Horror Stories Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After a girl is held captive by a madman, she must tell him stories in order to put him to sleep or he will kill her.

Review: Well, it's a new year and that means a new slew of films to review! Let's start things off with two of my loves coming together once more: Asian horror and anthology films. Created using the directors of many of Korea's recent horror hits, this is a moderate attempt to, hopefully, establish an ongoing horror anthology series. There are four major segments with a wraparound that is somewhat original to entice the viewers. I had high hopes for this film, with the high quality of the production and imaginative concepts, but there is something plain-feeling about the stories on an individual level; it's not that they aren't good, but they lack that extra flair to make them memorable. However, for a first attempt, this would be a modest beginning to a franchise that has vast potential to draw from. Regardless, let's have a little looksy at these tales shall we!

Wraparound: Essentially, some crazed killer abducts a schoolgirl and lays the ground rules: he can only sleep when scared or he must kill. Since the girl doesn't want to die, she obviously obliges the weirdo to the best of her abilities by regaling the killer with four unrelated stories. There are moments when the girl has a certain nonchalant attitude as if she's holding back or hiding something, but this was either unintentional or some kind of ruse from the writers; so don't expect any big twist even though that's how things appear to be set up. All that happens is the girl finally puts the killer asleep by the last segment only for her cellphone ringing to wake him back up. He then kills her which is dumb, because she had two separate chances to kill him. In many respects, this premise can be likened to a parent trying to put their kid to bed by telling them stories except in this film's case they become dark fairy tales. I liked that this film tried to incorporate a more meaningful wraparound than a lot of anthologies usually do, but, while it was a nice add-on, it was not wholeheartedly thought out; they really should have taken advantage of the tension being built in between segments and capitalized on this with a big finish. The girl was cute though.

Don't Answer the Door: Two kids, who seemingly spend a lot of time alone, are warned not to let anyone in the house as they wait for their mother to come home. Of course someone manages to get inside the home and attempts to catch the young children as antics ensue; don't expect this to be like "Home Alone" though with the kids coming out unscathed. This entry is told in a sort of unorthodox manner as there are instances of dreams, hallucinations, and the kids' imaginations running wild. You may find yourself unsure of what is real or whether there is supposed to be something supernatural to the events, but everything can be explained away in one of those three categories I addressed. What is really going on, all imagination set aside, is that some guy is seeking revenge for his sister's suicide that somehow involves the kids' mother and her company. It's then left up to the audience's imagination if he kills the kids or not, but I'm going to believe he did. I liked the imagery here and the kids were acting commendably, but we don't know enough about what's happening and there was a transition done poorly making you think the next segment had begun. Plus, there are moments that simply don't add up, so maybe it was all in the head of the mom who was worried or maybe it was all in the head of the killer since there is narration discussing how the imagination is scarier than reality.

Endless Flight: This entry feels like a combo of a "Twilight Zone" episode and that movie "Turbulence." The plot is that a serial killer is being transferred on a flight that his last victim was meant to be a flight attendant aboard. You'd think with a set up such as this they would exploit the ideas to their fullest potential, but, alas, they do not. We do see the ghost of the dead woman, but she never plays a significant role in the events except to momentarily distract the killer in an inconsequential way. The killer is some kind of Houdini to boot, because he gets out of every situation and is practically invincible. By the end he kills everyone and, I guess, flies off into the sunset even though there's no reason to believe he can fly the plane. I wanted to like this one the most, because it had so much material to work from. It could have been awesome as hell if it were about the killer being tormented by the ghost or someone else on the plane having a connection to the killer and the ghost, but it felt like a huge letdown by the end. Can't have everything I suppose.

Secret Recipe: Perhaps the oddest of the tales, this story is like a surreal and twisted "Cinderella." A bitch is about to be married to some rich dude that appears to not age and who has a few secrets of his own. The bitch's crazy stepsister, prodded by the bitch's crazy stepmother, attempts to steal the bachelor for her own never realizing the man's true intentions. Like "Don't Answer the Door," this entry relies on dreams and bizarre imagery while possessing an added bonus of lots of sweet talk about how tasty the women are to the man. Unless you are brain-dead, it doesn't take much to realize the man genuinely intends to eat whoever is his bride which we can assume is how he maintains his youth. Due to a kind gesture by the bitch, the mother of the rich dude locks up the bitch in order for the stepsister to become the bride aka dinner. The story ends with the bitch happy with her stepsister's demise and savoring the fact that the stepmother is eating her remains. Although this is the weirdest segment it actually feels like the one that fits the tone of the movie the most; this is supposed to be dark fairy tales and none feel more fairy tale-esque than this.

Ambulance on the Death Zone: Closing things out is probably the most straightforward of the segments. Set amidst a zombie outbreak, this tale provides the unique experience of almost all the events taking place within the confines of an ambulance. Typically you'd think they would play up the claustrophobic aspect to the setting, but the focus is really on morality and an ironic turn of events. The ambulance crew, comprised of a driver, doctor, and nurse, has picked up a mother and an injured daughter, with a questionable wound, who is ambiguously turning into a zombie. The doctor wants to ditch the daughter, not trusting the mother and fearing the consequences of gambling. The nurse believes the mother is telling the truth about the daughter not being bitten and weighs the guilt she'd feel if they were wrong. As you may guess, the paranoia and disagreements lead to everyone's death with the final moments involving the mother being turned into a zombie and eating her daughter who was not infected after all. The zombies are shown with decent makeup and adequate amounts of gore, albeit a cliched representation, and the story presented is a fairly accurate look at human behavior; this was maybe the best entry with all things considered.

Overall, this was a worthy anthology film with great potential and a lot of room for growth. The quality of both the stories and production were good with consistency between entries, but things could be taken to a higher level. There is already a sequel out, but it has yet to be given an English release, so I don't know if things are improved or inferior to this film; here's hoping for the best. If they manage to at least maintain the quality then I would love to see this become an ongoing series. As it stands, the only real ongoing anthology franchise I know of is the Philippines' "Shake Rattle and Roll" series which is not consistent nor scary for shit, but, then again, I haven't seen the last 4 films so maybe they've improved? Anyway, Korea, if you can pull it off, there is an audience eagerly awaiting your offerings! "Horror Stories" is readily available online or on DVD, so if you can track it down it's worth a watch, but be prepared for only slightly above average frights.

Notable Moment: During the "Endless Flight" segment when we see the ghost of the murdered flight attendant. She had scary enough makeup, but this entry would have benefited with a story more tightly connected to her.

Final Rating: 6/10