Dreadtime Stories

USA 2015
produced by
Sal Hernandez for STX Media
directed by Jacob Grim
starring James Johnson, Robert Paul, Eric Rodrigue, Max Caruso, Tania Monroy, Ronnie Sykes, Joshua Richardson, Gil Oteen, Zandor Wamsley, Martha Sanchez, Terran Sanchez, Andrea De La Garza, James Darrell Malicoat, Laura Schmitt, Sylus Conlea, Aileen Corpos, Valerie Perez, Hank Vasquez, Jordan Bruster, Buddy Smith, David Marin, Sal Hernandez, Briana Garcia, Lee E. Stevens, Mike Mattison, Cary Cadena, Phillip D. Yarbrough, Maurice Curran, Tiffany Hinojosa, Bonnie Ann, Jerry Trevino, Sapphire Grim, Lance Eric Russell, Mason Rodrigue, Michael Cristian, Jason Lee Garcia, Autumn Caro, Ronny Holiday, Howard Voight, Taylor Goldman, Brianna Elaine, Lisa McGrew, Patty Spence, Jessica Perez, Amanda Grim, John Gonzalez
written by Jacob Grim, Sal Hernandez, music by Jacob Grim, songs by Pablo Schmitt, Koruptore, special effects by Sal Hernandez, Samantha Mata, Jacob Grim, Blanca Tamez/Wicked Pissah FX

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Working at a funeral home, Kirk (James Johnson) finds a mysterious books with one of the bodies coming in, a very old book supposedly on black magic. At the party he's at after work, the book goes through several hands, to creep out as many party guests as possible with its crazy stories:

• It's the perfect family ... so should it at all surprise that they have human for dinner every once in a while?
• Everybody only knows her as the heartless bosslady (Laura Schmitt) - but she's also the loving mother to a son (Sylus Conlea) ... she keeps in a cage.
• Two surveyors (Hank Vasquez, Jordan Bruster) from a development company try their best to not get freaked out by the legend of a living scarecrow roaming the very land they're surveying presently. But then of course, the legend's real ...
• Two hitmen (Buddy Smith, Sal Hernandez) are much more interested in the invention of toilet paper than in killing their latest victim (James Johnson).
• Alyssa (Briana Garcia) thinks she's being watched by a masked serialkiller - but she blames it on the horror movie she has just watched. It's just that sometimes films do come true ...
• Freddie (Jerry Trevino) is so not into splitting up with Heather (Tiffany Hinojosa) that he promises to kill her ... and yet he's not the psycho breaking into her home ...
• Professional hostage taker Larry (Lance Eric Russell) has fucked up his last job, so his boss (Eric Rodrigue) has thought up a particularly mean way to punish him.
• Driving through the rain, Alison (Autumn Caro) almost runs over a girl, and when she sees she's totally covered in blood, she wants to get her to the hospital - thing is, the girl has other, far more sinister plans ...
• Homeless mum-to-be Emily (Brianna Elaine) accepts the offer from a stranger (Lisa McGrew) to stay at her place. But the stranger might be something other than just a do-gooder.

Dreadtime Stories is an anthology film that has pretty much, as the stories range from the darkly humourous to the dead serious (pun unavoidable), from the grotesque and gross to the atmospheric and suspense-filled, from the down-to-earth to the supernatural, and everything in between. But that's not to say the film's completely random, actually the individual vignettes gel with one another pretty neatly, and also complement the framing story rather nicely, plus said framing story does offer some really nice and bloody surprises. Plus filmmaker Jacob Grim really understands horror, treating the various approaches to the genre with equal ease, going about everything as light-footed as can be.

Really worth a watch!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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