- Directed by James Bushe, Patrick Muchael Ryder, Greig Johnson
- Written by Patrick Muchael Ryder, Christine Barber-Ryder, James Bushe
- Stars Richard Brake, Andrew Lee Potts, Ben Crompton
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PdP89929Vc
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is an anthology of short tales with a good wraparound story. Four people camping in the woods with a guide have scary stories to tell around the campfire. That’s just harmless fun, right? This was consistently good through all the sections, and we really liked it a lot.
Spoilery Synopsis
Credits roll as four hikers walk across a field toward the woods. Every year, they go on an “immersive experience,” and this year is supposed to be something scary. They follow a map until they come to a man named Darwin who smiles creepily. He’s a bit scary himself, but then he says these four are the only attendees and they should set up their tents. “This experience will stay with you for the rest of your lives.”
Darwin tells them about a 1993 party that found skulls nearby. After an investigation, over 3,500 dead bodies were found; no one knows who they were. He talks about an ancient evil that lived in this place long before men came here. He has a totem that allows them to communicate with the dead. “Who’s brave enough to talk to the dead?” He wants them to tell stories about things that scare them.
Mark says he’ll try it. “This is a story about shadows.” A man is being chased by a couple of men through town at night. The man breaks into a building to hide; he yells that he doesn’t have their money. It’s a big warehouse, and the three men play hide-and-seek for a bit until Daniel sees something weird in the shadow behind a box. It soon grabs and kills Barry, one of the enforcers.
Daniel finds Terry, the other goon, and tells him about the monster. The other guy doesn’t want to leave, he wants to kill “it.” Terry doesn’t live long after that. Jeff the security guard comes in, and Daniel tells him to call the police. Jeff’s got security cameras, and Daniel wants to see what’s on those tapes. The tape clearly shows Daniel killing Barry; no monster appears. It then shows him killing Terry as well. Jeff calls for the police, but Daniel hears the creature in the room with them. He’s right behind Jeff, but Jeff doesn’t see it at all. Daniel cuts his own throat to end the terror.
Back at the campground, we get the “Story of the Hidden Woman,” as a car arrives at a large house. A woman and her son arrive; they are moving in. Young Charlie goes off and explores the house they just inherited as his mother unpacks some boxes.
Night falls, and the mother thinks she sees a strange woman standing behind Charlie. The next day, she hears thumping coming from upstairs. Charlie’s outside, so she goes upstairs with a knife– to find nothing. We, however, see a ghost or something in there with her. Charlie says he’s had conversations with her and thinks it’s his dead grandmother. It all seems to be centered around an antique phonograph machine, which she first throws away but it comes back. Then she burns it, and it comes back again. Mother decides it’s time to leave, but things only escalate from there with the creepy ballet-dancer ghost.
Donna goes next, and her story is set in a cheap hotel. A couple toast their anniversary; she’s not sure she wants to go through with this, but he says he needs the excitement. Steve wants the two of them to try something new, Cath is less enthusiastic. Steve takes the pill that the other woman hands him; they’re going to try some polyamory. “Whoever gets your body, only Cath gets your heart, right?”
Cath stays behind as the others go up to the room. The other woman makes him sniff something, and Steve goes all wonky. She draws runes on his back and then handcuffs him. Steve soon figures out that they aren’t playing the same game. Steve runs through the hotel screaming for help, but it’s oddly devoid of guests except for weird cultists.
He runs to his own room and finds Cath, also painted in runes. The ritual continues. He passes out, wakes up and finds he’s missing a finger, an eye, and a tongue. That’s not the only body part that he’s going to be missing. His heart does, in fact, belong to Cath.
The last camper tells her story, which involves “Hollywood Movies.” Three moviegoers walk up to the concession stand and order from Gareth, the tallest clerk ever. He calls the manager, who’s a twit. The theater itself is almost empty. The manager fires Gareth, who puts on a serial killer mask and kills the manager with a fountain pen and the popcorn basin. Gareth then closes and locks all the doors.
David sees all this and goes back for the others, but they don’t believe him. At least until they watch Gareth kill another viewer. Like all masked movie slashers, they soon find that Gareth is unstoppable. Even when David finally gets out, he doesn’t really get away.
“You fed them well,” says Darwin cryptically. “I wouldn’t dare” tell them a story, he says as he leaves the four alone to their tents.
In the morning, everyone wakes up and finds Darwin is gone, tent and all. They also find that he’s taken their phones, wallets, and watches. We see a news report about four bodies found in the woods and a “cinema massacre.” All their stories became true.
We cut to Darwin, explaining the storytelling game to another group of campers. “Trust me, they are listening…”
Brian’s Commentary
In the first story, there may or may not have been an actual monster. The second one, with the ghost, is really well done; the dancer-ghost was a really cool ghost effect. The cultists, or whatever they are, in the third story are really cool-looking as well. The fourth story is more or less played for laughs, but it’s a good send up of slasher movies. All four of the creatures are really well done.
If you pay attention in the movie theater segment, you can see posters for the other segments on the theater’s walls. It’s probably the only time you’ll see “death by popcorn scoop.”
Richard Brake, as Darwin, the “camp host” has something creepy to say between each segment, and he’s absolutely perfect here. The rest of the actors do well with what they have, and none of the segments feels dragged out or padded. It all works really well!
Kevin’s Commentary
I really appreciated how consistently good it was throughout. Sometimes anthologies are hit and miss, but this wasn’t like that. The cast, direction, and effects were all very good and it moves briskly. They had good locations for shooting too. I give it a big thumbs up.