Five Overlooked Anthology Films

A couple weeks ago, I listed out (in minute detail) five different types of horror movies that I would like to see.  Among them was another theatrically released anthology horror film, the kind that used to see fairly regular release in the 1970s thanks to companies like Hammer and Amicus and perhaps seeing its zenith in the '80s with some of the all-time classics of the genre regardless of the "sub" prefix.  If you're a horror fan and you haven't seen movies like Creepshow, Tales From the Darkside and the original 1972 Tales From the Crypt, well, then what the hell is wrong with you?  In all seriousness, when done correctly, these are movies that truly do offer the best of every world.  Primarily, they're forced to get going already with the story they're trying to tell and cut out every single ounce of extraneous bullshit.  Put it together with a solid over-arching story or theme and you can hit home runs that Star Crystal itself would envy.

What we're going to look at today, kids, are five anthology films that might be known to relatively versed horror fans out there but are most likely unknown to the dabblers who dip into "mainstream hits" packages.  I'd like to say that I'm hoping for something to be accomplished here, but I've long since given up on that crusade.

1.

Kwaidan (a.k.a. Ghost Stories)
It's a mistake to call this movie overlooked or underrated, but I'm genuinely stunned by how many people have never heard of this amazing 1964 Japanese film that just might be among the most beautiful and haunting motion pictures of all time.  Now that the masturbatory gushing is out of the way, Kwaidan gives us a quartet of Japanese folktales involving ghosts and the spirit world.  Of them, the two strongest are "The Black Hair" (that has a simultaneously horrifying and unintentionally hilarious ending) and "The Woman of the Snow," and since they are the first two stories, this is undoubtedly a front-loaded flick.  It loses a bit of steam with the latter two stories, but the overall effect of watching this 3+ hour film is something that every horror fan should experience.  J-horror for realz, and all.

2.

Three Faces of Fear (a.k.a. Black Sabbath)
Mario Bava is a pretty well known guy among horror circles for his contributions to the Italian "giallo" genre as well as his more famous Gothic horror pieces.  For this reporter, however, this movie is his masterpiece, a trio of completely unrelated stories that cover a pretty large territory.  The first, "The Telephone," is an exercise in nonstop tension with sexual deviancy as its theme.  The second, "The Wurdulak," stars Boris Karloff (who also hosts the film) is set in 19th century Russia and deals with a sort of vampire outbreak complete with a completely correct down ending.  The third, though, is this movie's true ace.  "The Drip of Water" might just have the freakiest looking corpse that I've seen in any horror movie, and the use of the reds and greens in the color scheme heighten the oppressive atmosphere that much more.

3.

The Monster Club
Vincent Price and John Carradine in the same movie, and yet so many people haven't seen or even HEARD of this awesome flick from 1980.  The film has a very good framing device, as a writer played by Carradine is bitten by Price's vampire, who then takes him to the titular club where all of the various stories unfold.  The three stories are "The Shadmock," about a demonic creature with a vast wealth; "The Vampires" (take a guess); and "The Ghouls," the strongest of the three and left for the finale, where a movie director is trapped in a town of flesh-eating mutants.  The movie has a very good pace, more than its fair share of cool scares, and the always awesome presence of two of horror's greatest luminaries.

4.

Three Cases of Murder
This 1955 British film also boasts an additional gimmick that can either be a Godsend or an outright disaster on a case-to-case basis: a different director for each story.  Sometimes, it results in really good variety (Twilight Zone: The Movie), and sometimes, it's just disjointed as all get out (Four Rooms).  This, however, is an example of the former, as we're given three relatively straightforward but all very effective scary stories.  Two of them are supernatural, and these bookend segments are where this movie's main coolness factor comes from.  The final segment in particular, with Orson Welles playing a politician seeking to outdo his opponent by entering his dreams and destroying his sanity, is undoubtedly the strongest, with Welles reportedly taking over the direction of the segment before it was over.

5.

4BIA
The most recent film on the list is from 2008 and takes us to Thailand.  This is another excellent example of the "multiple directors used to outstanding effect," as all four stories in this film concern supernatural phenomena, occasionally interconnect, and have twist endings that RL Stine would piss himself over.  Specifics aren't necessary for this particular film; it really is about the experience of taking it all in, piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle, occasionally being confused as fuck, and overall being entertained by the sheer nonstop creepiness and atmosphere that this film manages to serve up.  And yet most people would rather rent The Conjuring.

Now's about time for my "next time you're about to..." wrap up paragraph, so you know the drill.  Folks, take out the Creepshow and Asylum DVDs and give these movies a look-see, because they're worthy additions to any horror movie library, boast great variety...oh yeah, and they're pretty damn scary.