Tag Archives: Anthology

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Review

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It’s time for an anthology that definitely goes by really quickly. There are only 5 episodes after all and they tend to be pretty short. Still, it’s a pretty nice way to get to see the characters a bit more. The idea for each of the episodes is to get to know a different character a bit more. The animation is solid and this definitely got a reasonable budget. It’s a fun tag along to the game although on its own I’m guessing it won’t be turning a whole lot of heads.

The first episode starts off with a bang as we see into Noctis’ childhood and his run in with a powerful monster. After that we have him and the team fighting with some of the enemy empire’s soldiers. It was a good idea to start and end the series with some solid action scenes. Like I said before, most of the story is really about character development but action really helps for the whole thing to feel real. We also will get to see later on in the final special how the King uses his powers compared to how Noctis uses them. I can’t say he was super impressive but I know the guy is old and all. It just means that the kingdom was always going to be doomed. Either way this was a pretty intense opener and the animation got to show off a bit here. I also like how Noctis avoids eating any vegetables in his burger, that’s how I do it too.

The second episode is about Noctis’ friend Prompto. He used to be really timid and overweight but the guy always had a kind heart. He would look after animals and he did so in the present as well which triggers the flashback. Well, he wants to be Noctis’ friend but is a little ashamed at just how big he is. So he begins to work on losing weight. He runs every day and continues his exercises even in really tough conditions. It really speaks to just how dedicated he is and it’s really nice to see. I’d say it shows how he secretly tries hard even when he always gives off the impression of being a comedic slacker. I appreciate the depth although I would like him to act a bit more serious and driven like that in the present too. No reason he has to always keep this a secret right?

In the third episode we see how Gladiolus was training Noctis but the main character was always being a total slacker. Gladiolus didn’t really have much respect for the guy but kept on with his duty. One day his little sister visits the kingdom and gets lost but Noctis protects her and gets the two of them back home. It at least showed that Noctis would rise to the occasion as needed even if he could stand to train a bit more seriously. It was another fun episode although I do have to suspend some disbelief on Noctis and the little sister escaping the castle so easily. I know it was a secret passage of sorts that leads outside but nobody noticed the hole earlier or had guards around that area? I’d also expect there to be some kind of magical surveillance system because this seems like a security nightmare no matter how you slice it! Luckily things had a good ending for the heroes.

After that we wrap up the character intros with showing us what a tough time Ignis had in getting Noctis ready for the real world. Noctis would not study much at all for the exams and also couldn’t cook for himself. We get to see the real spoiled version of Noctis here. With everyone else he tends to put on the facade that he has his life all together but here we see all the cracks. In a way you can say that Ignis gets to see a side of Noctis that he hides from everyone else so in a way that is pretty big props for Ignis. At the same time it just makes Noctis look really bad. By the end Noctis tries his best to make a meal. While he ends up failing quite badly, I will give him some slight credit for the attempt. I’m glad that he is a lot more mature in the game though.

Finally we go full circle as Noctis meets up with the demon and gets to avenge his family. The demon honestly puts up a super good fight considering this is Noctis with his summoned weapons and the rest of the party. I would expect Noctis to be a bit stronger but this is a fairly early version of the character. Also maybe I am underestimating the monster a bit. Regardless it is a pretty solid action scene all around. A bit of a bloody one as well I could mention. I was a little surprised even at just how intense it got. I suppose with limited time for action, the animators really wanted to go all out here.

It’s a climactic end to the saga and so it made sense to end that way. I enjoyed both the action and slice of life moments here. These episodes could have easily fit into the main game as bonus cutscenes or side quests so they did a good job of making these intro episodes feel real. I’d definitely like to see more Final Fantasy titles get the full media treatment like this one did. A movie, show, and the main game is really a whole lot of content. Any title that isn’t VII or XIII would have to be quite jealous.


Overall, There’s not a ton to discuss here due to the show’s short runtime. All in all it was a fun experience. Short titles like this are a fun way to see your favorite characters for just a little while longer and so there’s no real downside to it. While it won’t have the same punch to people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy, you can probably still appreciate the fun vibes. Some of the stories like Prompto wanting to lose weight so he won’t bring his friend down can be applicable to any story so it makes for an easy watch. Likewise for taking down a monster to avenge your family.

Overall 6/10

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Review

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It’s time for a bit of an odd film. This one has two story segments to it. The first one I’m not really familiar with but the second is a take on the headless horseman. It’s a fun enough title although I don’t think it ever gets quite interesting enough for me to put it higher. It makes for a quick watch but as with most anthologies, the segments themselves are not long enough to really hook you before they are over with.

The first one introduces us to Mr. Toad who is super irresponsible and he has a very addictive personality. Once he gets into something then he will get complete tunnel vision. He has basically wasted away all of his money and even gets tricked into buying a stolen vehicle which lands him in court. His friends do their best to save his reputation and prove his innocence but the Toad is not helping at all. Can they help him resist these urges or is it just a complete lost cause?

It’s definitely the latter. Obviously this is a comedy through and through but it’s hard to root for the Toad the whole time because of how desperate he is to throw himself in a car and cause more trouble. Even right to the end he’s up to his old antics. So you know maybe being put behind bars will be good for him. Even if the Weasels did mess with him, the Toad is clearly a danger to society and must be stopped.

Then with the second story, we have Ichabod show up to a small town to become the best teacher they’ve ever had. Everyone thinks he is really awesome and the guy certainly enjoys the attention. Well there is one guy who doesn’t like him, Brom. Brom is upset because the girl he likes is quickly falling for Ichabod and so he quickly begins to do everything he can to discredit and humiliate Ichabod. The problem is, the harder he tries, the more his efforts backfire. Can he stop Ichabod or is it game over?

Interestingly it’s not like Ichabod’s a great guy or anything. Right away you can tell that he’s not a very humble chap and he certainly likes money. He seems a bit greedy if anything and so for once you can feel bad for Brom…to an extent. Look at the end of the day if a girl likes someone else then you may want to consider giving up. Even if you convince her, it comes across as a little desperate right? I do think this segment beats the first one though as the story is more compelling. My only issue is that the Headless Horseman doesn’t show up until near the very end of the movie.

You’d have expected him to have had a much grander role instead of just being for the climax. That said, the role is still pretty fun though, he’s not about to lose in a chase and the guy plays for keeps. The very ending hints at a possible happy ending for one character but since it’s only rumors, you could probably interpret it in whichever way you’d prefer the film to have ended. The chase was certainly fun and ended things on a good note.

As for the music across the segments, it was only okay. The songs weren’t really my thing and I wouldn’t say they aged particularly well. They’re not terrible or anything like that but even though they are supposed to be bright and energetic, they come across as trying a bit too hard for me. They end up not being catchy which is the real problem. The animation for the shorts has aged well though. It’s a very expressive style that works well for this kind of movie. The action on screen is very fast paced and fits in with how erratic the characters arc.

I’ll also give the film credit for writing fairly nuanced antagonists that you could root for to an extent. In both stories the main character was hardly a paragon of justice and would take things a bit far enough to where you could see why people didn’t like them. You may still root for them to an extent but perhaps not. In both segments I wasn’t rooting for the main character by the end of it. In the second I wanted the Headless Horseman to take the win and in the first I was rooting for the justice system. You figure usually this wouldn’t be the case because the antagonists would be written very extremely.

So I give the film full kudos there and the writing is on point. The pacing is mainly good but again the whole thing is just way too short to properly flesh out the ideas that are introduced here. A longer runtime would have absolutely gone a long way to making both stories more interesting. Although for the first story it would be difficult since I think you’re either really into the kind of whimsical lead that it had or not. For the second though, you could definitely add more foreshadowing for the horseman and maybe even show him taking out some more fighters along the way. That could have definitely been neat.

