Being a big fan of horror anthology movies, I anxiously waited for Scary or Die to become available on Redbox.
The film tells five stories, with what looks like a rotting hand watching each one on a computer screen. Each story, with the exception of "Clowned" (the one on the cover) is only about 15 minutes long.
The first story was by far the best and most satisfying - The Crossing. It tells the story of two rednecks and a young woman (apparently one of their girlfriends) traveling by pick up truck through desert/rural Arizona. On the way, they stop at a gas/convenience stop, and while the quieter of the two rednecks goes to have roadside bathroom sex with his girlfriend (the thought of the stench alone made me gag!), the other (who also enjoys drinking some stuff - moonshine I guess - that looks like tobacco spit and urine - out of a peanut butter jar) teases the Mexican store clerk, killing him off camera, unbeknown to the female. They take off, and a little while later, arrive at their destination, a crossing along the US / Mexican border, filled with trash, and several graves marked by wooden crosses. They get out of the car, to reveal that the stench the female complained about were two Mexican immigrants, kidnapped and brought to the border for execution. Apparently, the deliverance boys did this quite a bit, as it is presumed they were responsible for the other graves on-site. The female, realizing what they are there to do complains to her boyfriend and pleads for their lives. But they murder both - one of them having revealed that he owned a landscaping company, spoke perfect English, and had kids to support. The female flips out and tries to escape, meanwhile the blood from one of the victims, plus the concoction in the rednecks peanut butter jar seeps into the ground, and up come the Mexican Zombies. While you don't get a clear look at the Zombies, they are menacing, killing and tearing both rednecks apart (man did they deserve it!)and injuring the woman - though she escapes. As she has apparently escaped, we see her shot by some border patrol snipers, mistaking her bloodied body for a zombie... Although this left me wanting more, it was satisfying and my favorite of all the stories.
The second and third stories were not so good. One is about an Asian man who rescues what looks like an Asian woman from some thugs that were about to kill her, only to find out the woman was a vampire who kills everyone around her. At the end, one of the thugs hands is seen entering her building with the name "Van Helsing" on his bag. There was not enough dialog in this story, and I lost interest quickly. The third story, called "Dis-Membered" is about a hit man (possibly a dirty cop as the same actor plays a cop in the 4th story) who cuts a necromancer to pieces as part of a job, stuffs him in his trunk, and smokes a cigar in the man's house before leaving, noticing the strange medallion on a side table. Some tell-tale heart antics where he hears noises from the car trunk while driving, checks on the body parts, continues driving, is stopped by a cop that hears the noise in the trunk, has a look, then tells him to drive safely (to his surprise). A few miles after that he stops, looks in the back, and finds only the medallion only, with a message saying "You can't kill me" - then - predicable - he shows up, no longer in pieces, and kills him. The whole story is predicable and again, I lost interest.
The 4th and longest segment, clowned, is a good one. Though it does drag a bit, and makes you wonder if the main character has every heard of a hospital... A young drug dealer is bitten by the weird clown with sharp teeth from his little brothers birthday party, he starts changing (the clown makeup is decent), doesn't seek medical attention, leaves home and becomes a homeless man looking for the clown who bit him. The original clown tries to take and eat his brother, but he, now the good clown fighting his instincts, saves his brother and kills the bad one. He can't get close to his family and is losing his sanity, watching children from afar, hungry... Two cops, including one from the previous story, show up and kill him. Clowned is a bittersweet story with a sad ending. The acting was very decent, and again, while it drags, remained a good story. The baby twist at the end was hilarious.
The 5th and final segment is the story of the rotting hand watching these stories on a computer screen. She's seen wondering the streets, looking like someone injured walking, or like a hobo. As she walks, memories come back to her. Apparently through magic, it's known that when she loved, it would be forever. She falls in love with the wrong guy who tricks her at first, then beats her and abuses her. He kills her, but since her love was eternal, she comes back and enacts revenge on him. She then leaves the computer alone, goes outside and crawls inside a human sized chest, and locks herself inside. Weird - but good and this one too was too short, it left you wanting more.
Overall, Scary or Die is a decent anthology movie with more good than bad. The acting is okay, although sometimes the budget feels apparent. Based on how much I like The Crossing alone, I gave it an 8.
