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VOICES FROM THE GRAVE (2014)
The horror landscape has been flooded with horror anthologies as of late. We’ve gotten everything from the standard VHS anthology films (click here, here, andhere) to the super short entries of the ABCs OF DEATH films (click here andhere). I’m glad there’s been a resurgence of the anthology format. There’s a lot of fun to be had when the anthology is done right. VOICES FROM THE GRAVEis one of the newest offerings into the canon. Directed by Laurence Holloway and Richard Stoudt, VOICES FROM THE GRAVE is written by Holloway, Stoudt, Darlene Stoudt, and offers an original story by Gary Brandner, author of THE HOWLING. Let’s see how this one measures up.
The wrap around story of VOICES FROM THE GRAVE isn’t anything too original or new, but it does a solid job of setting up the other stories. The film starts with a horror fan looking for hard to find literature in a rare book bookstore. He finds a volume of short stories and then seeks out a secluded location to read the book. Some anthologies, like V/H/S: VIRAL, try and get too creative with the wrap around story and end up with a jumbled mess. Seriously, if anyone knows what the hell the framing story was in V/H/S: VIRAL, email me!! It was also nice to see an anthology film going old-school and be focused around books and reading for a change.
The first story, “All Hallows’ Eve,” is a pretty blatant warning about the dangers of drinking and driving. The story takes place on, you guessed it, Halloween and explores the consequences of one’s actions. The set-up here is pretty familiar: At a Halloween party, a group of friends are drinking and partying it up and everything eventually leads to an accidental death. “All Hallows’ Eve” is well written with good dialogue and solid acting. The tone of the short is somber and dark and the writers restrained from injecting humor into the story, thereby maintaining the heavy tone the entire story. You’ll see the ending of the story coming a mile away, but in all honesty you’ll know exactly how the story will end within the first five minutes.
There were some issues with the sound quality in this story. Much of the dialogue is hard to hear and is drowned out by the surrounding noise. “All Hallows’ Eve” is overall successful with only a few technical problems.
The next story, “Invitation,” is an adaptation of Gary Brandner’s (the author of THE HOWLING) story. In it, a lone traveler, Len Krager (Michael Hanelin), is lured to a secluded location where he encounters a vengeful spirit. The story is well-written, but there are some problems. Motivation for the main character is missing. We know Krager is being lured to the house, but it was never exactly explained why. Once the haunting started, “Invitation” was pretty fun, but the surrounding story just didn’t work for me. We get some decent special f/x and the story works as a ghost story, but there weren’t too many scares. “Invitation” is fun but you’ll feel like it could’ve been so much more.
The final story, “Repossessed,” is the most fun. “Repossessed” is marked with solid writing, good acting, and a dark sense of humor. In a story reminiscent of John Carpenter’s CHRISTINE, Jeff (Chris Labadie), is in the market for a new car. He finds the perfect car and the price is one he couldn’t pass up. Unfortunately the car is possessed and wants Jeff’s body and soul. The special f/x are simple, yet convincing, the ending is pretty fun, but like in the previous two stories, “Repossessed” wasn’t very scary.
VOICES FROM THE GRAVE is, as a whole, a simple anthology with decent stories, above average acting for a low budget indie film, but inconsistent special f/x. There are some issues with the sound, and if you don’t like low budget films, then VOICES FROM THE GRAVE won’t be for you. Other than that, VOICES FROM THE GRAVE is a decent entry into the anthology canon.
SYNOPSIS:
The dead have stories to tell a horror fan seeking the obscure.
REVIEW:
An anthology horror film by Richard Stoudt (Death By VHS) and Laurence Holloway (Nightmare Alley), VOICES FROM THE GRAVE presents three compelling short tales held together with a wrap-around story.
Our story begins in a book shop. The nameless customer (although named in the closing credits, and played by Bobby Shook) engages the shop keeper (Scarlet Fry) in a discussion on horror fiction. After the shopkeeper recommends a few known authors – Stephen King, HP Lovecraft – the customer says he wants something a bit more obscure. Purusing the horror section, a book falls off the shelf. Intriqued, the customer sits down to give it a quick look.
This leads to our first tale, ALL HALLOWS EVE, written by Mr. Stoudt and Joe Evans. As the title would suggest, it is Halloween night. Lynda (Michelle Green) is throwing her annual bash. Her best friend Robert (David Nelson) is not having a very good time. His younger brother Vince (Sean Ryan McBride) has tagged along to the party, drank too much, and is generally making a fool of himself.
Vince asks Robert to give him a ride home, but is instead given a lecture about how he’s ruining the night for everyone. Robert hands Vince the car keys and a jack o’lantern “to protect him” and tells him he’s on his own.
Vince is killed in a car accident trying to get home.
The story picks up three years later, and Robert has never gotten over the guilt of what he allowed to happen. Robert has pretty much abandoned all Halloween related festivties since that night, despite Lynda trying to get him to come back to her bash. Instead, Robert spends the evening at home drinking beer and watching the annual horror movie marathon on local tv, hosted by a character called Guy Marks (Andrew Presler).
He doesn’t decorate or give out candy, so every year his house gets nailed by pranksters. But this year, he’s got a much bigger problem.
The second tale is called INVITATION, based on the short story “Mark of the Loser” written by the late Gary Brandner (creator of The Howling). We meet businessman Len (Michael Hanelin), on his last night in the small town of Wildwood. Len came here to set up a new office for the company he works for, and had every intention of maybe staying for the duration. But he finds the townspeople cold and unfriendly, and has made only one friend in the whole time he has been there. He spends a few hours at the local bar with Pete (Jonathan Medina) before heading back to his hotel for one last sleep in this “god forsaken town”.
Len gets to his car and finds an invitation to a party, ambiguously signed by the host only as “W”. Len figures it’s better than watching tv alone in his hotel room, so he decides to accept the invitation.
He arrives at a lively c**ktail party. Everyone is very friendly, and they all seem to know his name. But he has no idea who any of these people are. And every time he asks to meet the host, he is distracted by the other guests. Then there is a beautiful woman with blonde hair (Sarah Masters) who keeps popping up in his periphery but disappearing before he can speak to her.
As he becomes acquainted with the other guests, Len keeps asking who she is. Again, they simply re-direct his attention to something else. A very strange c**ktail party, indeed. And who exactly is the host?
The last story is REPOSSESSED, written by Mr. Stoudt. Jeff (Chris Labadie) is a broke slacker. He takes his girlfriend Cathy (Maryam Cne’) on dates using public transit. How romantic. But he’s saving up his money to buy a car, and he won’t settle for just any POS.
He happens by a car with a “for sale” sign in the window – a totally cherry 1986 Corvette. The asking price is 700 dollars. Too good to be true? He calls the number and arranges to meet with the seller, Eddie (James Leatherman).
Jeff gets his mechanic friend Devin (Corey Henderson) to drive him out for the meeting. Jeff finds Eddie a bit odd, but the price is right and the car is awesome, so he buys it.
That’s when the weird stuff starts to happen. The car seems to have a mind of it’s own. But is that even possible?
This film was made for a budget of 10,000 dollars, and I love a low-budget film. This one has the feel of the old horror anthologies from tv like Tales from the Darkside or Monsters. Even though this is a new film, it has a feeling of nostalgia to it.
Special effects are very minimal. The sound mix is pretty awful. But what really makes a film like this is how good the stories are. All three tales are good, if a little predictable. Totally worth the time to watch.
Full Movie on Xmovie8
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