipped on its head, the different concepts at play and the impact they have on everything taking place offer up some fun. Again, it's somewhat too short to make much of an impression, but that's not too detrimental.

Pumpkin Night-Living together after getting married, a man grows to resent his new wife to the point of ensuring he gets away with her inheritance scot-free, only to soon meet with a bizarre supernatural revenge. This was a decent enough effort that comes together well enough. The back-and-forth nature of the different reactions to the revelations about their relationship and how much money they're going to get, which sets in motion how the revenge is going to come off, where the concept plays into the holiday theme rather nicely. While that comes off well enough, its forced reveal and feeling of being brought up out of nowhere make for a generally rushed feeling. Combined with the weak effects featured here, it does have some issues, even though they're not enough to derail it completely.

The Bad Stor(ies): Predator: The True Horrors of Halloween-Meeting up with a stranger on the streets, a kid is lured back to his house for some treats, only to come across a shocking reveal about his true self. This was a fairly simple and rather obvious one-note type of segment, where it's too obvious to be anything other than the simply obvious route, it's going the second this tries to introduce any kind of outside element into this story. It works well enough as a short burst story leading into that kind of twist with a series of intriguing enough ideas at play, but the practical effects look super cheesy and don't land as well as they should, dampening the ending.

Coronaween-Passing out candy on Halloween, a woman who is terrified of the pandemic tries to ensure she stays safe from what's going on while trying to also stay safe from the escaped killer in the area. This is a pretty dire segment that doesn't have much going for it. The interactions with the killer and the stalking scenes, focusing on the decent enough gore for this type of brief story, are good enough for what it is, but the rest of this one is underwhelming. The idea of the segment revolving around COVID-19, paranoia, and a sense of justice to what's going on, where she gets a taste of how she treats others, is quite haphazard and pretty bad overall. The story also has too many plot holes, as it doesn't set up the killer or why they are even there, which leaves this severely underwhelming.

Killer Date-Enjoying a private date at his home, a man and a mute woman, deciding to end the evening, they are constantly interrupted from their true plans as they are each forced to bring out their true selves. This was a decent enough way to end this one, even if there are some slight issues. The central idea about each interrupted attempt to commit murder and generally getting more frustrated by the increasing number of tactics preventing him from accomplishing it does get somewhat comical as the ideas progress, yet that seems to make the whole thing more obvious than it really should. That this goes for an obvious enough version of a twist based on the setup is the problem, since so many have tried thinking this is a twist, so it has little effect, and while it's got some decent gore, it's a slight letdown.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Arriving at a remote mansion, a group of amateur internet vloggers decide to test out a viral video craze by telling scary stories inside the house while surrounded by lit candles and blowing one out when they finish telling a scary story, hoping to summon a demon inside the house.

Overall, this was a wholly disappointing and barely worthwhile anthology effort. The few positive points here stem from the concept of so many of the stories told here, as, in principle, there are some good ideas. The opening tale of a babysitter meeting a demonic spirit after accidentally triggering it while performing origami with her charge, a later tale of a father keeping his daughter alive in a zombie apocalypse as he succumbs to its effects, and the daughter raising her father from the dead for a conversation constitute some genuinely thrilling ideas that potentially could've been far better. That these are the most traditional setups and explore the themes of shadowy figures lurking in the darkness, ready for something to happen or feature some great effects work, makes them easy standouts. That said, the rest of the anthology suffers from the incessantly irritating problem of not having a coherent throughline for anything to happen. The varying length of the shorts, going from barely five minutes to nearly twenty for the longest one, makes for a wide-ranging series of random sequences within here that finish before anything impactful actually happens. So many of the stories here tend to be a joke resolution that happens before any time is built up for it to mean something. Most of the time, we don't really know anything about the segment's characters, and it's genuinely over to the next one as the irritating influencers in the wraparound are back to work through the next one. The game itself has potential, but it's barely utilized and feels like a cliché in how it's all handled with the interstitial moments, making for a lot that holds this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.