Overall, This is definitely a film you won’t really forget but at the same time it’s not like the plot was super detailed or anything like that. It’s all just so random and out of nowhere after all. The live action narration to introduce each story is probably unnecessary but that’s a tiny quibble with the film at best. The movie is very lively with all the music and the fast paced plot but it really needed better characters to balance it out. That said, while you’ll have a better time with most of the other animated films of this era, this is still pretty harmless fun. I have no serious objections against the movie and it is entertaining enough. So I’d say to check this out if you want to look at a fresh story or really like the headless horseman.

Overall 6/10

Tombs Review

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It’s time for another horror anthology. The author is definitely really good at making everything really spooky here and you already know this title will not be any weaker in that regard. The stories do tend to get quite dark and violent at times though so I would caution the younger readers around this one. You are unlikely to find very many manga that surpass this one in the scares department.

There is a wide variety of stories to go through here so lets dive right in. First up we have a spooky story where a couple drives into a town where gravestones seem to be put in the most random of places. They’re even in the middle of the road. They run over a girl and quickly hide her in the trunk but this is only the start of the misfortune that is going to happen. They find out that in this town, you are supposed to leave a person wherever they die. That may not bode well with how they ran over someone and then hid her eh? Her body continues to get weirder and weirder while also getting to be very heavy. I’m afraid that the end is nigh for these characters.

Naturally it’s hard to feel too bad for them since they did run someone over. Yes, that was an accident but hiding her body and acting like they hadn’t seen her is really bad. As a result the whole family is wondering where she is and they’re all getting really nervous and stressed out. It’s super selfish and basically evil to hide such a massive fact from the others. Now I’m not saying they deserve a gruesome end and lets just say the fates for most characters in the town is pretty gruesome, but they certainly weren’t innocent either. It’s definitely a very ominous story with how weird the whole setup was.

The next story is one of the weaker ones. So one day a girl starts having more and more trouble speaking. It’s a bit odd but the family figures it’ll get back to normal soon. Instead, her tongue becomes a slug and just keeps on regenerating. So not only can she not talk but she basically can’t eat or anything. I’s just such a gruesome fate and the family tries everything but hurting the slug seems to hurt her as well. We naturally do have a bit of a twist ending here but it wasn’t really my cup of tea. It definitely got the creepy factor down though because merging with an insect like that would definitely be very eerie. You’d absolutely have to feel sick after all of that.

In another story, and one of the only ones that has a happy ending, a guy keeps hearing his name being called at night. He looks out the window and there is a lady outside asking him to come over. He refuses of course but then she keeps trying to get into his room. He tells his parents but they don’t buy it and the house seems too far away for her to reach. Gradually her voice gets closer and closer though as if she is nearly at the house. If the boy doesn’t leave soon, then she will reach him and that’s probably not a good thing with how demonic she looks.

This one may have felt a little ordinary next to some of the other stories as it isn’t absolutely crazy but it’s still scary. You’re supposed to be safe when you’re sleeping by your bed so the idea that anyone would be able to get to you in the dead of night is terrifying. Sometimes it’s the simple fears that hit the hardest. Also why you can’t let yourself get gaslit. If you know that somebody is outside your window, stay prepared and ready.

In the next one we have what I would call more of a classic ghost story. So a girl gets invited to this abandoned house to hang out with some other girls. It’s like a clubhouse you could say. Thing is…they all seem absolutely psycho and dangerous and unfortunately it is the kind of place where you aren’t supposed to leave once you join. There is also another group on the floor above, only these are all boys. The girl quickly regrets going here at all and the parents even say not to go. It used to be a really dangerous place back in the day and everyone died. So as you can guess, these seem to be their immortal spirits.

This one’s not bad but perhaps a little bit on the unspectacular side. Usually there tends to be more of a twist outside of the ghosts angle and this one didn’t really have that. It’s really just about the ghosts which isn’t as scary. You could also absolutely say that this is just because the author has set a really high standard with how scary the other stories are. That would definitely be valid.

After that is the smallest story by far and possibly the weakest. I just wouldn’t say it’s scary so much as weird. So there are a bunch of giant fish and weird creatures that wash up on a small island. When the villagers cut them open, they find people inside and surprisingly the people are alive. They are traumatized but beyond that there are no other weird effects. So…how did they get in there in the first place? Like I said, it’s more weird than scary. Maybe I missed some kind of subtext in this one but either way I would say it’s okay. It’s just not going to wow you or anything like that.

After that is the best story in the whole collection. There exists a large tunnel right outside of town and whenever you go near it, you start to hear a loud humming sound. It’s really weird and so kids like to explore around there sometimes. Then people slowly start disappearing and the main guy doesn’t even want to go there anymore but he finds himself unable to stop. In the middle of the tunnel is a group of FBI type agents running weird experiments. Hmmm..the guy wisely runs off and escapes for ages but eventually returns. Huge mistake but it seems like he wasn’t really in control of his body so he wasn’t really able to do anything about it.

This is one of those stories that is perfectly unnerving because there are so many questions. Why is this tunnel in particular so weird? Why do people just vanish inside it and start to turn into ghosts? It’s all strange, unnerving, and most importantly scary. Particularly since there seems to be no escape as the whole town was decimated and the more anybody gets close to check things out, the more the body count will continue to rise. Yeah this is the real tunnel of doom that’s for sure.

After that we cut to a town where a bunch of ladies are gossiping. There is a rich lady in the area who is rumored to have murdered her husband and then she even put a big statue of herself in the park. Naturally nobody is particularly happy about this and it comes across as arrogant. This lady invites the women to her house though and things get dicey from there. I think right off the bat part of the scare factor here is that most of the story feels like something that could happen.

Now, obviously I would recommend not going to the house of someone who is supposed to be crazy. I know the ladies outnumbered her but that still seems like a super bad idea. Never approach a villain unless you absolutely have to. It’s only asking for trouble there. We do delve into the supernatural as the story goes on though. Mainly it reminds me of the classic Wax Museum movies. Definitely a rough one and the moral is to definitely keep your guard up and you probably shouldn’t be gossiping so hard either. It’s got a bit of a dark ending although the villain definitely dug her own grave you could say.

After that we have a story where little mothballs of sorts appear and tell your biggest secrets to people. They are born out of secrets and yell them at max volume. So one guy decides to try and capture them all to have a monopoly. Naturally this becomes an obsession and he starts to really go crazy. This one didn’t really feel like a horror but I guess the scary thing might be about people learning your dark secrets. This guy definitely had some really awkward ones for sure. The whole thing felt a bit mean spirited though for all parties involves. Especially rough for the main guy to find out that his girlfriend may have liked the other guy back as well. Not a whole lot to say about it though. Living secrets is an intriguing concept but I was waiting for some kind of a twist.

Finally we have the blood village. A doctor is called to go to a small village to help out and for some reason everyone there looks beautiful one day and then drained as a zombie the next. They all seem to have significant blood loss but aren’t dead. It seems like the whole village’s blood is linked to the land itself so everyone is functionally immortal but doomed to basically be tortured every other week. It sounds like an absolutely terrible existence and if you stay for too long then you’ll be caught up in it as well.

This is definitely back to horror vibes because imagine being stuck to a village where your blood will be drained the whole time. That’s got to be really rough. You could surprisingly make the case that it has a bit of a happy ending though. Things worked out a whole lot more peacefully than I would have otherwise guessed. I was definitely surprised and the main guy was someone with a glass half full approach.

As always I have to give a thumbs up to the art here. While I wouldn’t want it for a battle shonen, it is absolutely perfect for horror. It just looks off in all the right ways and you can feel the atmosphere through the pages. The author has good range where you can always tell if someone is possessed or just lifeless in general. Yeah the art is a big reason why the whole thing looks so effective and it balances out the stories well.

Overall, Tombs is definitely another really intense collection of stories here. As with any anthology there will be ups and downs here. It can get quite violent and dark to be sure but at the end of the day it does deliver in scaring you quite a bit. This is a horror anthology so you should absolutely only be reading through it if you really want to be scared. I think it can be hard to hit the perfect balance of being scary without getting too grim and horror isn’t my top genre as it is so the deck tends to be stacked against this series. It also seems like mission impossible to get through one without any animal deaths. I would say that none of the stories are quite as twisted as the most twisted ones from the first collection though.

