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October 17, 2015

VOD Review: Tales of Halloween (2015)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4163020/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
Tales of Halloween is an Anthology that features 10 stories, all of which take place on Halloween. They are tired together in small, fun ways (mostly characters showing up in the background of different segments), but are all pretty much stand-alone stories.

Each segment is directed by a different, notable Horror director, and they feature cameos by Genre stars new and old. They even have Adrienne Barbeau narrating some of them.

Here's a short but sweet breakdown on all 10 segments:

SWEET TOOTH
Sweet Tooth is a boogeyman of local Urban Legend who kills those who have eaten all of their Halloween candy, without leaving any for him as an offering... as young Mikey and his babysitters are about to find out.

This one felt more humorous than it did scary, but it did offer up some pretty great gore gags. Not our favorite, but decent enough. Caroline Williams is still looking good.

Directed by: Dave Parker (The Hills Run Red)
Be on the lookout for: Greg Grunberg, Caroline Williams.

THE NIGHT BILLY RAISED HELL
When Billy eggs old Mr. Abbadon's house on a dare, the mysterious man takes him on a tour of the neighborhood, showing him what Halloween is really all about.

Easily the worst of the bunch.

The slapstick vibe of this story irked the hell out of us, and the cartoon soundbites that were used every time someone fell or was hurt made it even worse. Not our thing at all. Natalie Castillo is crazy hot in this one though.

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III & IV)
Be on the lookout for: Barry Bostwick, Adrienne Curry.

TRICK
Two couples are enjoying their Halloween night by watching scary movies, when a group of murderous trick or treaters shows up with murderous intent.

Easily our favorite of the bunch.

This one was all kinds of disturbing, murderous fun, and the twist at the end was awesome. Loved it.

Directed by: Adam Gierasch (Night of the Demons)
Be on the lookout for: Tiffany Shepis.

THE WEAK AND THE WICKED
A gang of killers is confronted by the man who they terrorized when they were children.

Another solid entry, this one felt like a modern day revenge Western, which made it stand out a bit. Grace Phipps killed it as the evil little bitch who lead the murderous gang of thugs, and the ending was quite fitting.

Directed by: Paul Solet (Grace)
Be on the lookout for: Grace Phipps, Kier Gilchrist, Booboo Stewart.

GRIMM GRINNING GHOST
When Lynn's car breaks down after attending a Halloween Party, she is followed home by a ghost who is out for revenge.

This one was probably our 2nd favorite segment, as it had a truly creepy vibe going for it, and featured a hell of a cast. The ending was a bit lame and predictable, although it still made us jump. Barbara Crampton and Lisa Marie were looking GOOD in this one, and Alex Essoe is a star on the rise.

Directed by: Axelle Carolyn (Soulmate)
Be on the lookout for: Alex Essoe, Lin Shaye, Barbara Crampton, Stuart Gordon, Mick Garris, Lisa Marie.

DING DONG
Jack and Bobbie love Halloween, even if Bobbie's unnatural love for children threatens to spoil the whole thing...

We love the hell out of Lucky McKee, but his TOH entry was too quirky and odd for our tastes. Had he played it straight with this one, it might have been the best of the bunch. Still fun though.

Directed by: Lucky McKee (The Woman, All Cheerleaders Die)
Be on the lookout for: Pollyanna McIntosh.

THIS MEANS WAR
Rival neighbors compete to see who can set up the best Halloween display.

Another letdown, this entry did nothing for us. Nice bloody ending though.

Directed by: Andrew Kasch (Never Sleep Again) and John Skipp.
Be on the lookout for: Dana Gould, James Duval, Elissa Dowling.

FRIDAY THE 31ST
A woman is chased by a Jason-like killer, and is forced to take refuge in cabin and fight for her life.

This was a pretty fun segment, and we loved the hell out the the way that they made Dorothy look with the glowing eyes and all. The little claymation guy was pretty cute too.

Directed by: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!)
Be on the lookout for: Nick Principe.

THE RANSOM OF RUSTY REX
Two men get more than they bargained for when the kidnap the son of a wealthy man, looking for a big 
payday.

Not a bad entry, but like so many others in this movie, it felt too silly to be very effective.

