Christ, I love horror anthology movies.
Something about the format just really, really works. The short running time of each tale seems to focus the mind of the writer, compelling them to shed unwanted fat and hone efficiently chilling tales of gore and ghouls more regularly than their full length movie counterparts.
Three tales, here, with an additional throwaway 'wraparound' tale to bind them all together:
Wraparound: Debbie 'Blondie' Harry plays a witch who intends to cook a child in a large oven, and makes the necessary preparations, lining a large baking tray with aluminium foil and setting the gas mark to 'human flesh.' Well, the kid is no idle dimwit, and sets about delaying his death by telling her creepy stories from a large tome.
Tale 1: Steve Buscemi reanimates a 3000 year old Mummy. A veritable array of stars here, as Christian Slater, the aforementioned Buscemi and Julianne Moore all get to creep it up with a long deceased Egyptian. Pretty spooky, pretty funny, in the blackest sense of the word, this is a good opener.
Tale 2: A wealthy old man hires a hit-man to kill a cat. Written by Romero and based on a Stephen King short story, expect plenty of darkness, and it's delivered in spades, the standout moment being a cat forcing itself down a grown mans throat.
Tale 3: An evil gargoyle spares a mans life, on the condition that he never speak of the incident. Easier said than done. Another good tale, and a solid closer to the anthology.
With gore, genuine scares and solid script writing, this is a cut above most horror, and is recommended to all.
Something about the format just really, really works. The short running time of each tale seems to focus the mind of the writer, compelling them to shed unwanted fat and hone efficiently chilling tales of gore and ghouls more regularly than their full length movie counterparts.
Three tales, here, with an additional throwaway 'wraparound' tale to bind them all together:
Wraparound: Debbie 'Blondie' Harry plays a witch who intends to cook a child in a large oven, and makes the necessary preparations, lining a large baking tray with aluminium foil and setting the gas mark to 'human flesh.' Well, the kid is no idle dimwit, and sets about delaying his death by telling her creepy stories from a large tome.
Tale 1: Steve Buscemi reanimates a 3000 year old Mummy. A veritable array of stars here, as Christian Slater, the aforementioned Buscemi and Julianne Moore all get to creep it up with a long deceased Egyptian. Pretty spooky, pretty funny, in the blackest sense of the word, this is a good opener.
Tale 2: A wealthy old man hires a hit-man to kill a cat. Written by Romero and based on a Stephen King short story, expect plenty of darkness, and it's delivered in spades, the standout moment being a cat forcing itself down a grown mans throat.
Tale 3: An evil gargoyle spares a mans life, on the condition that he never speak of the incident. Easier said than done. Another good tale, and a solid closer to the anthology.
With gore, genuine scares and solid script writing, this is a cut above most horror, and is recommended to all.