Overall 4/10

Shiver Review

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It’s time for a horror anthology in manga format! Now that’s definitely a twist if I’ve ever seen one. I will say that the series definitely does have that spooky vibe the whole time. The stories each do a good job of exploring different fears and really being on the unnerving side. It’s a very disturbing collection and not one I would really recommend to the average manga enjoyer. It can definitely be a little too violent and disturbing but it is probably the most unsettling title you’ll ever read.

The first story is a fairly low key one. So this one guy has a record and his friend always come by to listen to it. She wants to borrow it just for a while but he refuses. He’s just super into the record and doesn’t want anyone to have it. So she promptly steals the record and accidently murders him for it. From there, everyone else wants to hear the record as well and so she continues to be chased. There’s just something about the record that makes you want to hear it. The record was apparently recorded by a famous singer after the singer had already been dead and this seems to have the power to force other corpses to keep on singing as well. There is no escape.

Definitely a spooky story right out of the gate and also why you probably shouldn’t steal stuff. People can go absolutely nuts about their possessions even in the real world. Not something you should die for of course, that’s just where the real horror comes in. I would say this one is scary more for the fact that everyone is hunting you than the actual record though. The record itself is ominous but it seems like you’ll be okay if you let it go. The shop owner lived all these years after all. You just can’t afford to hang onto that thing.

After that we have a story with holes. I remember hearing about this phobia back when I was looking into making homemade cheese chips since quite a number of recipes had a warning about this. I guess holes can be unnerving and I won’t say it’s easy to look at. I don’t think I have the phobia per say but I was making sure not to stare at the characters too hard to find out. Basically this one guy has a next door neighbor who is filled with holes. She seems friendly one moment and then scary the next. He mainly avoids her but this holes disease appears to be contagious and there is a mysterious gardener around. Lets just say this one is even harder to avoid because it’s all happening right next door to the main character. The odds of getting out alive are super slim.

It doesn’t help that his friend is way too greedy and trying to find things out. This just puts them in more and more danger. Half the time in any event it pays to mind your business. If someone is in trouble then of course you gotta help but otherwise it’s not good to be nosy just to be nosy. Particularly with an illness that you don’t really know anything about. I guess he had reason to think something nefarious might be going on but definitely didn’t pick the best routes to uncovering the truth.

Then we have one of the more straight up violent stories. One guy is weirded out when he opens a fashion magazine and there is a really ugly girl inside. Why would she be a model? She looks like an absolutely insane horror jump scare type of monster. His friends who are filming for a movie think it would be brilliant to hire her though. So they pick her up and drive everyone to the forest for the shoot. They can all see that she is no conventionally attractive but don’t seem to be taking it quite as serious as the lead. Maybe they can’t really see her complete fangs and the fact that she’s almost 10 feet?

One thing you will continue to notice as you read through the stories is that the characters rarely act rational. They are all super strange and weird which is part of the horror. So for the main character it makes him/her have some doubts. Maybe the scary stuff is just in the mind? In this story that definitely plays with his head enough to the point where he actually still goes to the forest with the others. Then when the monster starts to actively eat people, it takes too long for him to even try and make a move. Ultimately things do not go well and the story is definitely one of the scariest ones because once they are in the forest you know there is no way out.

After that is definitely the most interesting story and the one they ought to make a movie on. It starts off with a girl hanging herself and then another guy follows suit. The weird thing is after they do this, their large heads appear in the sky like balloons. These balloons begin to spread and soon even people who are alive have their own giant balloons in the sky. These balloons are actively hunting down humans and taking their heads off. If you murder a balloon, you end up destroying the person whose face it was representing. You see the issue already right? You can’t actually destroy these things without ending the human race.

So as the weeks go by, more and more people are defeated. There is no way to go outside to get any food and it’s also just a depressing silence once you are the last ones around. As always some characters look pretty weird with how they just run off to get bumped off but I guess you could say the pressure finally got to them. The main character actually lasts quite a long time but at the end of the day it’s pretty much inevitable that everyone would fall. In a way you could also call this an alien invasion kind of plot. There is just so much more potential here to make it a really long story too.

Next up is a story about marionettes. The main character grew up in a family that relied on these puppet shows for money and stability. Ultimately this went on to an unhealthy degree and the father died after a while and the two songs went their separate ways. One day the main character’s brother returns but he’s a bit off. He has decided to no longer move on his own and instead he has servants who move his limbs for him. How? Through puppet strings. He is married with a kid and that had to be an interesting process. The main character thinks this is all super strange but unfortunately his little sister is super into this and ends up joining the group. You can imagine that this is not good for your bones when you aren’t moving them for so long and sure enough, that is the case but there is also a supernatural presence at work.

This was a pretty good story and definitely another strange one. My only problem and it’s a big problem is that I didn’t like what happened to the main character’s friend. In a lot of these stories it is all about karma and such but she really did nothing wrong. I don’t see why she had to have such a violent end. It felt completely unwarranted to me and just too radical. Ended things on a bit of a sour note there.

Then we have a story about a painter. He’s the best at what he does but one day a lady shows up and explains that she is the most beautiful in the world. So he decides to paint her and thinks he did a good job but she laughs and runs off. The problem is that her beauty is other worldly and now he can’t live normally. He is obsessed with her and runs around trying to find her. Thing is, everyone who draws or paints her ends up dying and he is no exception. He will be the one to finish her off first though.

This is one of the weakest stories. Not much of a hook or climax here and the characters just seemed a little too crazy unprompted. I guess I don’t really see what was so scary about this one except the general horror of meeting a girl who is so beautiful that she takes over your mind. It just felt more on the mean spirited side and desperately needed some kind of a twist about the girl being a demon or something. That could have helped big time.

Then we have a story that is definitely really scary. This one guy has a condition where he is experiencing “Long Dreams”. The dreams get longer and longer every time he goes to sleep. The first time he was asleep, he lived out several weeks, then this turns into years, and eventually he is sleeping for decades. He can’t keep track of what is going on in the real world and the doctor isn’t making much ground. Will he ever end up being okay?

This story is scary for the guy dreaming to be sure. After all if you are stuck in a nightmare then you’re really sunk. What if you die in the dream as well? There are a whole lot of possibilities and none that are particularly good. There is also no way out since you will eventually fall asleep no matter how much you try to resist it. There is just no going against your physical limitations there. I’d also say it’s something you can picture to an extent. Less dramatized of course but a scary situation all around.

Then we have a story about the ancestors curse and it’s the worst one. So this one girl got amnesia somehow so she doesn’t remember her fiancé or anybody. He tries to jog her memory but nothing works so they figure they will take things slow. He takes her over to his place and the whole time she is wondering what could have been so scary that she got amnesia. Well, it’s because his father’s head is connected to a bunch of other heads that go on for generations with no real end. His son will be taking over the family business and needs a descendent right away.

It’s definitely scary although I don’t see how you would get amnesia from that, much less getting it twice. The story itself was quite forced and it definitely has the meanest ending of the lot. Not really something that you want to see here. You were hoping the collection would end with a bang but the strongest stories had already passed by this point. The next one isn’t all that much better either.

The final main story is about a family with an oil addiction. They just can’t help it, they’re always drinking oil and so their bodies are starting to mutate. The main character refuses to do this but her family isn’t giving her much choice and gives her oil while she’s sleeping. She should run away immediately but sticks around too long and the cycle keeps continuing. This story is definitely going for the gross factor as everyone is slimy and the whole town is basically being hit by this. There is no escape to be had by that point.

It’s just such a weird story. I wouldn’t call it scary either to be honest unless you tend to think that gross things are scary. Either way this would definitely be more of a mis for me. There is a super short bonus comic at the end about a girl getting ripped apart but that story was also in bad taste and could definitely be skipped. I’m telling you, the final stories were not trying all that hard!

