Review: MORBID STORIES (2019)
Just in time for Halloween, we have Morbid Stories, an anthology of, well, morbid stories of vampires, zombies, evil spirits and other things that go bump in the night. We’ve already had Holiday Hell and One Night In October, how well does this compare?
Framed within the story of Candy (Courtney Akbar, Astro, Clown Fear) a young woman fleeing what is thought to be some kind of attack on the US, we get four segments.
“Invasive Species” – A group of strangers led by The Long Haired Stranger (Tim O’Hearn, Johnny Gruesome, 100 Tears) turn up on a couple’s doorstep asking for help. All too late, they learn their visitor’s true nature.
This is a fun little vignette that gets Morbid Stories off to a good start. Writer/director Mick Thomas keeps a light touch on the proceedings and gets an excellent performance from O’Hearn. Zak Seeley stands out as one of his cohorts, as does Crystal Loverro as one of the unlucky homeowners.
“3 Months” – Mallory (Ashley Mei who also wrote and directed) has a couple of friends Lola (Jocelyne Daugherty) and James (Austyn Reale) over to play with an Ouija board. Despite their desire not to conjure up anything evil, they, of course, do just that.
Considerably grimmer in tone and execution than the opener, it’s an effectively creepy tale. It uses a nice bit of misdirection to pull two different themes together and deliver a sting at the end.
“Writers Beware” – Robert (Will Devokees, the segment’s director) is a writer. And like many a cinematic writer before him, he’s taken a cabin in the middle of nowhere to get his book finished. And he’s not happy with his accommodations. Especially the noises coming from the attic.
I’ve never understood why horror writers in movies complain when they end up in creepy houses, it should be great inspiration for them. This segment takes a bit too long to tell a frequently told story.
“More Than You Can Chew” – Clint Kelly delivers a tale of Morgan (Krystal Pixie Adams, Taste Me: Death-scort Service Part 3, Chaos A.D.) a vampire who’s fallen for a human and is trying to break her addiction to blood. She should have tried harder because her most recent victim turns out to be a zombie and bites back. This leads to changes that her boyfriend Jake (Eight The Chosen One, The Hart-Break Killer, Ouija Mummy) does not like.
The final segment of Morbid Stories answers that age-old question about one form of the undead biting the other. The results are predictably messy.
Asif Akbar finishes things off with the final piece of the wraparound.
Morbid Stories is an enjoyable, very low-budget anthology. It runs about seventy-five minutes which, with one exception, keeps the segments from dragging. While it’s never overly scary, it is fun and worth giving a look.
Morbid Stories is available on Amazon. You can check for other platforms on its Facebook page.