The film tells five stories, with what looks like a rotting hand watching each one on a computer screen. Each story, with the exception of "Clowned" (the one on the cover) is only about 15 minutes long.
The first story was by far the best and most satisfying - The Crossing. It tells the story of two rednecks and a young woman (apparently one of their girlfriends) traveling by pick up truck through desert/rural Arizona. On the way, they stop at a gas/convenience stop, and while the quieter of the two rednecks goes to have roadside bathroom sex with his girlfriend (the thought of the stench alone made me gag!), the other (who also enjoys drinking some stuff - moonshine I guess - that looks like tobacco spit and urine - out of a peanut butter jar) teases the Mexican store clerk, killing him off camera, unbeknown to the female. They take off, and a little while later, arrive at their destination, a crossing along the US / Mexican border, filled with trash, and several graves marked by wooden crosses. They get out of the car, to reveal that the stench the female complained about were two Mexican immigrants, kidnapped and brought to the border for execution. Apparently, the deliverance boys did this quite a bit, as it is presumed they were responsible for the other graves on-site. The female, realizing what they are there to do complains to her boyfriend and pleads for their lives. But they murder both - one of them having revealed that he owned a landscaping company, spoke perfect English, and had kids to support. The female flips out and tries to escape, meanwhile the blood from one of the victims, plus the concoction in the rednecks peanut butter jar seeps into the ground, and up come the Mexican Zombies. While you don't get a clear look at the Zombies, they are menacing, killing and tearing both rednecks apart (man did they deserve it!)and injuring the woman - though she escapes. As she has apparently escaped, we see her shot by some border patrol snipers, mistaking her bloodied body for a zombie... Although this left me wanting more, it was satisfying and my favorite of all the stories.
The second and third stories were not so good. One is about an Asian man who rescues what looks like an Asian woman from some thugs that were about to kill her, only to find out the woman was a vampire who kills everyone around her. At the end, one of the thugs hands is seen entering her building with the name "Van Helsing" on his bag. There was not enough dialog in this story, and I lost interest quickly. The third story, called "Dis-Membered" is about a hit man (possibly a dirty cop as the same actor plays a cop in the 4th story) who cuts a necromancer to pieces as part of a job, stuffs him in his trunk, and smokes a cigar in the man's house before leaving, noticing the strange medallion on a side table. Some tell-tale heart antics where he hears noises from the car trunk while driving, checks on the body parts, continues driving, is stopped by a cop that hears the noise in the trunk, has a look, then tells him to drive safely (to his surprise). A few miles after that he stops, looks in the back, and finds only the medallion only, with a message saying "You can't kill me" - then - predicable - he shows up, no longer in pieces, and kills him. The whole story is predicable and again, I lost interest.
The 4th and longest segment, clowned, is a good one. Though it does drag a bit, and makes you wonder if the main character has every heard of a hospital... A young drug dealer is bitten by the weird clown with sharp teeth from his little brothers birthday party, he starts changing (the clown makeup is decent), doesn't seek medical attention, leaves home and becomes a homeless man looking for the clown who bit him. The original clown tries to take and eat his brother, but he, now the good clown fighting his instincts, saves his brother and kills the bad one. He can't get close to his family and is losing his sanity, watching children from afar, hungry... Two cops, including one from the previous story, show up and kill him. Clowned is a bittersweet story with a sad ending. The acting was very decent, and again, while it drags, remained a good story. The baby twist at the end was hilarious.
The 5th and final segment is the story of the rotting hand watching these stories on a computer screen. She's seen wondering the streets, looking like someone injured walking, or like a hobo. As she walks, memories come back to her. Apparently through magic, it's known that when she loved, it would be forever. She falls in love with the wrong guy who tricks her at first, then beats her and abuses her. He kills her, but since her love was eternal, she comes back and enacts revenge on him. She then leaves the computer alone, goes outside and crawls inside a human sized chest, and locks herself inside. Weird - but good and this one too was too short, it left you wanting more.
Overall, Scary or Die is a decent anthology movie with more good than bad. The acting is okay, although sometimes the budget feels apparent. Based on how much I like The Crossing alone, I gave it an 8.