The art isn’t bad, it’s got a very simple look to it without too many details but it works well for the horror vibes that they are going for. The characters definitely look very memorable the whole time. So I wouldn’t change anything about that. The writing is solid and I would just say the author can sometimes go a little too far with the stories. Tone them down somewhat and there would be a lot of potential here. The ideas themselves are definitely very unique after all.

Overall, Shiver is a pretty scary anthology. I would say it nails the horror genre in ways that would be very difficult for any other title to match. It does feel rather unsettling the whole time. That said, it can just be a little too violent and some areas are much too mean spirited. Horror titles in general have a lot that they have to try and avoid after all. There are many ways in which they can fumble and ultimately I would say this title should be counted among them. If you are going to read it, definitely read at night for maximum impact.

Overall 3/10

From Beyond The Grave Review

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Uh oh it’s anthology time! That means we’re gonna be in for some terrible stories but hopefully some good ones to end up balancing things out. It can really end up being a close fight all the way through with this kind of title. Ultimately it loses the fight but I appreciate the end of the film having a little fun with the concept. It made for a better ending than most horror titles if I’m being 100% with you guys.

The story starts by showing us a shady store filled with antiques. The owner is an old man who can seem rather oblivious at times, but you shouldn’t let your guard down around him. In each story, someone shows up to the store to buy an antique while someone hangs around outside and never seems to want to go in as long as anyone else is in there. It’s a rather troubling situation for the guy but why does he want to go in so badly? The antiques in the store are extremely good quality but the prices are a tad high so the customers are always tempted to rip the owner off. That may be a bad idea though….

In the first story a guy decides to buy a mirror from the store. He haggles the owner into letting him buy it for cheap and figures it’ll look good at home. Unfortunately his friends want to do one of those creepy seance rituals and he agrees because for some reason people have no self preservation skills in these things. He wakes up the ghost of the mirror who has decided to go on a murder spree. This spirit craves blood and violence and so he commands the sap to go around murdering people. The main character has no real agency of his own and so he does this until the monster throws the chump into the mirror to repeat the cycle. It’s definitely the worst story so it’s an interesting way to start the anthology off. In a way maybe it’s actually good to lead off with the weakest and get better as you go on though.

Still, there is no shortage of issues with this one. For starters, the main guy crumbled way too easily. He doesn’t even consider breaking the mirror or just telling the spirit no. The spirit is probably commanding him because presumably it doesn’t have enough strength to do the job personally. In fact, that’s the whole point, that it needs blood to power up. So just resist him and break the mirror. This should be easy! Instead the whole special is just really annoying and you’ll be rolling your eyes the whole time. It’s rather dark with so many people being knifed and it takes a lot of blows for each victim to go down so it ends up being dragged out quite a bit. The fact that people just walk over to his apartment is crazy.

He does target the vulnerable for the most part but even then it is extremely not a good idea to go over to someone’s home when you don’t know them at all. This was basically like an old school slasher, all violence and no substance. Fortunately like I said, this is the weakest one so things do start to look a little better going forward. Huge emphasis on the little better part though because this next one is also brutal.

We follow a guy who is down on his luck. He married a girl who doesn’t respect him and his kid is also constantly picking fights and being super annoying. Not a very good combination at all and one day he decides to rob a blind man who was selling cigarettes. The guy seems to think highly of our main character though and so the lead lies about being a decorated military person. He goes to the antique’s shop and even steals a medal. Things are looking up and the blind man even has a daughter who seems to be attracted to the lead. His ego has now been restored and so he heads to the house to quickly begin cheating on his wife and succumbing to all of his worldly desires.

Naturally there is a cost to this, which is that the daughter is quite possessive and wants to murder his wife now. She is rather creepy and has every red flag in the book but the lead is quite used to this since he himself is one massive red flag. So he gives the okay and the cycle of violence continues, but what he doesn’t realize is that it will inevitably fall back to him eventually. You really don’t feel bad for him. Yeah his family was mean to him but the fact that he jumped right to stealing and cheating shows that he had no real moral compass of his own. He hasn’t really done much to be proud of and so perhaps there are things we haven’t seen to further explain why nobody gives him any respect. Either way it’s definitely a rather twisted story about bad deeds coming full circle with each other. It’s another rather violent segment as well so get ready for the brutal deaths here.

In the third special, a guy decides to switch the prices in the antiques shop to save money and mess over the owner. Feeling proud of himself, he heads back home but now there is a demon on his shoulder that is causing all kinds of trouble like even going off to try and murder his wife. He needs the help of a super expensive/shifty psychic but can she really deal with the problem? I’d say the biggest problem with this special is really just that it drags on a bit. The monster is invisible so most of the action can’t really be seen and the ritual for getting rid of the creature is a bit on the silly side. You’re just waiting for the characters to get with the program the whole time. I will say that the ending is probably the most effective out of the 4. It was definitely pretty sudden and yeah maybe a bit depressing but it worked. It definitely cleared the first two specials and reminds you why you should not steal. Your crimes will come back to you.

I think making the monster visible would have been a lot more interesting. Maybe like only the main guy could see it or something. That may have been tough on the special effects but it would have worked a lot better. Or make it visible to us but not to the characters, now that could be rather spooky as well. But completely invisible? Ehhhhh I don’t think that’s really the way to go at all.

Finally we have a story where a guy decides to buy a whole door from the antique shop. The door is pricey and the antique owner leaves the cash register open so it is tempting to take back the money. We don’t see the guy’s choice initially as he heads home. The problem is that the door is set to Narnia settings so opening it takes you to a whole new world. In that world, there is a powerful ghost who is trying to get out and he even make a move to kidnap the guy’s wife. He must now fight the ghost but is he mentally prepared to face such a powerful fighter? This special had some actual action which was pretty fun. The guy didn’t play the matchup very well but he wasn’t really given much prep time. I at least give him credit for jumping in and attacking instead of cowering or anything like that. Now that would have been rough.

This one had a good ending as well which shows the theme of the movie. If you resist temptation and don’t mess with the owner then you are okay. I do think the first one is a stretch though since the guy didn’t steal anything. Sure, he did some hard bartering and lowered the price but to me that’s not in the same category as the others. At most you could call it deceptive but he didn’t outright rob the guy. Still, good on the final main character for resisting the urge to save a buck. He did the right thing in the end.

Overall, As I mentioned, the ending beyond the 4 stories was really solid. Definitely good stuff all around and it’s definitely how you want to finish off a movie like this one. Unfortunately, the movie was still no good either way. Just too violent all the way around as it didn’t really hold back and most of the stories weren’t all that good. This is a horror title that I would not be able to recommend in the end. You’d be better off just watching some of the classic Gamera films instead. Anthologies continue to be more of a miss but ideally people will perfect the formula in the future at some point. It’s our only chance to save the genre.

Overall 3/10

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Review

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It’s time to jump back into the world of the rankings. The first season was fun with a lot going on and some pretty dynamic fights. The cast may not be the strongest but the show still holds its own. That said, this one is more like a mini season so that does put it in a bit of a tricky place right out of the gate. Could the season win without a big story? Well, I found it fun enough so I would say it was still good. The first season definitely wins without a doubt but at least since we know the characters by now, they were able to hold their own stories without too much trouble. The 10 episodes definitely go by real quickly so in a lot of ways this really does feel like a mini season even aside from the story.

I’ll jump into each segment and talk about them so you get a feel for the stories. That’s always the most enjoyable way to review an anthology after all and it gets you right into the thick of things! The only exception to this is the final episode where it actually continues the story and works like a preview of what the next full season will be like. I thought that was a real interesting touch so I was glad to see that. It ends the season off on a really strong note which is definitely what you’re looking for here.

The first short in the series shows us once again why Kage is such a great character. He’s looking for an herb that he needs for Boji’s mentor and yet he can’t help but stop to assist an old lady who needs him. He performs each and every chore even while he is super busy and you have to acknowledge his good strength of heart here. Ultimately the good deed pays for itself and things work out but he was willing to help out with no reward which is always good. He’s definitely one of the most heroic characters.