Directed by: Ryan Schifrin (Abominable)
Be on the lookout for: John Landis, Sam Witwer, Jose Pablo Cantillo.

BAD SEED
A great entry that suffered from being over to quick, Bad Seed at least tried to tie things together in an interesting way. This segment really needed another 10 minutes to allow it to breathe and finish off strong though, and it might have been the best of the bunch if they had given it that extra time. *The husband at the beginning is played by Wolf Creek director Greg McClean. We just thought that was really cool.

Directed by: Neil Marshall (The Descent)
Be on the lookout for: Kristina Klebe, Pat Healy, Joe Dante, John Savage, Cerina Vincent, Adam Green, Greg McClean.

If the stories in this Anthology had taken a more serious direction, and lost some of the wacky humor that they employed, we would have liked it a lot more. As it stands though, this was a pretty enjoyable effort.

We really liked the cameos, especially the ones that involved behind-the-camera talent like Joe Dante, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, and Greg McClean. You also can't have a good Horror movie without beautiful women (I'm generalizing, of course), and so seeing Barbara Crampton, Lisa Marie, Caroline Williams and the like was fantastic. The new generation of Horror Hotties featured in this one was pretty great too.

AND A BLOODY GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL...
Overall, Tales of Halloween was a pretty solid Horror Anthology that did a great job at capturing the creepy, cold October atmosphere. It's an uneven effort, which may just be a personal taste thing for us, but it's also a mostly satisfying one.

If it sounds like it's your thing, then give it a rent, because it probably is.

B-/C+ ...depending on how you look at it.

Tales of Halloween is available now on VOD.

http://amzn.to/1LzyKkG

Ah, the Ladies of Tales of Halloween. There are so many of them, that they got their own Horror Hottie post, which you can check out right HERE.

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7 comments :

  1. ChaybeeOctober 18, 2015 at 10:20 AM

    I'm totally in agreement with this review. It seems like all of the Anthologies these days goes for the light-hearted or comedic approach and it's really starting to get annoying. We need a straight up HORROR Anthology desperately.

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    Replies
    1. The M'haelOctober 24, 2015 at 5:33 PM

      Agreed, Chaybee. Hopefully Trick 'r Treat 2 will do the trick!

      Delete
  2. LiquidOctober 24, 2015 at 4:07 AM

    The Night that Billy Raised Hell and This Means War are the only entries I didn't enjoy. The rest of the stories worked for me for the most part, either for being creepy, funny or both. I do agree that a more serious or straightforward tone would have worked better for most stories, specially Ding Dong, that had a lot of potential of being terrifying if it had take a different turn. For me it's gonna be a B- Still waiting for Trick r Treat 2! It was great reading you guys as usual.

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    Replies
    1. The M'haelOctober 24, 2015 at 5:34 PM

      Thanks, Liquid.

      Ding Dong could have definitely been top-notch had it gone more for the creepy vibe.

      Delete
  3. MkeithddcOctober 26, 2015 at 6:37 PM

    Sorry guys, but except for the ridiculous clown act of the the night Billy raised hell(Which I agree was retarded and goofy) the rest of these were damn good. Basically reminded me very much of a ABC's of death deal, but if you noticed all of the stories were worked into each other for the most part. (except when the whole city was burning, what was that about anyway, the 4 horseman).
    The crazy witch that had the long arms was, to me, just one of the most original ideas I have seen in forever(and she was hot, and also had a cool as hell voice(was she like given red makeup??))
    The UFO deal was also a trip...

    I love movies like this, they need to do one every Halloween.
    I mean, it didn't even touch Trick R Treat by a mile, but still, top notch.

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  4. Groovy MiaOctober 31, 2015 at 12:57 PM

    That Ding Dong creature reminds of Laura from The Evil Within. If they did more serious...

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  5. SmellyPooPooHeadNovember 19, 2015 at 6:22 PM

    I love me some Halloween anthology! And while any anthology will now be compared to and fall short to Trick R Treat, this was still highly enjoyable. If they make one of these for the next twenty years I will see every one just because its light, funny and bloody. You at least feel the people making these shorts love the genre and know how to instill that Halloween feel. Now if we could only get Trick R Treat 2 out there already!

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