With Friends Like These...

I found this little beauty in a local game shop selling for the hefty price tag of £2.99 and I have to say it was worth all of the 299 pennies spent.

After all, who wouldn't pay that much to own a classic contradiction of film rating?

This series of films was rated an '18' over here in the United Kingdom. I only watched the first film with Brum and the Matthew Broderick wannabe and still got the impression that something was seriously wrong with the BBFC..

How could a talking car and a man with a bleeding nose deserve an 18? It's not as if it is a film from the 50s where perhaps it would merit some certificate of this nature.

Now I have not yet got around to sitting myself down and watching the next to films, but I have a feeling that things are not going to get a whole lot better. The attempt at putting some thought and meaning into the film with the narrative at the beginning suggests that these people are trying to make something that will leave us pondering our own existence. It is obvious that the directors are not wanting to spoil their thoughtful 'masterpiece' with careless violence.

This is what I am going on when I doubt the caliber of the following two films. That and the fact that someone else that has rated the film has claimed it devoid of any violence, nudity or swearing despite the '18' rating (which I will be inclined to say attracted me to the title).

Don't get me wrong, though. I loved the first short I saw, and hope that the other two (by two other directors) follow the same sort of theme. It is the ridiculous and childish premises that make it fun, (that and the nervous man from the beginning, spinning around to bellow 'NO!' at his girlfriend who appeared to have something growing between her first two teeth.) and will watch it again because it reminds me what it was like to sit down and watch CITV after school. I even showed my nine-year-old little brother. I think he mentioned something about taking it to school to show his class.

I might have to leave a note for his teacher, telling her not to be fooled by the '18' certificate, the film is just child's play..

-Stoate

"Relationships are strange things" tells us the narrator (who keeps repeating the word "relationship" so many times that it gradually becomes annoying), this cheap little known Canadian horror anthology is a strange thing too. Three strangers on a bus each feature in a nightmarish short story: . (1) The Classic - Alex needs a new car, his girlfriend tells him that he can use some of their savings. To her surprise (and my delight, being a fan of classic vehicles) he buys an old red MG sports car. Only Alex can hear it but the car speaks to him in an English accent, "I think it's time we had a man to car talk" it tells him. The film has plenty of humour, some of which I found quite funny, for example Alex tells a used car salesman "I guess I just want what I can't have" and the guys replies "Oh tell me about it, I want my wife to look like Dolly Parton!" I did laugh at that one, ha ha. (2) Kitchen Culture - Heavy drinking slob Frank is told to clean up his squalid apartment by his landlord. A talking green creature grows from bacteria in his filthy fridge, it has the form of a bold headed half-man but only from the waist up. This sort of reminded me a little of "Basketcase" and is the most inventive of the 3 segments, though that's not saying much!

(3) Too Good to be True - An attractive woman called Susan Hill joins a dating agency (long before the days of doing it online), she meets a handsome chap named Chris, all seems fine at first but then he starts exhibiting strange behaviour. Apart from the couple visiting a botanical garden that features some fine cacti this final story just went nowhere. Along with other reviewers I simply cannot understand why in Britain this was rated 18 by the BBFC, there is nothing in the content that warrants it. As for the movie itself it is very low budget, taking that into consideration the end product is alright for a one time watch, especially for those of us who do like obscure horror anthologies. At 82 minutes in length the running time is sufficient. My DVD case promises "One Bus. 3 Nightmares. One Scary Ride" They got the last part wrong!

I acquired this film a couple of years ago and on trying to find some info about it I found that even the mighty IMDb didn't have it listed. That should have been all I needed to know.

With Friends Like These is an anthology that plays like a collection of second rate Twilight Zone / Outer Limits episodes all linked together by a bus journey that never really seems to tie in with the rest of the film. Of the three stories, the only one that I gleaned any entertainment value from was the second episode in which a man (of sorts) grows out of the bacteria in a guys fridge. This episode wins points for a few spots of humour and it's bizarre premise. Other than that there is an episode with a talking car (bland and directionless) and an episode where a girl visits a very unique dating agency (my dog guessed the ending of this one).

As has been mentioned in other comments, the 18 rating is entirely unwarranted. There is nothing to offend here. If you're after a good horror anthology check out Asylum or the Creepshow films instead.

I've always said that I can watch any horror film and enjoy it, no matter how bad. This film changed that fact! It's hard to believe that a film that involves Christine-like talking cars, fridge monsters made of bacteria and spooky robot boyfriends could be so tedious! I thought the last story, although very, very obvious, was the best of a bad bunch. The car story was just terrible. Also, what the hell has the bus journey go to do with the price of fish??? It seems just like a meaningless link between the stories that could have easily been elaborated and bettered. The acting wasn't the worst I've seen but the stories were simply not believable. Who, after being kissed by a gruesome fridge-bacteria monster, slaps their boyfriend and walks out calmly?! Anyway, not worth the £1.25 i spent on it from the Works stationary shop!

This is a very strange film, with a no-name cast and virtually nothing known about it on the web. It uses an approach familiar to those who have watched the likes of Creepshow in that it introduces a trilogy of so-called "horror" shorts and blends them together into a connecting narrative of the people who are involved in the segments getting off a bus. There is a narrator who prattles on about relationships, but his talking adds absolutely nothing to the mix at all and just adds to the confusion. As for the stories themselves, well.. I swear I have not got a clue why this movie got an 18 certificate in the UK, which would bring it into line with the likes of Nightmare On Elm Street and The Exorcist. Nothing here is even remotely scary.. there is no gore, sex, nudity or even a swear word to liven things up, this is the kind of thing you could put out on Children's TV and no-one would bat an eyelid. I can only think if it had got the rating it truly deserved (a PG) no serious horror fan would be seen dead with it, so the distributor probably buffeted the BBFC until they relented. Anyway, here are the 3 tales in summary: 1. A man becomes dangerously obsessed with his telekinetic car to the point of alienating his fiancee. 2. A man who lives in a filthy apartment is understandably freaked out when a living organism evolved from his six-month old tuna casserole. 3. A woman thinks she has found the perfect man through a computer dating service.. that is until he starts to act weird.. And there you have it. Some of them are pretty amusing due to their outlandish premises (my favourite being number 2) but you get the feeling they were meant to be a) frightening and b) morality plays, unfortunately they fail miserably on both counts. To sum up then, this flick is an obscure curiosity.. for very good reasons.