Scary Tales

i watched this movie after seeing part 2.

it's a good idea, about a guy who visits a job finding office. hes offered 3 jobs but can't take them until he hears about them.

each story is about his future. one has him running over a little girl and being haunted by her doll. the last one has edgar allen poe.

not nearly as good as scary tales 2, but worth your time.

one comment though, the acting kind of bad in some spots, but the leads are really, really good.

my wife and i picked this movie up in Ohio at a horror convention (where we watched part 2 with an audience). both movies are hard to find, but worth your time if you can buy them.

This shot on video anthology works well as a black comedy/horror cheapie. Bill Cassinelli is quite good in his role as Dennis Frye, an unemployed man who visits a job placement center. While there, he is told what may happen to him at each job by Mr. Longfellow (wonderfully played by Joel Wynkoop). The flick is paced slowly at times, but it works. Michael A. Hoffman maintains a sense of humor and never lets this become predictable. One of the better horror anthologies to be released for some time....7/10

Our film review website was sent a screener of the "Scary Tales Collection 2 pack", which is set for major release later this year.

Having read some reviews for both films, I was interested in seeing what each entry in this low budget series had to offer.

To my surprise, both films moved at a quick pace and each offered their form of "entertainment". Now, why is entertainment in quotation marks?

Well, these little low budget features were oddities. For starters, despite being irrational with their narratives, they seem to intentionally tread familiar ground only to push a cliché so far before completely turning it in your face. Of course, the entertaining factor is the oddness of the production.

SCARY TALES

A review by Justin Dyer

5-24-2005

Part 1 in the series, captioned "Volume 1 - Warped Realities" - is much different than the 2nd entry in the series. While it technically is a horror anthology, each tale is centered around one individual who visits a job finding agency. Here, he is told 3 stories dealing with different jobs, and what his future would hold if he took each.

While the wrap-a-round is a good idea, the idea is underutilized. While Joel D. Wynkoop has a fun, campy presence as Mr. Longfellow - this low budget series' version of the Crypt-Keeper, his being confined behind a desk lowers the fun level (he is much more animated in the sequel).

Technically this entry falls within the "anthology format", yet, each tale deals with the same character - making it almost a feature cut into vignettes as opposed to a typical "trilogy" of horror.

SCARY TALES is extremely similar in tone to the television anthology series of the 1960's and 70's; somber, paced with deliberate intention, stories focused on one individual - yet, there are some campy scenes mixed within. It's odd that the creators took the campier level with the sequel - as this is a fairly straightforward series.

Each tale is decently acted and well photographed - but blood is a scarcity as, again, these are more reminiscent of something you would see on television.

There is an effective sex scene thrown within, upping the level of exploitation, but this is still a more "mainstream" feature that is appropriate for 13+.

What should you expect from SCARY TALES?

It is entertaining with fairly solid stories, attractive women (with a decent amount of nudity) and a straightforward narrative. Would I recommend it as much as it's sequel? No.

However, it does lead into THE RETURN OF MR. LONGFELLOW quite well, and there's an inside joke that's bound to make any fan of this film chuckle once they watch part 2.

Camp Value - 7 out of 10 Production Value - 8 out of 10 Acting - 6 out of 10 Screenplay - 6 out of 10 Entertainment Value - 7 out of 10

Overall

6 out of 10

Recommended

Just watched Scary Tales last night, and I have to say after hearing a lot of negative feedback about this movie that I was surprised and entertained through most of it. The acting at most points was very laughable but that's what made it great, and I really liked the story twists. Each story ends on a bit of a different note, but I'd have to say my favorite Tale was the final story with Poe. Looking forward to seeing the sequel, I have heard some good reviews of that one so I'm sure I will enjoy it!

Scary Tales reminded me of the 1970's Tales from the Crypt movie, and of course Creepshow.

Following a job-recruitman post, an unemployed man heads to a special center for a new job and learns the possibilities that await each of the potential positions.

The Good Stor(ies): Hit and Run-Heading out for a delivery, the driver of a fast-food company inadvertantely kills a young girl out in the middle of the street when he fails to spot her playing alone. Overcome wih guilt about the incident, he soon starts beliving he's going crazy when he continually spots the dead girls' doll everywhere he goes. This was a fairly fun and enjoyable semgent. It's a cliched setup, but it's that way for a reason as these stories usually work which is what happens here. The idea of spotting the doll and being forced to relive the incident continually makes for a few creepy moments especially in conjunction with the doll's eerie whispering that accompanies them. The later half where the dolls start doing more is a bit of fun, and with the final comeuppance delivered it satisfies, really only letting the cliched and predictable nature of it all bring this down.

The Bad Stor(ies): I Ain't Got No Body-Working at a used bookstore, a chance at potential romance with a frequent customer spurns a lonely clerk into looking at ways to win her over with a book on astral projection. As she keeps holding back his advances, he attempts to master the format which soon leads to deadly consequences for them both. This one isn't all that great and doesn't really have much going for it. The majority of this is undone with the idea of not really making the dream girl all that desireable as she's pretty rude, ungrateful and sarcastic which renders a lot of his pining after her problematic as he can't tell that she's not all that great. This does ruin a large part of the segment with a pretty lousy non-horror feel and really only serves to make the final twist to feature any kind of horror-based activity which is quite intriguing. That is really the most worthwhile part about the segment.

The Death Of...-Trying to work on a screenplay, an unsuccessful writer who finds his work continually rejected and declined to the point that it begins eating away at the rest of his life. Attempting to find inspiration wherever he can find it, the drive for success eventually drives him into dangerous territory. This was a rather bland and banal offering that doesn't really have much going for it. The setup for this one is quite familiar and cliched and does doom this one quite easily as there's very little to it that's terrifying based on the setup. The visual tricks used to accomplish this are quite a bit of fun and are the main aspects holding it up since the twist here is accomplished nicely, but again it's far too cliched and easy to guess where it's going to really matter much. This is watchable but not that surprising.

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