The Pitch: OK,
what's a horror anthology idea that hasn't been done already? Someone did the
ABCs. There's an all female filmmakers one. Found footage and Southwest US
themed has been done. What's a good topic for about 5 short horror movies.
Five, five, five. Oh, I know...
Ever since V/H/S blew me away, I've been on an endless hunt for good horror anthologies. I like the bite-sized horror approach and think it maximizes the strength of the genre and eliminates a lot of the weaknesses. The problem is, there just aren't many good ones out there. V/H/S is pretty much the best case scenario: It attracted several talented filmmakers, gave them a decent budget, and had a premise that allowed for a lot of freedom. Whenever I find a new horror anthology, I have three primary concerns: 1) bad or inexperienced filmmakers, 2) they look cheap, and/or 3) the filmmakers would rather make horror comedy than straight horror. All three problems are interconnected. If there's no budget, good luck attracting good filmmakers. If the filmmakers are bad, they won't have the confidence to take the idea seriously. If the filmmakers are trying to be funny, they won't be as concerned with working around the limitations of the budget to make it look good. And, there's the inherent problem of consistency: it's hard enough to find one good story. Finding five is exponentially harder.
Given all that, it isn't much of a surprise that Chilling Visions was another horror anthology disappointment. I liked aspects of it. The way that the stories intertwine is entertaining. It reminded me of the much superior Trick r' Treat in that way. It ended with the strongest short: Listen - about the song that kills people. Granted, it's no surprise that Listen was my favorite. I have a poorly-conceal fondness for the found footage style. All five shorts have some clever ideas. However, the execution of them was fairly poor. The acting was especially brutal. And the movie resorted to violence more than I cared for. I believe that "disgusting" = "scary". Maybe that's just me.
Seriously though, where is Paris, I Love You, but for horror movies? Are you telling me that the Coen Brothers don't have an idea for a 10 minute horror story that they could get Jon Goodman to act in for a week? I realize this is an unfair comparison, but I also don't care. Get me Steve McQueen's take on killer clowns!
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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