Hi-8 (Horror Independent 8)

A collection of shot-on-video throwback features directed by some of the genre's biggest and most respected names.

The Good Stories- Switchblade Insane-Following her husband on a supposed business trip, a woman recounts how she discovered his hidden identity as a feared mass murderer in the area who goes around molesting and killing beautiful women. As she tries to make sense of his habits, it soon becomes a struggle to contain the violent outbursts they both soon suffer from. There was a lot to like here although it does have a few minor issues. The setup is rather fun and the series of confrontations that take place offers up some wholly gruesome and graphic results that are enough to overcome the fact that the twist involving what's going on doesn't make much sense. It does seem a bit thrown out there for the sake of having a twist but lacks the context of why, but it's overall not that big of an issue.

A Very Bad Situation-As a global catastrophe strikes a group of individuals stuck in a ramshackle shelter, their personal issues and the growing hysteria of the situation soon grows out of control. When they finally know what's happening to everyone, they soon find themselves stranded in an unsurvivable situation. Overall, this was pretty fun. The whole paranoia of the situation gets introduced and paid off in rather nice manners when the whole reveal of what's happening in the outside work is revealed in one of the more impressive melting body gags in the film. It seems to end just as it's getting fun as the reveal tends to be the overall ending of the short but there's so much to like here in the practical effects for the creature it's somewhat forgiven.

The Tape-Working in an old VHS rental shop, a clerk closing up for the night finds a box of unlabeled tapes and takes them home only to find one contains an unfinished shot-on-video horror film. Desperate and incensed to track it down, he sets out to find the long-in-hiding director and finish the film. This is easily the highlight of the films with so much to really enjoy. The premise is a goofy throwback to the style shown here, and the wholly impressive make-up work shown on the videotape makes for a gloriously gory fun time while mixed together with some utterly hilarious visual gags involving the influence it has over him and his life. The finale gets a little hard to understand the connection involving the action being taken but beyond that offers this one a lot to really like.

Gang Them Style-Attempting to recover his mother from a nursing home, a soldier finds that a small group of survivors is left in the middle of a zombie apocalypse bringing the dead back to life. Forced to take them along with him, he risks the lives of everyone around him to take out the living dead around them. There's a lot to like here. The inherent goofiness and absolute hilarity of the situation where it parodies the machismo action films inside a zombie horror film are enjoyable enough and the action is appropriately silly and over-the-top with the slow-moving zombies matched by the equally-slow geriatrics in their care. Things don't make much sense in how it all works but it's not that bad overall and doesn't deter the rest of the fun with this one.

The Request-While working his normal routine night shift, a radio DJ is inundated with a series of calls pretending to be somewhat from his past that he would rather not be involved with. As he's forced to remember what got him into the situation to begin with, he soon finds out his past isn't as truly behind him as he thought. Overall this was a decent thriller that's hurt the most by being a paired-down anthology short. The central twist involving the connection between the caller and his personal life is something that would be better served by having more exposition instead of just being given as a flashback with no context. The outcome of everything is rather fun and plays the most old-school homages involving retribution for those who deserve it which helps this along quite well.

Thicker Than Water-While trying to move forward in their relationship, a couple soon find themselves bringing up arguments about his ex in their relationship as she struggles to get a clue about his loyalty. Soon realizing the depths she's capable of reaching to accomplish that, he tries to control her murderous urges and get away alive. This was a surprisingly fun and enjoyable segment. The whole idea of the psychotic and clingy nature she reaches is laid rather nicely here with the questioning and intensity of her status in the relationship which is soon found to be merely a setup for the later scenes of her holding the actual person hostage and torturing her in the process. This is rather fun if a bit too brief with the reliance on half-hearted confrontations that don't have much context in the long-run. A hilarious wrap-around running gag with a horror movie playing on TV is a fantastic capper to everything and makes for a fun time.

The Scout-Heading out to the desert on a secret trip, a man and his girlfriend arrive at an abandoned part of the desert looking to scout out potential locations for a film to be shot there. Finding themselves stranded in the deserted location, they're soon caught in a rather troublesome scenario to get out alive. There was plenty to like here. The simple setup and unbelievably eerie atmosphere of the abandoned house in the middle of the howling desert creates a fantastic starting point for something like this which is given a fantastic twist involving the discovery of a camera capturing wholly impossible images. Seeing how they come to play out is a mixed bag where the realistic nature of it tends to outweigh the wholly unbelievable execution that makes no sense whatsoever, but as a whole, the positives far outweigh the negatives here.

The Bad Story- Genre Bending-While attempting to go about her day, a woman finds herself being stalked by a deranged madman and attempts to get off on what's going on with her. When the tables keep turning and everything gets flipped around regarding the true intention of everyone involved, a series of madcap adventures awaits everyone. This was easily the weakest and most confusing effort in the film. The early part of this one featuring the stalking scenes of the guy and girl throughout her daily routine while plays out in a suspenseful series of setups that signal this one being a psychological thriller of sorts. However, it tends to then switch things up into a series of admittedly unforeseen twists that seem to be all it's got going for it as there's no real rhyme or reason for what's going on. Given the bizarreness of the setup and how unexpected everything is, that it falls flat is somewhat surprising given the wholly confusing nature of everything.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a comedic sex scene and implied rape.