In the next story we had Boji and Kage get tasked to raise a ton of money. They come up with a genius plan to have people try to throw rocks at Boji and he needed to dodge. They racked up a lot of money this way but ultimately needed to give most of it away to a poor kid who needed their help. Another instance of Boji and Kage being good heroes here so I can appreciate that. The town’s not in the best shape so I imagine that a lot of people there are in a rough spot. Hopefully they can keep helping everyone out, one spot at a time.

After that we get to see how their heroism can sometimes put them in dicey situations. They didn’t realize that a bunch of bandits were villains and just thought they were people down on their luck. Kage and Boji got suckered rather easily but at least they are strong enough where they can win the fights without any trouble. So ultimately that helps to reduce the damage from all of this. I can’t blame them too hard for being super kind hearted when they have the power to get out of a jam on their own after all. It’s a nice enough story and we got some action in this time.

We also had a short involving a desert but the tough part about having 3 shorts in one episode instead of 2 is that one will really get the shaft. That was the case here as there wasn’t much time for anything. We had a nice feels moment with the monster but that’s about it. I would probably consider this to be the weakest short in the season. There just isn’t much to absorb or talk about here.

After that was a fun one though as Hiling is getting ready to mount a counterattack to take back the kingdom. So she heads off and finds out of her friends. So the friend agrees to help if Hilling saves the day first. It’s a nice team up and this is also a good place to mention to you that the setting of the episode changes each time. So some take place at the end of the series, some before the series, etc. So definitely something to really keep in mind here. Obviously this plot would not make sense if Boji was already the king. It was good to see Hilling as the main character, she tends to be fun.

We also have a short special with Daida learning some basic healing magic and helping Boji out when the lead gets hurt. You can tell it’s not going to be Daida’s forte so I wouldn’t expect to see him doing anything crazy with healing in the future but every bit certainly helps. This one felt fairly short, not a whole lot is going on here. So it’s not bad, but won’t hook your interest particularly well next to some of the other episodes.

Then we get one about Ouken and the Desha/Despa brothers. We already saw a lot of this in the main series so this is really a way to expand upon it a bit. They each got super abilities from their father but they aren’t perfectly balanced. One of them is immortal, one has super strength/magic, and I forget what the final one has. Maybe intelligence? He’s not really a fighter but is a good teacher. Either way I always like seeing the Underworld, it’s established pretty well in the series and always makes for a good episode.

The next one actually continues the plot in a lot of ways. Ouken’s friend Fren decides to search for a cure to the immortality and goes on a whole quest. He takes on a lot of dangers and threats as he searches for a lead. Ultimately he is able to get some intel which will set up the cure/next steps for a future arc. Fren was definitely loyal and you always want someone like that in order to have your back during a pinch. So this was another fun one.

We have another weak one coming up sadly. In this one, the horse that Despa owns has gotten really fat. So the mission is to have him lose weight and this starts to work when the horse sees a girl horse that he likes. Unfortunately for him it turns out that she already has someone. The guy is absolutely crushed and gains all of the weight back. It’s why if you are going to change something or set a personal goal, it needs to be for you. Otherwise you will inevitably get disheartened at some point and will lose all progress. You can’t let it get to that point so the ending is actually a rather sad one. It also just feels like straight up filler since the episode ends as it started so they could have done more here or had a better message.

After that is an origin episode for Hokuro. Hokuro really wanted to be a knight. Someone who would be able to watch over Boji and keep the kingdom safe. Unfortunately he isn’t very strong but the guy does know sign language which ends up helping him out. Without that you know that Hokuro would have been tossed out, so his instincts of wanting to be able to communicate with Boji were good ones. Ultimately he did as well as he could, but personally I would not have recommended him to be a soldier. He has a good story of course but there is not much point in a soldier who cannot protect his king.

Then we have two shorts that don’t have a ton of plot but are excuses to really see what is going on in the kingdom. We have one where Boji helps out a lot of different people while he still misses Kage. Life just isn’t the same on his own. Boji is a king though and I want to say that the point is that he still continues to help people and fulfills his duties rather than running out of the kingdom on a wild goose chase to find his friend. Meanwhile Daida’s short is rather similar. He is working to rebuild the kingdom but a lot of people still don’t trust him. He was just too evil and possessed for too long. So he takes it slow and in the meantime continues training with the Big 4. So he’s doing his best but it’s just a long road.

We get a story about how Bebin trained hard so that he wouldn’t be so much weaker than the other members of the big 4. He had good technique but completely lacked power and so as he got desperate he would make more and more mistakes that would really come back to bite him. It definitely put him in quite the tough bind but ultimately he got better at using his techniques after some formal training. I still don’ really see him beating any of the other members of the Big 4 but at least now it’s definitely a lot closer. He certainly made a lot of progress.

My favorite short in the series was definitely when the Big 4 are challenged to a game of arm wrestling. It should be an easy thing for them and yet they are getting absolutely dominated for most of the episode. It’s pretty crazy especially because there weren’t any big gimmicks here. Yes, the guy they were fighting was a master of the craft and knew how to use his leverage but at the end of the day it was still his strength that was proving to be superior. It was extremely impressive the whole time. I was glad that the heroes finally started working together but the Big 4 definitely did lose a good amount of hype here. This short easily had the most amount of hype behind it.

We get a story Kage’s mom and how she raised Kage right. He used to get picked on by the local kids and everything but instead of worrying about that, he still just had a good time. When villains would attack, Kage ended up saving them. He’s definitely someone you can count on in a pinch and he has certainly saved Boji many times at this point. It’s a nice little short even if it does make the town look rather mean and corrupt as always.

King Bosse gets a segment to go more in depth on his having Boji. We already saw part of this in the show but this way it’s a little extended. He has to fight off all kinds of enemies but in the back of his head he still knows his own guilt. At the end of the day, he made a deal that was not worth it and has been paying ever since. He would only get worse as the series went on unfortunately. I still don’t like King Bosse and probably never will with how drastic he got. At best you could say that he is a very imposing villain with his high levels of raw power and all but in the end this isn’t going to be enough to start rehabilitating his overall character. The guy doesn’t really get any sympathy from me.

Miranjo had a segment with her as a kid running around with the kid demon. The little thing was real afraid of her back then but since she was a kid i’s not like she could totally tell and so she chased him for a while. It’s a nice look at things before she got ultra depressed with everything going really badly for her. A lot of characters here had pretty tough backgrounds which definitely do not excuse their later actions but at least it’s nice to see some happy times occurred.

The final segment is about Boji giving some gifts to all of his friends. It’s a pretty solid way to end the season since it ties into the treasure chest and everything. You get to say your final goodbyes to all of the characters as well which is nice. Of course this wouldn’t literally be the last episode but in a way it’s the last episode of the arc so either way it works out pretty well. It’s a low key episode of course but it’s nice seeing all of the characters again. It could be a while before we see any of them again.

Now like I said this brings us to the final episode where things get real intense. The next #1 king has been chosen at last but of course we know that things never go well for the top king. He always seems to vanish. So why even go through with the process? Well, Desha is still trying to cure the curse of immortality on his brother and so this is a risk he has to take. We get to wrap up that plotline here and in general the episode feels rather fast paced. It keeps up some mysteries to be sure but you know this will be a pretty interesting plot that’s going to keep on going. The gods may feel a bit nerfed right now but I suppose we can assume that this was the weakest one or something like that. You always feel like King Bosse should be the only one able to take these guys out.

The heroes may regret not asking for help from Boji and Daida but I get why they wouldn’t want to be asking the kingdom for help every time something happens. They need to be able to hold their own in a pinch after all and that’s completely valid. Desha is also no slouch in the power department, he looked really good in season 1 after all so it’s not like you would assume that he could be defeated. Power itself doesn’t seem to be much of a counter for the price of the king’s reward but in the back of your head you would probably feel pretty secure about the whole thing.

