Graveyard Stories 3

When I sat down to watch this 2023 horror anthology titled "Graveyard Stories 3", the movie displayed a title that was "Tales from the Graveyard" on the screen.

Granted, I haven't watched the 2017 "Graveyard Stories" nor the 2020 "Graveyard Stories 2" movies, so I didn't have anything to measure this third movie up against. And thus had no expectations to the movie, nor any idea what I was in for.

The tales in the anthology were not particularly entertaining, and it was literally a struggle to sit through them, as virtually nothing interesting happened.

Needless to say that I was, of course, not familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list. And that was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie, as I do enjoy watching unfamiliar and new talents on the screen. The acting performances were fair, taking into consideration the type of movie production that this was. Some of the performers from the second movie were also acting in this third movie, but in different roles, so yeah, this was a friends-getting-together-to-make-a-movie project.

"Graveyard Stories 3" looked, felt and sounded like a high school movie class project. It was a low budget production, for sure, but they definitely put some effort into it.

My rating of writer and director James Ian Mair's 2023 horror anthology "Graveyard Stories 3" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

After receiving a strange VHS tape, a young woman wondering why she received it decides to watch the tape which soon presents a series of terror tales hosted by Belladonna.

The Good Stor(ies): Slay Bells-On a cold Christmas Eve night, a young woman needing ingredients to finish baking finds herself stalked by the bloodthirsty killer out prowling the area. Overall, this was a fairly solid start to things and has a lot to like. The start to this comes off pretty well, getting a hint of the holiday atmosphere involving the cooking mishap that forces her out into the night as well as giving off hints about the killer's actions throughout town. The various stops at the store and the gas station where she has the later encounter with the fateful killer are all quite fun featuring enough creepy looks from onlookers that could be the killer that it's a nice shock when it finally occurs, and while the low-budget does hinder this with the inability to feature a full-on fight between anyone as the final confrontation is lame and underwhelming, it's the only bit that doesn't work here.

Eye of the Serpent-Following a company board meeting, a scientist wrongfully accused of malpractice is accidentally injected with radiated snake venom and sends her off on a vicious campaign against those responsible. There was a lot to like here. The whole setup with the academic jealousy over her research and how that turns her into the fabled creature is a fairly cliched but serviceable enough touch to get things going, especially with the background hints that are useful for setting up the turn and her eventual rampage. The cheesiness of the creature is a nice way to get this going as well as it allows for the rampage to go through the usual assortment of small-scale stalkings featuring a series of intriguing snake-vision point-of-view shots that bring about some fun times here. Again, it's a bit cheesy and cliche but that's about all that holds this down to end things on a high note.

VHS-After receiving a strange VHS tape, a young woman wondering why she received it decides to watch the tape which soon presents a series of terror tales hosted by Belladonna. This was a fairly enjoyable wrap-around that has a lot to like about it. The main setup of the tape's mysterious arrival and her subsequently going through it with the hostess introducing everything serves this well enough to provide a fun enough means of bringing each story up with a workable means of setting up the format of the tapes quite well. The ending comes out of nowhere without much in the way of build-up due to just strangely dropping things into the middle of a bizarre inclusion of other creatures we've never met, but there's still a lot to like here.

The Bad Stor(ies): Frank-Arriving unannounced at a therapist's office, a man recounts his experiences at a meat-packing plant trying to make friends only to be sent on a murderous rampage when his intentions are rebuffed. This is an overall unremarkable entry. The main thing here is that it's so cliche and unoriginal that it's had to really care about what's going on. The build-up of the whole thing is based on no one at work liking or respecting him after a series of past indiscretions where he's tried to be friendly only to get no response from them causing the violent snap and eventual murder spree that it's no different from dozens of others that have used this formula in the past and he's no different from any of the other attempts. With unspectacular encounters featuring him clearly being able to be stopped from his advantage but it plays out in lame fashion, this is a pretty underwhelming effort.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.