A love-letter to the shot-on-video horror scene of the late 80s/early 90s, Hi-8 (Horror Independent 8) sees several pioneers of home-made horror teaming up with some of their modern-day counterparts to bring us a diverse anthology shot entirely on lo-fi, pre-HD formats; as such, it's similar in vein to recent horror talent showcases V/H/S and The ABCs of Death— only filmed on a much tighter budget. Although this lack of cash is evident throughout, a wealth of imagination and creativity ensures that this collection of the macabre, while varyingly wildly in quality and style, still manages to be a fair amount of fun as a whole, the enthusiasm and energy of the film-makers shining through each and every frame.

As is customary with such films, Hi-8 opens with a wraparound story (the appropriately named 'No Budget Films presents…'), which sees a pair of young film-makers, Travis (Paul K.) and Brett (Baker Chase), shooting their own horror video starring hottie Andrea (Danielle Nicole Rosario, looking fine in Lycra running gear); this is interspersed by eight gruesome 'shorts', each shot by a different director…

In 'Switchblade Insane', directed by Tim Ritter (Killing Spree), a loving housewife discovers her husband's dirty little secret and decides to join in with the fun. But is everything as it really seems? This sleazy, gory tale quickly sets the demented tone for the whole project, offering up plenty of blood, some gratuitous nudity, and a delightfully deviant twist.

'A Very Bad Situation', by Marcus Koch (100 Tears), sees a shower of meteorites falling to Earth, turning people into hideous creatures. A claustrophobic, paranoia-laced tale with decent performances and topped off with a wonderfully yucky transformation scene, this is one of my favourites of the whole bunch.

'The Tape', the directorial debut of visual effects artist Tony Masiello, has VHS collector Tim (Travis Hoecker) uncover a rare SOV horror obscurity entitled 'Bloodgasm'; becoming obsessed by the gory, no-budget tape, he and his girlfriend set out to meet the maker of the splattery flick, but get more than they bargain for. I enjoyed this one for the gruesome, snuff-style, giblet-fondling effects seen in 'Bloodgasm', but the ending of the story isn't as strong as I would have liked.

'Gang Them Style', directed by Ron Bonk (City of the Vampires), is a tongue-in-cheek homage to numerous cult movies that sees Snake Plissken-wannabe RJ "Mongoose" MacReady (Wes Reid) attempting to save his grandmother and her OAP pals during a zombie outbreak. With lots of references to classic horrors and plenty of gut-munching, this is very silly and lots of fun.

'Genre Bending' by Chris Seaver (Mulva: Zombie Ass Kicker!, Terror at Blood Fart Lake) is definitely the strangest segment, a 'WTF?' tale of stalking and rape-reversal that defies adequate description. Worth watching for the leering weirdo who simply wants to know the time.

In 'The Request', by Todd Sheets (the Zombie Bloodbath trilogy), all-night DJ Magic Matt West (Brad Westmar) receives strange phone calls, apparently from his dead lover Lillian. Is it simply a cruel prank, or does Lillian really have a special request for her ex? With a solid central performance from Westmar, and oodles of atmosphere, this one looks set to be one of the best, but is let down somewhat by its rushed Creepshow-style/EC-inspired ending.

'Thicker Than Water', from Donald Farmer (Cannibal Hookers), sees Ted (Mike Malloy) finding out just how insanely insecure his current partner Emily (Alaine Huntington) is when she reveals that she has his ex-girlfriend Lauren (Vanessa Nocera) tied to a chair in the garage. It's a rather routine tale of torture that benefits from a strong psychotic turn by Huntington.

The last tale is 'The Scout', helmed by Brad Sykes (who also directs the wraparound story), which stars Mark Sadr and Alexis Codding as low-budget film-maker Adrian and aspiring actress Madison, who break down in the desert while scouting for locations. After an argument, Madison storms off, but returns later to find Adrian missing. Finding his video camera, she watches the recording, with shocking results. This tale lacks logic, but with Codding looking great in a tight vest and shorts, who cares?

A mixed bunch, to be sure, but there's more than enough enjoyment to be had for those who, like me, are suckers for independent horror and horror anthologies in general.

Anthology films are kind of a gamble, sometimes the bad stories really drag a film down, other times, like Creepshow, VHS 2 and this film, the stories pretty much stand strong and create a solid whole. Hi-8 is a tribute to the low budget Horror genre, but it's so much more. I'm simply blown away by all the content and talent in this film, and even though it is micro-budget and low tech, it is high on imagination. It's simply an entertaining film that needs to be part of every fan's collection. Best segments belong to Marcus Koch, Ron Bonk and Todd Sheets, but all of them are fun and bring something fresh to the table. Kick back with some friends and some food and enjoy!!!