The animation for the show is okay. It’s certainly below average compared to most titles but we do get one solid looking fight in the very final episode. More of a quick cut than the full fight but close enough. The show has always gone for an intentionally simplified look and I’m not the biggest fan of it but it could still work for those fights. We just need more movement and everything here along with some nice/colorful special abilities.

As for the soundtrack the tunes are basically the same as in season 1. They’re not super dynamic but they’re okay. They feel nostalgic while watching the show at least. Nothing that I would be likely to Youtube afterwards or anything like that though. The theme song could definitely stand to be a lot more exciting though. It’s all just so mellow and everything. I want the theme song to embrace more of how crazy the show can be with demons and gods running around. It may not be the tone the show is totally going for but I think it would work well.

Right now the technical elements aren’t doing a whole lot to back up the show itself and that’s what has got to change here. Lets pump the show up with a bit more hype. The world building is already there after all, we just need to make it all a lot more hype. This is more of a wishlist for season 2 at this point I suppose. Nothing wrong with just being a good show of course, but I know this could be a great show.

Overall, The treasures season was fun enough. There may not be much stakes or plot progression for most of the season but the stories themselves were solid enough to hold your attention. So I didn’t have any real complaints here. I think it went about as far as it could with this format and not being able to jump far ahead just yet. Fans of the first season should check this out to see all of the old characters again while people who have not jumped into the franchise just yet will not really have any reason to do so. This is really an experience for the fans compared to season 1 which is easier for everyone to just jump into. Hopefully the actual season 2 comes sooner than later.

Overall 6/10

Seven Little Sons of the Dragon Review

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It’s time for a anthology. You know those can get a little dicey at times because it’s just hard to come up with a bunch of good short stories. Worst case you have a really good one and it ends too quickly and then you’re still mad about this being an anthology. So there are a lot of ways that this can go wrong but not a ton of ways that it can go right. That’s the real problem here when you really think about it. Fortunately this one was pretty good.

The first story introduces us to a world where a big dragon has been parked between two kingdoms for a very long time. They used to be bitter enemies who would murder each other but nobody can leave the kingdom or they are eaten. As a result everyone is slowly getting ready to die of hunger. Fortunately there is one guy who is able to freely cross between countries with small supplies. So he does his best to help get supplies from the other kingdom to his. What he learns is that the other kingdom isn’t evil, they’re really just like his people. Unfortunately the grudge between kingdoms has been going on for so long that nobody is really backing down.

So it’s a fun intro about how sometimes battles and grudges have been going on for so long that they’re basically pointless. Ultimately they are able to find peace once the dragon leaves and so this big trial was a blessing in disguise. It’s a fairly low key story that had a good ending. I was really worried that something would happen to the dragon at the end so I’m glad that he was okay.

The second story is also solid. Basically humans and mermaids are not supposed to interact. Mermaids may look totally human but officially they are classified as animals so you’re supposed to leave them alone. That’s hard for the main character to do though, especially when he sees one mermaid who is always having a lot of trouble. So they get close despite warnings from his friend and the mermaid nearly drowns him. So the lead realizes that he needs to learn a lot more about mermaids

I wasn’t expecting the mermaid to try and drown the guy but it was a good way to show that they really couldn’t understand each other at that point in time. No matter how much the kid thought they were friends on equal ground, it just hadn’t happened yet. The mermaid was just trying to be friendly and show him the sea but couldn’t understand that he couldn’t breath. It’s not likely that he will come up with a sci-fi gadget to make them understand each other but doing research to help bridge the gap between the two species definitely sounded like a good idea.

Next up was probably the most low key story of the batch. A little girl wants to do well on a test so she is hoping that one of the gods will help her. In this world, every kind of object has some kind of god watching over it or that embodies the object. So she raises a god in her fish tank and she eventually gets it to full strength only to find out that it can’t actually help her with tests. So the whole thing was futile and the story set this up well. There are gods for everything here so why would a fish god be able to help with studying?

It’s almost so basic that you have to do a double take because it makes a ton of sense in hindsight. So it’s a pleasant story but there isn’t really anything to ponder compared to the first two stories. Like it just ends and you move on to the next story. You don’t even really think about what just happened all that much. By no means does it make this a bad story or anything, it’s just not all that eventful and that happens sometimes.

After that we have a much more serious story. Basically in this world some people are born as werewolves and so when the full moon strikes, a separate personality shows up. This has often been seen as super dangerous and so the main guy’s mother was scared at first but did her best to learn about the condition. She is now the top expert in the world which is really impressive. Her son sometimes feels that she profits too much out of this though and wonders if she has his best interests at heart. That’s really where the drama comes in here and so I would say that it doesn’t reflect super well on him.

It would definitely be awful to not be in control of yourself any time a Moon comes up. Or to not even remember what you did at that point since the other soul has all of the memories. That said, he should have discussed the situation with his Mom rather than just holding it in and being sad the whole time. The moral of talking things out is a good one and I liked the premise. It’s fairly original.

After that was my least favorite story of the bunch though. So there’s this painter who is so good that anything he draws becomes alive. He’s sort of retired now but there is a fake knock off making drawings of his own. So the old guy has to get out there and settle this. Along the way he is protected by a rather sloppy counterfeit of one of his own paintings and a lot of other distorted ones.

There is naturally a twist on who is drawing these but it was hard to get all that invested this time. The whole drawing plot just wasn’t very interesting. The ending is certainly wholesome but also still pretty sad. Especially when you consider that the paintings basically do have feelings. In a way having the ability to make your paintings become real is probably not something you would want to have. It would make you really double guess every single thing that you draw.

After that we have one of the more fun ones with a mysterious lady offering to help a group of soldiers get across a mountain towards a vicious monster. What they don’t know is that she’s bumping them all off one by one. There’s definitely a bigger sense of danger here than in any of the other stories. The lady is really deadly and just overall scary the whole time. Clearly not someone that you ever want to mess with. I liked the premise here although I would have changed up the ending a bit.

I felt like the soldier got off a bit too easily. Now none of this is directly his fault so I’m cool with him surviving but I found the whole thing to be a little cheesy especially considering the resolve of the assassin. You probably could write an interesting dynamic there if you wanted this to be an ongoing but as a one shot it ends up feeling rather rushed. This finally goes to the potential issue anthologies run into where the story concept/premise is just too much for such a small window of time. I thought it was the most interesting of the bunch though.

However, the final story is my favorite. It’s about a family where everyone has different powers. The main character feels bad because she feels like her power is the worst. She can change your clothes into pajamas. Not much compared to mind reading, telekinesis, teleporting, etc. Well it might come in handy this time as a detective shows up and the house turns into an elaborate murder mystery.

The whole thing is a big tribute to Detective Conan and it works really well. The mystery is fun and you really see how all of the misunderstandings start to work. The ending’s a bit of an unbelievable gag and I felt like the author was trying really hard to make the pajamas power cool. It didn’t work….but I appreciate the effort. In general I just really liked the vibes the family had and the setup was good. This is definitely a story that could have been an ongoing.

The art is fairly decent here. I don’t think the artist is one of the higher tier ones in the business but this is still professional through and through. I definitely have no issues here. The volume is easy to read and so you’ll be blasting through. Most of the stories are pretty good as I mentioned earlier so you’ll have a fun time here.

Overall, The stories are pretty well balanced. They all bring something different to the table without being repetitive and I liked just about all of them. The author has good range as the stories really have a lot of variety. Even the painting one which is the worst one by default isn’t bad. I just found it to be borderline boring at times but still not one that I would flat out give the thumbs down to. I can definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fun collection of stories. While none of them are great to the point where they will wow you, none of them are bad either. At the end of the day that makes for a good collection.

