Escapes

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

> 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. >

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.

Vincent Price was arguably one of the greatest actors that ever lived and inarguably the greatest horror protagonist of the 1950s and 1960s. But the horror genre changed drastically in the year 1973 (mainly due to the release of "The Exorcist") and, all of a sudden, there weren't many roles anymore for an actor of Price's caliber. Gothic and Grand Guignol horror movies suddenly weren't popular anymore and got replaced by raw and gritty exploitation movies. Throughout the rest of the '70s, the almighty Vincent Price was a bit lost, but in the 1980s he gave his career its final boost by briefly appearing as the typically sinister host in low-keyed anthologies or as the narrator in macabre fairy-tales, for example his legendary contribution to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The very modest and inconspicuous made-for-TV anthology "Escapes" is another title that probably never would have caught any attention if Price's name wasn't attached to it. Price only briefly appears at the beginning and the ending of the wraparound story, but his stern voice and sinister laughter are doing all the necessary work. Furthermore "Escapes" is not much more than a cheap attempt to cash in on the successes of "Creepshow" (1982) and "Twilight Zone: The Movie" (1983). The short segments, five in total, are child-friendly but definitely not childish, and the least you can say is that they offer unpretentious good fun! None of the stories are frightening, not even remotely, but they are interesting enough and the atmosphere of the film is exactly right. The first two segments are my favorites, notably because they are both fairly ominous whereas segments three and four are sillier and more fantasy-like. In "Something Fishy", a fisherman physically experiences how the rules of his favorite sport are turned upside down, and "Coffee Break" gives a whole new and uncanny meaning to the term "slowing down"… This second segment mainly benefices from the creepy performance of John Mitchum as the seemingly friendly local yokel who advises a stressed-out delivery boy to relax, enjoy the scenery and stop for a good cup of coffee... The third segment involves a chubby jogger and three bizarre creatures that escaped from a medical lab. Apart from a fairly admirably attempt to build up suspense, there's very little to say about this short story and the denouement is just too silly for words. I didn't like the fourth segment "Jonah's Dream", as it reminded me too much of a Walt Disney story. Being more of a fan of raw and gritty horror anthologies, I personally very much prefer the '80s outings "From a Whisper to a Scream" (also starring Vincent Price), "Deadtime Stories" or "Screamtime", but I certainly don't consider watching "Escapes" as a waste of my (not-so-precious) time

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.