Following his niece's execution, a librarian recalls several horror stories of the town's past to a skeptical reporter.
The Good Stor(ies): Story 1-Madly in love with his boss, a grocery store clerk attempts to court her only to find his advances spurned to the point that he kills her. Attempting to hide the crime, he eventually finds that not only has he gotten away with it but his passion burns beyond the grave. This here wasn't all that bad of an effort. As it revels nicely in the utter dementia of his obsession and what he wants to do to her from the beginning, this one sets the revenge to come later on quite nicely as this generates some solid moments throughout here. The final revelation is a bit predictable and there's a few too many plot-points to go through but it has enough fun that there's plenty to like here.
Story 2-When his past catches up to him, a wounded fugitive in the Louisiana bayou comes across a voodoo healer who restores his health. Overcome by greed, he demands to know its secrets which begins to spiral out of his control and gets more than he bargained for. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the series with a lot to like about it. The simple story and the predictable setup give this a truly appropriate anthology feel that gets worked over nicely by the setting here. The bayou atmosphere and use of voodoo provide more to like by giving it a dirty, grimy feel in the sweat-filled shack that they spend the majority of the time at, and along with plenty of fun voodoo-related tortures that give this some wholly chilling moments.
Story 4-Attempting to find refuge, a platoon of soldiers in the Civil War stumble upon a deserted town in the countryside inhabited only by orphaned children. Taken captive by the hostile group, they are forced to partake in a series of grisly games that grow excessively more dangerous. This was a fun if overall slightly flawed effort. While it has plenty of stellar atmosphere in the old- school village with the Civil War time-period and the gory kills in the segment are quite graphic, overall the segment feels too familiar and cliché which does render the surprise rather obvious. The fast pace works here, so it does end this on a high note.
The Bad Stor(ies): Story 3-Working as a freak in a carnival, a glass-eater falls in love with a regular visitor which upsets the tyrannical queen who runs the show. When he defies her to be with his beloved, he finds the powers of her vengeance far more cruel to bear to keep them apart. This was quite a bland and overall uneventful entry. This one doesn't have much at all going on which tends to make this uneventful due to the romance throughout here, and it doesn't feature much of anything until the ending. This is the saving grace as the gruesome and gory happenings are a real showstopper, but overall not much else happens in this one.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Full Nudity and violence-against-children.
The Good Stor(ies): Story 1-Madly in love with his boss, a grocery store clerk attempts to court her only to find his advances spurned to the point that he kills her. Attempting to hide the crime, he eventually finds that not only has he gotten away with it but his passion burns beyond the grave. This here wasn't all that bad of an effort. As it revels nicely in the utter dementia of his obsession and what he wants to do to her from the beginning, this one sets the revenge to come later on quite nicely as this generates some solid moments throughout here. The final revelation is a bit predictable and there's a few too many plot-points to go through but it has enough fun that there's plenty to like here.
Story 2-When his past catches up to him, a wounded fugitive in the Louisiana bayou comes across a voodoo healer who restores his health. Overcome by greed, he demands to know its secrets which begins to spiral out of his control and gets more than he bargained for. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the series with a lot to like about it. The simple story and the predictable setup give this a truly appropriate anthology feel that gets worked over nicely by the setting here. The bayou atmosphere and use of voodoo provide more to like by giving it a dirty, grimy feel in the sweat-filled shack that they spend the majority of the time at, and along with plenty of fun voodoo-related tortures that give this some wholly chilling moments.
Story 4-Attempting to find refuge, a platoon of soldiers in the Civil War stumble upon a deserted town in the countryside inhabited only by orphaned children. Taken captive by the hostile group, they are forced to partake in a series of grisly games that grow excessively more dangerous. This was a fun if overall slightly flawed effort. While it has plenty of stellar atmosphere in the old- school village with the Civil War time-period and the gory kills in the segment are quite graphic, overall the segment feels too familiar and cliché which does render the surprise rather obvious. The fast pace works here, so it does end this on a high note.
The Bad Stor(ies): Story 3-Working as a freak in a carnival, a glass-eater falls in love with a regular visitor which upsets the tyrannical queen who runs the show. When he defies her to be with his beloved, he finds the powers of her vengeance far more cruel to bear to keep them apart. This was quite a bland and overall uneventful entry. This one doesn't have much at all going on which tends to make this uneventful due to the romance throughout here, and it doesn't feature much of anything until the ending. This is the saving grace as the gruesome and gory happenings are a real showstopper, but overall not much else happens in this one.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Full Nudity and violence-against-children.