Overall 7/10

O. Henry’s Full House Review

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It’s time for an anthology film and you know that those can sometimes get a little dicey. Well, this one ends up being solid as most of the stories are pretty good. There is one particularly weak story that does almost lower this one by a star because it can really drag but the positive ones outweighed the weakest link. Ultimately this would be one of the better anthologies that I have seen.

So lets jump into each story. The first one is about a guy who wants to be arrested. He likes to be kept in a jail cell during the colder months of the year because then he is guaranteed 3 square meals and a warm place to sleep. The jails were pretty well kept back in those days and so it was like a free hotel service. The trick is he needs something that will keep him in jail for exactly 3 months so it can’t be anything too mild or anything too brutal. It would also be nice not to get beaten up or shot so he has to be careful on what kinds of crimes he dishes out. Unfortunately nobody seems to want to arrest him. What can he do now?

It does feel like this should still be a very easy mission to complete though. I mean there are so many ways to get arrested even if you’re just looking for non-violent means. The main guy tries some mild stuff like theft, dining and dashing, etc. but it just isn’t working. At that point the guy needed to adjust his gameplan a bit. Maybe try dining and dashing a second time since it usually works you know what I mean? It does lead to a funny gag at the end though so it worked out. This was a pretty fun story with a good amount of humor and solid pacing.

Then in the next story we jump to a murder case that has been unsolved…until now. See one of the cops recognizes the pen left at the scene of the crime. It belongs to a guy he used to know who was always a petty crook but evidently he has gone beyond that now. Thing is, he owes this crook $1000 and doesn’t feel right arresting him before paying the money back. So now he has to earn the money before the guy skips town but how do you raise 1000 that quickly? It’s a good story but I do have some rather massive issues with it.

First off, this villain’s a murderer. I don’t care if the cop owes him a million dollars, you have to bring him in so that he doesn’t murder anyone else. He is clearly unhinged after all so why hold back? You can pay him back while he’s in jail as long as he isn’t executed. So the whole premise to me didn’t make a lot of sense. It’s a very weak excuse to potentially let someone stay on the loose causing a bunch of trouble. The main character lost a lot of my respect at that point.

It’s still a very fun story though which is why it stays at a high level. The pacing is good and the writing is very solid. In general outside of one story involving a kid, the writing is always good which is what makes the anthology work. It balances the humor and solid elements well. The cop just comes across as the biggest pushover I’ve seen in a while. He literally lets the villain punch him in the stomach and doesn’t do anything about it. You can’t let people be putting hands on you like that. Trust me, it never ends well.

After that is a bit of a weaker story. Basically a girl is heartbroken and literally falls to the ground. She ends up catching pneumonia from staying out in the snow for too long and now her health is a matter of life and death. She should have recovered sooner but part of her doesn’t want to get better as life is meaningless without her man. So her sister and a kind neighbor try to help her out but she has this delusion about her life being tied to that of a tree outside. Once the final leaf falls, she will take her last breath. It’s an old tree that will soon be destroyed though so what can the heroes do?

The girl who is sick ends up being rather annoying here. Obviously it’s much easier said than done to tell her to buck up and handle this in stride but she really doesn’t help them out at all. I think this is a good place to quickly remind you all that nobody is so important that losing them means your life has no purpose. You have to always continue on living and while I would not recommend rebounding, find some solo activities to enjoy. Ultimately the neighbor comes through when it counts here. I do think he was taken for granted the whole time as he was really doing his best to help out through and through. He may not be a great artist but he was clearly someone who cared about them. So I was glad that the ending addressed that and it was the best ending out of any of the specials. (Although most of the stories did have really satisfying conclusions)

Now we enter the worst story of the bunch. Basically two guys who are down on their luck decide to kidnap a kid and hold him for ransom. They succeed but what they don’t realize is that this kid is really tough and he starts to literally beat them up. The town also has a no returns policy so if they want to bring the kid back then they are going to have to pay $250 which is rough when they don’t have much money. Can they survive this experience?

While most of the stories do have some comedic undertones they were great at balancing them with the serious moments. That’s not the case with this story as its fully comical and completely unrealistic. It goes a bit too far here with such a small kid beating up the two adults the whole time. The kid is supremely annoying and the same goes for the adults who are losing this battle. The whole plot doesn’t make sense but instead of that being in a cool abstract way like the Twilight Zone, it just comes across as really annoying.

The story ends up dragging on quite a bit as a result so I dunno I think they could have done a whole lot better with this one. If you make the story too serious it would be a bit too dark of course but somewhere in the middle would have made sense. Like have the two adults still be nice people so they can’t do much about the kid but then have the kid still be a lot of work. You could absolutely make this work and it was the only time I felt the writing was not up to par.

Finally we have the famous Christmas gift exchange story. It doesn’t compete with the Mickey Mouse version but that’s how it goes. Basically a recent couple is getting ready for Christmas but they are really poor. They tend to imagine having fancy foods and items but in reality they never get to have anything all that fancy. Well, each of them decides that they want to get something big for once so the guy gets his girl a fancy hair set while she gets him a really good watch strap. Unfortunately things take a rough turn with what they each had to sacrifice in order to make this work.

It’s a pretty tragic story all around. I mean the underlining message is that they didn’t really need any of that stuff and can still be happy but it’s still a shame to see what they have lost. It won’t be easy to get the watch back and while the girl’s hair will grow back, it’ll take time. It’s why secret presents and such can be fun but you do have to be careful about the whole thing. Keep your partner happy but don’t sacrifice something so precious that it’ll end up working out more like a guilt trip. Surprises can be double edged swords in that regard but all in all it was definitely a quality story through and through.

Overall, This was a pretty good anthology. Most of the stories worked out well which is exactly what you want to see in a collection like this. The writing tended to be good and the stories were on point. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out and I expect you will have a good time with it. The stories may be fairly basic but that’s why the execution is always important. They are handled well and so you are absolutely entertained.

Overall 7/10

Black Sabbath Review

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It’s time for another horror anthology film. You know what that usually means, lots of sadness as the anthology format ends up limiting everything. Well this time I can at least say that the anthology is pretty reasonable. It’s still nothing great but the format is used well enough. For example the first special is fairly solid but if it had been dragged out you get the feeling that it would not have been nearly as good. None of the shorts are super bad either although the second one is certainly the weakest by far. This one’s actually not in English so I got to really experience the subtitled experience here. I’ve seen my share of subbed films of course but it’s always an interesting change of pace.

The first story starts off with a lady named Rosy receiving a distressing phone call. A guy named Frank is showing up. This guy should be in prison but he recently escaped and Rosy’s testimony is what sealed the deal. Now he’s saying that he is going to destroy her and the worst part is that he can seemingly see her at every turn. How can he when she isn’t even by the windows? Her only hope is to call in her ex-friend Mary. The two have not been on speaking terms for some time now but Rosy can’t win this on her own. Will her old friend prove to be dependable?

So it’s a pretty tense story from the jump and it really does make a world of difference to have even just one more ally with you at such a time. Mary ends up stealing the show here as an interesting character. She loves her dark humor and while Rosy doesn’t really appreciate that side of her, at least Mary isn’t scared. Mary even has a large knife at the ready and is generally very sure of herself. We never find out exactly what the issue was that came up between them but hey Mary showed up. Ultimately I would have liked her to have done a little better during the short but that’s how it goes. Naturally there are some twists that show up during this short. One of them I have a little bit of a hard time buying into though. The film drops us a half hearted explanation that resorts to incredibly accurate guessing…but that’s not really satisfying. I’m not sure what you could have done without making this supernatural though.

The opening short does have some random fanservice so I wouldn’t call it super high brow entertainment though. There’s a lot to like here so I could still recommend it but the ending is a bit weak compared to the rest of the setup. I can say though that it is considerably better than most films about a scary phone call though so it does have that going for it. Check this film out even if just to see how this plot should really be handled rather than those over the top slasher films.

