Ah, Anthology horror films. When this sub genre comes up there are usually a couple stand outs that come to mind: Creepshow, Creepshow 2, Creepshow, more recently Trick R' Treat (Overrated, honestly.), and V/H/S (ayy) The format hasn't a deep successful history in the horror genre. So what about Deadtime Stories? Is this the hidden gem we've all been looking for?
The wraparound follows the plight of Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike is a seemingly bi-polar man who just wants to stay up late and watch his nudie pageant on the "Cable Vision". He keeps getting interrupted by his damn nephew who can't fall asleep because it's "too dark" (simple solution? Turn on the fucking lights). Poor ol' Mike is roped into telling this damn kid bedtime stories to help him finally enjoy his nightly slumber. Using some pretty poor judgement, he opts for tales a little more on the frightening and sexual side. Good thinking, Uncle Mike!
At the conclusion of each "frightening" tale Mike, believing that he has succeeded will leave the room. Of course the kid starts hearing creepy noises and even claims a monster is in his room. Whats Uncle Mike's ingenious solution to this problem? More scary stories of course! Because nothing gets a child's mind off the monsters under his bed like monster stories and some yelling.
The first story is about a young man named Peter who serves under two witch sisters. Peter is being forced to lure people back to the witches home so that they can kill and use body parts as part of a ritual to bring back their deceased third sister. This first segment is the worst of the three. Its all pretty boring and cliche. Which is really unfortunate because it sports the best special effects the film has to offer. A cool severed hand scene and a fully regenerating body both really stand out.
The second story is a twisted take on the classic "Little Red Riding Hood" fairy tale. Set in current time, Little Red is a teenage cheerleader who's nervous about having seemingly her first sexual encounter with her cool, cigarette smoking boyfriend. Before tackling that life changing event, shes gotta stop by the pharmacy first for her grandmothers medication. The Pharmacist accidentally gives her medication prescribed to the local werewolf he's been using to sleep through his transformations. The wolf tries to track her down to retrieve his medicine, but her boyfriend has been giving her the business for hours. By the time they're done it's too late! It all culminates in a very brief showdown with the werewolf.
Finally, the final tale is probably the best of them all. The film sheds any attempt to take itself seriously when it delivers another morbid take on a classic fairy tale. This time its "Goldi Lox and the Three Bears". Goldi Lox is a mentally deranged psychic girl who uses her appearance to lure men in and her powers to murder them. The Three Bears are just a family recently escaped from the asylum with a penchant for hit and run vehicular homicide. The only thing disturbing about it all is that Goldi Lox likes to live amongst the corpses of her victims and even talk to them. The story is very self aware and is essentially a black comedy. Littered with campy dialogue, it plays out almost like an old Troma movie.
So is Deadtime Stories the hidden gem of Anthology Horror we've been searching for? Not exactly. Creepshow will probably remain the king of Anthology horror and chances are their isnt anything in its league just hiding away in the shadows. But Deadtime Stories isn't devoid of entertainment value. It's cool effects sequences, interesting takes on classic stories, and actually funny final segment make it at least worth one watch. In the shallow pool of Anthology Horror this is probably one of the better entries. That's not saying too much.
Body Count: 12
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