It's not everyday that you get a homage to the guys who pretty much invented DIY b movie filmmaker. So when I first heard that they were making an anthology featuring the likes of Tim Ritter, Todd Sheets, Donald Farmer, etc. I knew I had to give it a viewing sadly it took me nearly five years to finally give this thing a shot so here's each segment ranked from best to worst.

1. "The Tape" (Tony Masiello) - Without a doubt the best segment of the bunch, its pretty much a throwback to to the SOV days, with a video store employee finding a long lost SOV film. Fun with a nice and gory twist. It's really the only one that takes advantage of the video format.

2. "A Very Bad Situation" (Marcus Koch) - This one suffers from its two short run time, but, it's glorious use of practical effects towards the end makes it the second best of the bunch. Plus it also has Joel Wynkoop in it, so that helps.

3. "The Scout" (Brad Sykes) - Not really sure much about the story for this one, but, its helped by some really impressive gore at the end and the fact it takes place in the desert.

4. "Thicker Then Water" (Donald Farmer) - A really impressive effort from Donald Farmer, about a mans insane wife/gf who doesn't want to take the risk of his past gf getting in the way of there new relationship.

5. "The Request" (Todd Sheets) - This one seems to be the most dramatic of the bunch, I was sorta zoned out during most of it, but, it has a really nice twist.

6. "No Budget Films Presents..." (Brad Sykes) - The wraparound segment that plays between the actual eight segments, I'm not really sure what the point is for it, as nothing is really explained in it why any of it is happening, but, it has some nice effects towards the end.

7. "Switchblade Insane" (Tim Ritter) - Average tale of a husband/wife serial killer team, or is it? Has some nice gore going for it, but, that's sadly about it, a rather unimpressive effort from Tim Ritter.

8. "Gang Them Style" (Ron Bonk) - A throwback to 80s action films with a zombie twist, but, its sadly rather goofy and uninteresting. Played for obvious comedic effect.

9. "Genre Bending" (Chris Seaver) - It starts out somewhat interesting with a woman being stalked by a obviously strange and unbalanced man, but, it gets really stupid really fast and I just found no interest in it.

Of the eight segments including the wraparound the first two are the only ones that seem to get really ambitious with the concept and go for it, as for enjoyment the first five all together are worth the watch everything for six on done is just a waste of time. Overall, I'm glad to have finally gave this a watch, the final result is sadly a mixed bag, that I'm not for sure pays tribute to the bygone formats of VHS and Super 8 as it thinks it does, but, still some enjoyment to be found regardless.

The kings of Microbudget films join together in this rare Horror treat!! Hi-8 is an anthology type of film much like Creepshow, Tales From The Crypt and Deadtime Stories. Many times these types of films are short films thrown together with no real reason. Not the case here. Sure, it is still a bit uneven, but when you have 8 directors, technically 7 because Brad Sykes does double duty making a segment for the film AND the connecting story that goes between each story. I actually thought the connecting story was the weakest. It just didn't make sense or tie the other stories together in any way. I may have had some guys break into an old b=video store and find a bunch of old tapes, and the individual movies would have been the tapes they found, or something similar.

Quality of each film ranges from really good to passable. One is pretty terrible, but I think it was on purpose. Tim Ritter, Brad Sykes, Marcus Koch, Ron Bonk, Donald Farmer, Todd Sheets, Chris Seaver and Tony Masiello are the directors.

As for the stories, they were pretty much all over the place. I liked the diversity. I also liked the rules of Hi-8 shown at the end. Should have shown that at the start I think, it would have been fun to see how close each director followed the rules. It was great to see all the old school gore effects as well. No CGI at all. And I for one am very thankful.

Some standouts are "Gang Them Style" from director Ron Bonk. It's a funny story of a guy saving his Grandmother from the Undead. Tim Ritter keeps things gruesome with his "Switchblade Insane" segment. It follows Tim's formula of domestic darkness, this time though the husband and wife end up teaming up: The family that slays together stays together. Marcus Koch "A Very Bad Situation" seemed to have a blast with his segment featuring a pretty nifty monster and some good tension. Did I mention I am a sucker for rubber monsters? Todd Sheets "The Request" shocked me, creating what I think is probably the best looking segment technically, and showing restraint in his story of a late night DJ who gets some very strange phone calls. It got under my skin a bit and was probably the most professional looking story. Chris Seaver has a segment that is best described as over the top, more humor than Horror, but still ended up winning me over just for the tone and insanity of the whole thing. And Donald Farmer is here too! More domestic terror on tap, with a poor guy who is dating the worst excuse for a girlfriend in the world! There are some I am forgetting, but the whole thing really is a fun time. It's like a K-Tel Party Album from 1978 only better! I know they had a limited VHS release but it is out on DVD now and I found it at Amazon. Fans of creative, old school style Horror should check this out for sure!