Then we have the second story where Vladimir stops by a house real quick after seeing a dead body. Basically it turns out that there are zombie type creatures running around known as Wurdulaks and they are incredibly dangerous. They can still move, run, and talk like normal humans but they can no longer eat and are driven by only one desire, to murder the one they love the most. It’s really a rough curse when you think about it because it’s actually using your own friendship against you. Vladimir doesn’t know how to end this curse but he ends up falling in love with one of the women there so he offers to at least take her with him and get out of there. Unfortunately she feels like she needs to stay with the rest of the family. They’re all worried that the father has been turned into one of these monsters because he’s been gone for a few days. Well he returns one day and seems a bit shady….should they destroy him or wait to see what happens?

Part of what hurts this short is how everyone makes the worst decisions possible. So it’s painfully obvious that the father has already been turned into a monster so just take him out! Now if there’s any doubt that’s fine, do some tests. Have him try to eat some food or at least put him in restraints. Instead they all just kind of stand there. The father goes to pick up the baby and they whine about it but let him take the kid. They all then go to bed as if everything was fine…..sure they have one guy as a night watchman but what were they thinking? Obviously these creatures have super strength so you’re not going to be doing much with just one guard. The whole story is really annoying because you just don’t see how this could have possibly happened. It really makes no sense the whole time. So inevitably when the body count starts rising you just know that all of the characters are to blame.

They open the door when monsters show up, constantly panic and split up, etc. Even Vladimir doesn’t look very good as he tries to leave initially but splits up of course. Then when he goes back to save the girl he doesn’t suspect that she might be turned and goes for the full body hug? Noooooo, this guy was asking for trouble. Horror characters are famous for making the wrong calls at every turn but this really has to be up there in the running for one of the worst films in that regard. The sheer frequency of all these bad decisions is completely mind boggling. Trust me you’re going to be shaking your head left and right. Throw in that the story is a bit darker as well with a dog getting shot and a kid being murdered…well this isn’t going to be winning any awards I can tell you that much.

Finally we have the last story which is a classic cautionary tale against greed. Basically it starts with an older lady named Helen being called in because an even older lady has died and so they have to get everything sorted out for the burial. Helen notices that the old lady has a really nice looking ring though and decides to take it for herself. Finders keepers and all that right? Well she puts it on and all seems fine for about 2 seconds but then she starts to hear some water tapping on the surface. No matter how many faucets she turns off it keeps up. This can be annoying but perhaps not a dealbreaker right? Well that changes once the dead lady starts appearing to reclaim her ring. If Helen isn’t careful then it will be all over for her. Can she relinquish the ring and make things all right or will she continue to double down over and over for as long as it takes?

So Helen definitely dug her own grave here. Sometimes it’s really as simple as just not stealing something. Whenever there is a film where the villain is attacking because the hero did something bad then it’s harder to have sympathy. Helen stealing from a dead person is just completely uncalled for and makes her look so bad. You simply can’t do that at any point. No amount of money is worth doing the wrong thing like that. The short definitely has a lot of fun playing with the colors here and it’s definitely a reminder that those old houses with lots of shadows are a bad matchup against a vengeful ghost trying to sneak up on you. You’re just giving it way too many hiding spots to try and get you at that point. The ending of the film is pretty satisfying with how the cycle keeps on going. Also the cops finally get involved there so you if we got a sequel it would be interesting to see how much they could deduce here. In a supernatural case it can be hard to really get any clues since they don’t really know enough from the jump but it would still be a fun premise.

Overall, This was a pretty decent horror special. Certainly wayyy better than the average horror anthology at least. There’s a good amount of intrigue here and some fun stories. The middle story definitely holds this combo back the most though and it isn’t quite up to the level of the other two. I can’t really picture re watching this one at any point but still it wasn’t bad. I would put it right in the middle. If you’re looking for some horror titles to watch then this could definitely work. At the same time, it’s not going to be the top horror title to check out or anything like that.

Overall 5/10

Dead of Night (1977) Review

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Uh oh it’s time for one of those horror anthologies. I have to admit that a lot of times these aren’t exactly up to snuff. Why is that? I don’t even know tbh but there has to be a logical explanation. It’s possibly because there just isn’t enough time to make every story solid or it’s also just that the odds of a story not being very good keep on growing larger. Either way this one doesn’t break the trend and ends up falling under its own weight.

The first story will take you for a loop because there’s nothing particularly scary about it. A guy named Frank ends up getting warped to the past. His car is stolen by some random people and even when an elderly couple urge him to report that the car was stolen, he decides not to. The whole short is as if he’s in a daze and you the viewer are wondering what’s going on. Is this all building up to some kind of zombie showing up and things going crazy? Nah he eventually finds himself in the present and he needs to repair the same car again. The whole thing went full circle and well…that’s it. There’s not really a climax or anything.

Frank tries to see what they remember about the past events but the owners don’t remember anything so did the whole tale even really happen? At the very least he should be supremely confident in his car repair skills. Who knows maybe he can master the ability and travel through time more in the future. So this wasn’t a bad story, it’s easily the best of the 3 but I have to admit that it’s just rather pointless. Like nothing really happens, there isn’t a lot of danger and you’re just left wondering what they were going for with this one. I guess it has a Twilight Zone kind of vibe but without the payoff.

The next story is more of a classic horror. So Alexis is being terrorized by a vampire that comes to her room and bites her at night. By the time she wakes up all traces of him are gone and her husband Gheria does not believe in vampires. Still, it’s hard to refute the evidence of bite marks on her neck every night so he calls in his friend Michael and they will say up all night to get to the bottom of this. Can they stop the vampire though? The short definitely has a pretty big twist up its sleeve and I can’t say that I saw it coming. The twist is effective and reshapes all of the events. So I give the short full marks there but ultimately this is a vampire story so it’s not going to fare too well.

You’ve got a lot of blood sucking going on here and it’s definitely the most violent of the 3. One guy definitely gets stabbed through quite a bit and ultimately most of the characters don’t really have a happy ending here. It’s actually a pretty dark ending no matter how you slice it and you didn’t have very many good characters. The only solid one here would have to be the butler by the time it was all said and done. If you love vampires then you’ll like this special but otherwise there’s really not much to it.

Finally we get to the 3rd special which is the longest by far but it really ends up dragging a whole lot. A Mom is grieving because her son ended up drowning and she decides to try and use dark magic to bring him back to life. Well it seems like it worked because Bobby shows up but he seems a little shadier than usual. He talks as if he was a grown up and begins getting scarier and scarier. Finally he throws off the charade and basically announces that he plans to destroy her. Can she fend off this child or will it be too much to put her kid back in the grave once more?

This one really feels like it goes on forever. At first Bobby is just being disrespectful and petty like not eating and intentionally trying to make his Mom feel bad. Then he keeps on escalating with trying to murder her and going crazy. We do get a twist about Bobby but it ironically still makes Bobby look really bad since he would have been complicit in this. At one point she lands a solid double tap on him with her gun but needed to press the advantage. Obviously it’s hard to be attacking a kid like this but then you need to get out of there. She briefly tried but his cosmic abilities kept on preventing the exit routes from working. You have to double down and keep trying or take him out.

The only scene that was amusing was when she called her husband and he kept repeating what she was saying. It then turned out that some reality warping or at the very least voice mimicry was at work here. For how long were things being manipulated? It’s hard to say. Either way she was on the defensive here and the underdog since he probably has a lot of abilities but it still makes for an annoying segment the whole time. I can’t take this kid seriously as a villain even if he may have super powers. None of them seemed to increase his weight or raw power so just throw him around or tie him up. Yes it’s a horror so that probably wouldn’t work but you have to give that a try.

Overall, This is definitely an anthology that I would say is worth giving a full skip. The only segment that’s any good is the first one and even then it just feels aimless the whole time. The vampire one is basically just going through the motions and the last one dragged on forever. You can do much better than this title if you want some scares and it’s another example of the limitations of the anthology setup. Ultimately any story with potential will end too quickly and any annoying story will end up dragging on. It’s a scenario where you can’t win and ultimately you’re just not going to have any real fun with this one.

Overall 2/10