Al giro del terror

I saw this movie by mistake one Monday morning. The first story was very scary. It was scary because what happened to that couple can really happen to someone. The second story is a total nightmare. The third story loses some steam. Nothing out of the ordinary.

So what's my conclusion? I can only say that this movie is one of those gems you sometimes stumble into by mistake. It kept me in suspense. It was well written. Not exactly an excellent film, but it was good.

An anthology of three different horror stories, this movie is basically a poor man's version (or just plain poor version) of the Creepshow, or Tales from the Crypt, or Twilight Zone. The only "twist" that made this worth watching was an erotic sex scene with Francoise Robertson in the third story.

More like 2 and a half stars. I am a sucker for anthology horror movies. There are three stories to this one. The theme of the whole thing is that each of the stories are supposed to have an unexpected twist partway through (or at the end). The first story is about a man and his wife who are celebrating their second honeymoon, and are on a fairly deserted road after a fancy dinner when a car runs them off the road. They finally manage to flag down a van that stops for them to take them to a phone (I guess neither of these yuppies carry a cell?) The driver, who sounds like Woody Harrelson did in Kingpin, and kind of looks like him too, only with more hair, gets more and more creepy, and they get more and more nervous...I didn't see the first twist coming, but I saw the second twist, which I could tell was supposed to be more shocking, a mile away. The second story is about a travelling salesman who has to catch a plane. They leave it vague but he seems to have ripped off someone and is trying to leave the country. He runs out of gas and gets attacked by a dog, then to escape, runs to a hospital-like building (again, out in the middle of nowhere) and pounds on the door till a nurse and an orderly let him in. But are the hospital staff really what they seem? I figured out how this one would end about 10 seconds after he enters the hospital, having seen this plot before on Tales From The Crypt among others. The third story is about a pretty but lonely single woman looking for romance in bars and through dating services. She meets a good-looking, smooth character in a bar who seduces her. I saw the ending twist to this one coming about 5 minutes into it as well. I do have to say, in all fairness, that I've seen almost every horror movie ever made and every Tales From the Crypt episode, so I am pretty good at figuring out how these things are gonna go. And there were some original things done, and they did trick me one or two times. Better than all that teen crap coming out these days, that's for sure. Worth renting--and good if you have a short attention span. Try not to be distracted by how the female lead in the last story is a dead ringer for Julia Louise Dreyfuss.

Stuck in the attic of his house, a paranoid man recounts several different tales to an unknown listener in order to explain the dangers of the world:

The Good Stor(ies)- The People You Meet-Out on a date, a couple are celebrating their anniversary when their car crashes and is run off the road, forcing them to ride with a stranger when he picks them up. When he and a friend take them to a cabin in the woods, they are tortured, but soon they realize that the allegiances of the kidnappers are a little more shaky than they thought. This is a troubling entry, with both good and bad parts. The good is just that, really good, as the car crash and resulting scenes of being stranded, such as the aftermath and trying to flag down a car without being hit, are pretty enjoyable. There's a pretty intense car ride through a dark forest trail at high- speed, which is a great scene along with the dialog in the cab and the subsequent abduction is fairly nice. Even more so is the later chase through the woods, which is helped nicely by the rain and the twisting set-up of the forest. Each of the twists works nicely and comes as a pretty big shock. The bad stuff, though, just doesn't work at all, which is the scenes in the cabin. There's no real energy to them, and the sense of danger is never really present due to all the screaming and useless torture methods. The whole segment has very little energy, but it's still quite enjoyable.

The Clinic-Traveling through the countryside, a man finds himself attacked by a savage dog at a gas station and ends up at a nearby private clinic where a strange nurse tends to his wounds. Persistent in trying to leave, he tries to get out in order to go on with his day but manages to be prevented from knowing what's going on. Continuing to snoop around, he finds the real reason for the deadly game and tries to get out of the building alive. This was a really good entry, with a lot going for it. The attack by the dog, with the verbal and physical taunting that soon turns violent, leading into a fun chase around and through the car complete with the different tactics of getting away and the eventual escape, is a thrilling, exciting and completely enjoyable scene. The build-up in the hospital is really good, with the bloody wall and blood-soaked gurney, to the different times of finding all the clothing and the strapped-down body in the office, along with the ensuing revelation, this one works pretty well and has a really intense feeling to it. The only part here that doesn't work is the revelation, which is pretty weak. There's a very weak twist here that gets no time at all since the rest of the film is drawn-out, dealing with building it up. That build-up doesn't make for many exciting moments since it's not based on actions but rather situations, and it could cause some problems, even though overall it's quite good.

The Bad Stor(ies)- Stolen Moments-Struggling through the dating world, a woman is encouraged by her friend to go for a guy when she sees him at the bar, and they make plans for a date. As he starts to romance her over the phone, they eventually agree to meet up together at his house, but they soon realize something isn't right when the others around them suddenly turn up dead.This here was the lone weak entry, not having much of anything worthwhile about it. The only positive in here is the film's revelation scene, where the brutal and bloody kills are really good, the atmospheric setting of the house adds some good chills to it, and there's some fun to be had with the revelation itself. The rest of the segment is mainly devoted to either showing her struggles with video- dating or being encouraged to go along for the date, not necessarily the most enjoyable scenes to watch. Instead, this one turns out really dull, despite the shadowy sex-scene to account for the nudity, and is really scare-less since the twist comes across so last minute that nothing is built-up at all to a shocking scene that comes out of nowhere, not something really worth promoting. This here really needed some work to it.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence, Nudity and a sex scene.

Going in with no knowledge of the film I was elated to see that it was a horror anthology as I have a real fondness for them.

The trouble however with anthologies is they can only be as good as the weakest story and they always tend to have at least one that is somewhat lacking. Twists of Terror however is a rare exception with three great stories and a likeable wrap around.

Starring Jennifer Rubin, Françoise Robertson and Nick Mancuso the three stories not only manage to surprise and entertain in good measure but the competent cast really elevates them well above what you'd expect.

All three stories are on par, very likeable and don't go quite the way you'd expect at all. So much credit is due to the writers, they really did something special here.

Twists of Terror is right up there with Creepshow (1982) and Trick r Treat (2007) in my estimation and I think its a real shame that it isn't more well known.

Essential viewing for fans of horror anthologies.

The Good:

Great cast

Perfectly written stories

Nice wraparound

The Bad:

Just a couple of minor unanswered questions

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

There is always a correlation between a womans beauty and her level of craziness

Jennifer Rubin should have had a better career

Video dating needs to make a comeback!