Horror Stories 3 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: In this third entry of the franchise, the filmmakers decided to take a more sci-fi-oriented approach to the horror.

Review: The first "Horror Stories" was pretty good, but part 3 decided to follow in the same footsteps as part 2 and be mediocre as hell. In fact, I'd say this was actually worse than "Horror Stories 2" except this film was somewhat salvaged by a few legitimate scares in one story. I don't know what they were thinking mixing this particular group of tales with a sci-fi tone--the entire experience comes off as a complete fucking mess. Either continue on with grounded horror segments, like the first 2 entries, or commit to the sci-fi angle! Come on, Korea, let's have some creative and fun stories to tell in this series. Between 3 movies there still isn't a standout story yet and that's sad.

Wraparound/A Girl From Mars: This was absolute nonsense of the highest order. You cannot possibly cram this much material into tiny interludes that are, maybe, three to five minutes in length. We've got something about humans fighting robots in the future, and the robots are hiding out near Titan (one of the moons of Saturn). Some little girl decides to hide with robots claiming that she also hates humans since she's really a Martian. So Martians are real and just happen to look like Korean girls or is she just trying to trick the robots into sparing her? Who knows. Regardless, the little girl decides to explain her hate for humans with various stories. Now, on some level this could have been okay had the stories all had a theme of bad human behavior that proved the Martian and robot's point...but there are no intelligent decisions made in the direction here. After the third tale is told the robots say they have launched an asteroid at Earth which is supposed to kill all humans. Then the Martian girl and the robots will go...play...I guess. But, uh oh, what's this? One human guy survived...as if he's going to somehow destroy the universe or something. In a nutshell: this segment is fucking retarded. It makes no sense, ends moronically, and explains nothing while also failing to connect to the film as a whole in any feasible, thematic way.

Fox Valley: One minute we're in space and next thing you know we're in the distant past. Sure, why not? Some wimpy dude who keeps rattling on about being a politician has hurt his leg when a stranger assists him. You'd think this chance encounter would connect to the plot, but--see--that would be this pesky thing called making sense. Instead, the two strangers end up staying in a village inhabited by obvious monsters. As with the wraparound, they throw way, way too much into the story that has little to no explanation like this dead son, some rapey daughter in law, a giant creature in a mountain, digging to said creature, etc. Again, what a fucking mess--keep focus! It's like taking a 100 page script and reducing it down to 10 yet not cutting any plot tangents. Anyway, the story ends when the wimpy dude gets to some temple and is chased down by this giant, seemingly, crab-like creature that was living inside some mountain. And that's it. Oh, and the editing is that precious schizophrenic-chic I love so much. Thanks...appreciate it.

Road Rage: Now we jump to modern times with a decent, yet cliched, segment that is at least smart enough to play the story straight. A couple is bickering while driving on a long highway right as they cross paths with a psychotic truck driver. There is a cat and mouse back and forth with the two vehicles until the truck driver has had enough playing around. Once the truck driver has mangled the couple's car, he loads them into the back of his dump truck and intends to drop them out of the back at a high speed, attempting to make them go splat on the road. With some quick thinking from the wife, the two manage to survive and eventually turn the tables on the truck driver. The story ends with the couple doing to the truck driver what he intended to do to them. Aww man, I need a girl like that! Sure, this isn't the most original of tales, but it had good pacing and did its job as an anthology segment.

Robot Spirit: Finally, we come to the best story of the bunch...not that this is saying much. We are back in the future again but not quite as far along as the wraparound. Here, we have a mother/son duo who treat the son's robotic companion similarly to a pet. When the robot begins to malfunction, the mother decides it's best to shut the companion down permanently and buy a new model. However, somehow the first robot's ghost seemingly haunts and possesses the new one. Yeaaaah...it makes no sense--surprising, right--however, if you can try to ignore this aspect, the scares are not bad at all. While the story attempts to explain things through sci-fi shenanigans, it does present itself in a supernatural way. Some of the ideas are really creepy with the robot, Dunko, looking quite freaky at times. There was a dream sequence that was especially frightening which kind of made it annoying that it was only a dream. At the end, the robot somehow downloads itself into the son and they've magically become one being of sorts. Okay, that part is dumb and predictable, but there were a considerable amount of fun ideas strewn about this segment. Essentially, this segment alone elevated my final rating into the average category, because I fully intended to put "Horror Stories 3" at a 4.5/10.

Overall, I'm about to lose hope for this franchise. The idea of an ongoing, horror anthology series sounded so awesome, but, so far, the results have been pure mediocrity. The wraparounds have had no connection to the stories being told, the individual tales typically suck and make no sense, and there is no sense of fun to be had with things like reoccurring characters or trying to make some tales exist in the same general universe. I don't care if they steal my ideas to improve--just fucking improve! Look, you want a "Horror Stories 4" that doesn't suck ass? Have the wraparound directly tie into each segment. Next, try to create associations with previous segments even if it's just the finest of details; this will give audiences an actual reason to revisit past entries. If possible, get actors who would be willing to come back if even for cameo roles in subsequent tales. A character who at least pops up in every movie would be a great way to entertain the audience, and you almost had this with the girl from part 1's wraparound. Lastly, and most importantly, get better goddamn writers and coordinate these stories with one another. Start by establishing a primary theme ahead of time. Here, sci-fi-horror could have worked if all the tales supported that theme. Ugh. Needless to say, I do not recommend wasting your time on this one. Maybe watch an individual tale if it sounds interesting, but the film as a whole is a letdown.

Notable Moment: During the Road Rage segment when the husband tries to fight the truck driver with an umbrella. An umbrella...

Final Rating: 5/10