Escapes

The legendary Vincent Price is the star attraction of this collection of fantastic tales, appearing as both an aged mailman and a host for this anthology. As the mailman, he delivers an unsolicited VHS tape to a young man named Matthew Wilson (Todd Fulton). Matthew figures "what the Hell" and sits down to watch the tape. Price appears in this movie- within-the-movie to provide an introduction, ruminating on the entire idea of how thin the line is that separates reality from fantasy.

One. "Hobgoblin Bridge". Young boy Matt must navigate a covered bridge that is supposedly watched over by a tiny little demon.

Two. "A Little Fishy". A fisherman (Jerry Grisham) learns what it's like to be on the other end of the fishing line.

Three. "Coffee Break". The best segment in "Escapes" details what happens as an obnoxious young delivery driver (Michael Patton-Hall) finds himself trapped in the environs of a tiny town named Harmony.

Four. "Who's There?" A jogger (Ken Thorley) is menaced by monsters that are supposed to be genetic experiments that escaped from a biological preserve.

Five. "Jonah's Dream". Mary Tucker (the appealing Shirley O'Key), who's been panning for gold for years on her private mountain, receives a strange, otherworldly visit.

Six. "Think Twice". A mugger (Rocky Capella) takes a mysterious crystal from a bum (Gil Reade).

Writer, producer & director David Steensland creates some enjoyable atmosphere from the various California locations that he uses, and he's good at generating some suspense here and there. Overall, however, his stories are mostly uninspired, and not all of them have a very strong payoff. "Coffee Break" is a standout, offering a neat 'Twilight Zone' kind of tale. Steensland doesn't pace himself that well, either. "Jonah's Dream" especially takes too much time to get where it's going.

Price is unfortunately rather wasted. It's sad that, in the final dozen or so years of his career & life, he couldn't have headlined some pictures more worthy of his screen presence. But at least he also did "From a Whisper to a Scream" during this time period, and that one is more worth your time.

This obscurity / curiosity still merits a look if you're a die hard fan of Price and/or the horror and fantasy genres. Don't expect any real scares at all, though.

Five out of 10.

> Escapes is the textbook example of bad film-making. Whenever you've seen a > movie that you feel was horrible, see this one and realize what true garbage > is. One can only guess that Vincent Price was blackmailed into being > involved in this mess. Two bright spots about this film were that it has no > sequel, and that it has a "Mystery Science Theater" quality about it. To me > the most frightening thing about this movie was that I paid .99 to rent this > dog. >

Actually, the only mystery that engages me is how I came to be credited as the actor playing "Large Creature"! I didn't have anything to do with this picture, and from the sound of it, I'm glad I wasn't. Very strange.

Hmm, 1986? I was playing a singing King Mark in a dopey Equity-waiver musical production called "Knightly Pursuits", during which I met my wife-to-be, Emilie, to whom I've been happily married to for 18 years now. I asked her about my ever playing a Large Creature. She just smiled.

Meanwhile, the other IMDb listing for me is correct: I do co-star in the Ralph Bakshi/Frank Frazetta 1983 production of "Fire & Ice" which has just been re-released on DVD. (Yay!) Included on the disc is a special feature in which I narrate from a personal diary I kept during filming. The producer of the special feature dug up production stills of me on the set that I had never seen before. That was a treat. Anyway, "Fire & Ice" is sort of my "I Was a Teen-Age Werewolf". Not a great film, but my own.

Sean Hannon --- a.k.a. Nekron, the evil Ice Lord

Hackneyed, shapeless anthology from the bargain basement. The six tales (that's six on my tape) are all shot outside, all dialogue-lite and all appalling. They were clearly made by people who'd only just found a video camera. Indeed, you actually see the camera twice reflected in surfaces. Vincent Price must have taped his contribution in a single morning and probably didn't remember it a week later. Waste not your time on this. The box says on the back 'in the tradition of The Twilight Zone' - in their dreams. How about saying 'In the tradition of a particularly bad, 80s, made for television scatty fantasy horror which are deeply tedious and insignificant'?

It is sad to see the previously great Vincent Price attach himself to the front and back end of this amateurish production of silly & sad non-spooky shorts. He's in there briefly at the front, and briefly at the end, but the stuff inbetween was made by hacks.