Ghoulish Tales

Director - Brad Twigg (Milfs vs. Zombies)
Starring - Matthew Britner, Rebecca Chambers, and Drew Day
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "In the tradition of Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside comes a new reason to check underneath your bed before you go to sleep at night!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     If any of you have read my reviews before then you may know by now that I love anthology films.  Growing up I would often watch Creepshow, Twilight Zone the Movie, Tales from the Darkside the Movie, and so many others.  There is just something so appealing about a series of shorts held together by another story or a horror host introducing them.  However, as much as I love watching a well made anthology I fucking hate reviewing them.  It takes so much time to pick apart each segment and make sure I dedicate enough time to each one, but I don't do this for money or fame.  I do this for fun so if I take my sweet time when I write my review then it is not that difficult to review one.  A few months back I came across the Facebook page for the upcoming film Milfs vs. Zombies.  This film looks fucking sleazy and fun as hell.  I befriended the director, Brad Twigg, and discovered he had directed the horror anthology Ghoulish Tales.  I reached out to him and he was nice enough to send a review copy my ways.  Thanks Brad!

     The film opens with a man wearing a mask that appears to be flesh that i painted to look like a demented clown as he breaks into a home as a young woman and a man dressed as Santa is about to bang it out.  He intervenes and kills them both before stealing the Santa costume.  We then jump to a family who is leaving their son alone with the babysitter as the two head out for a night on the town.  The babysitter and the young boy sit around and she tales him two stories.  The first involves a man and his goon as they track down a young girl who leaves her home every night.  They assume she is an escort but what she truly is is something far, far worse.  The second story she tales follows a young man who is wheelchair bound who has a crush on a beautiful young woman who is dating a real piece of shit.  She is also being sexually harassed by her boss as work.  He wants nothing more than to make her happy and that comes in the form of a young, female voodoo priestess.  She tells him about an unmarked grave in the cemetery where a beast will rise to kill all those that has done her wrong.  He raises the undead fiend and he wreaks havoc on all those that did not treat her with respect but it doesn't stop there.  In a panic, the boy in the wheelchair tries to stop him but learns who he really is and his connections to the priestess.  We then jump back to the babysitter and the young boy as the man wearing the Santa outfit makes his way to their home.  As his parents arrive, the Santa maniac kills them and we soon learn his sinister connection to the babysitter.
     I may be in the minor when I say this but I personally feel that an anthology is as good as the wrap-around story is strong.  If there is not something to tie the films together then they just feel out of place and tossed together.  Films like Creepshow, From A Whisper to a Scream, and so many more know this as fact and gave the films exactly what they want.  However, indie anthologies usually lack these bookend tales that make anthologies so fun.  When I first discovered Ghoulish Tales I had no idea it was an anthology until Brad told me.  I was excited to see it but I was afraid this would lack everything that make anthologies fun.  Once I started the film it layed that thought to rest and gave me a solid anthology film.  The acting in this film is hit and miss in every sense of that phrase.  Some of the cast is amazing which is truly inspiring considering this is the first role many of them had.  However, other cast members have a hard time demonstrating emotions.  This was evident in the kill scenes.  One scene in particular, when the guy's dick is bitten off, he acts like it is a minor nuisance when I'm sure he would be in unbearable pain.  It was times like this that it was hard for the me to really enjoy myself.  The three stories for these are fun.  The wrap-around story involving the killer Santa is one we have seen countless times over but we have never had one with such an unexpected twist at the end.  The second story, about the vampire escort, is one I have seen several times in the Shock-o-Rama series part of the erotic horror sub-genre.  Though it was not original it was still fun and sexy as hell.  The third and final tale in the film about the wheelchair bound boy was my favorite of the film and pays tribute to the classic zombie films from Italy in the 70s and 80s.  Fans of Fulci will really enjoy that one.  Finally, the film is overflowing with blood and guts with several on screen kills.  The kills may not be that original but they use some solid practical effects to make them stick out.  Overall, Ghoulish Tales is a fun anthology film that offers some indie grade acting with some fun stories and great gore.  Check it out.