THE PROSPECTOR'S CURSE (2013) Short Film Review

Directed by: Josh Heisie

Starring: Dave Roberts, Johnny Quinn, Robert Nolan

Around about a year ago is when I first heard about THE PROSPECTOR'S CURSE and I have to admit I was looking forward to it quite a lot because aside from horror movies I also have a particular love for westerns, both the American John Ford kind and the spaghetti type. So a western themed horror flick would seem right up my alley.

A murderous yet feeble-minded oaf by the name of Tubby (Roberts) has paired up with smooth talking snake-oil salesman Jack (Quinn), leaving the angry cries of cheated townsfolk in their wake. Along their travels they come across an old, dying prospector (Nolan) clutching a bag of gold in one hand and a map in the other.
With his dying breath he asks the pair to deliver the gold to his family and to give him a proper Christian burial when he passes on. He seems particularly vehement about that last bit because the ground he is lying on is an old Indian burial ground. But when Jack takes a look inside the bag he gets gold fever and despite Tubby's initial objections they both head off to mine the prospector's claim while they still have time.
But as we all know an Indian burial ground is nothing to joke about and the failure to honor the prospector's final wish might just come back to haunt them.

In all honesty when I sit down to watch a short film I don't really expect a whole lot, although by now I've certainly seen enough to know that they can be just as enjoyable and effective as a feature length film. THE PROSPECTOR'S CURSE is an impressive combination of western, comedy and horror which easily entertains throughout its 15 minute running time. Another thing that caught me by surprise is just how professional and well crafted this short was. Everything from the lighting, the locations, the period props and costumes and the gore and make-up effects are all top notch. I should also mention that the make-up and effects are all practical which automatically scores bonus points from me. The acting was great also from Roberts, Quinn and Nolan (Robert Nolan being a favourite of mine ever since seeing him in WORM and FAMILIAR).

Also worth mentioning is that THE PROSPECTOR'S CURSE is the first part in what will eventually become and anthology a la CREEPSHOW or TALES FROM THE CRYPT, with each part focusing on a different aspect of horror such as slasher films and creature features. It just so happens that I'm a pretty big fan of anthologies and if the other parts are as enjoyable as this one then I'm most definitely looking forward to it.

THE ABCs OF DEATH (2012) Review

Directed by: All of these people

Starring: All of These people

26 directors from around the world. 26 letters of the alphabet. 26 different short films. When I first heard about this it sounded to me like a simultaneously good and bad idea. Good because in general I'm usually a fan of anthologies but bad because having such an array of different directors means that every segment will be different and therefore not to everybody’s liking. For example fans of Ti West aren't necessarily going to be into the more bizarre style of Noboru Iguchi. But by the time the credits rolled I think I can at least say that I had been thoroughly entertained even if I didn't enjoy every segment.

The concept for this anthology is simple. Each director was given a certain letter of the alphabet, a 3 or 4 minute time limit and the theme of death. Aside from those constraints they were given complete freedom in what story they wanted to tell and how they wanted to tell it. This resulted in 26 distinctly different shorts ranging from regular live action clips to 2D animation and even stop motion. There’s nudity, sex, violence, surgery, masturbation, torture, comedy and just about everything else you’d expect from such an eclectic range of directors. But while this variety is one of the film’s strengths it is also its weakness. 

The biggest problem for me was that since this anthology revolves around the use of the alphabet and therefore they are all shown in alphabetical order, there is no real balance. You might get a few blood drenched segments followed by an over the top CGI filled clip and then there might be a few slow segments before it starts to get interesting again. A good example would be the crazy fucked up acid trip of “W Is For WTF” followed directly thereafter by the more serious “X Is For XXL” which rather than being just a short film also has a message behind it. The alphabet idea is a novel one but I almost think this would have worked better if they’d ditched it.

The full anthology runs for around 2 hours and I would say that I enjoyed about half of the shorts on offer. So basically I got a solid hour of entertainment out of this which is not bad at all. I can’t really go into any of the clips too much because their short running times make it difficult not to spoil them but I will however list a few of my favorite segments that I think are well worth checking out.

“D Is For Dogfight” was perhaps my favorite of the lot. It looked really clean and crisp and the whole short is shown in slow motion which worked exceedingly well. 
“S Is For Speed” I thought was quite a clever and well done visual metaphor for drug abuse. 
“X Is For XXL” was a nice gruesome clip with a serious and no so subtle message behind it. 
“O Is For Orgasm” – I'm not so sure that I enjoyed this one that much but it looked really fucking cool.
And there are others of course but the less I say about them the more you'll probably enjoy them.

But for every good short it seemed that there was an equally bad or at least disappointing one. Some didn't seem to fit properly into such a short running time, others just didn't make sense at all and some were just plain shit. And if you’re not familiar with Japanese films and directors like Noboru Iguchi then you are just going to think that the few Japanese shorts here are plain fucking bizarre.

THE ABCs OF DEATH is a hard film to recommend. If you’re a fan of anthologies like I am then definitely go and see it because it is essentially the ultimate anthology. If you’re not so much a fan of anthologies or of short films (uber short films in this case) then obviously you'll want to stay away. But if you don’t really care either way about them and if you have an open mind when it comes to different directors and styles then I say go for it. Even if you only enjoy a quarter of the clips on offer that’s still a good half hour of entertainment, and who knows? Maybe you'll discover some talent out there you've never heard of before.

At its worst THE ABCs OF DEATH is an eclectic collection of hits and misses that isn't going to satisfy everybody. At its best it is a delightfully varied sampler of the wide array of talent we have out there in the horror genre. In fact it’s kind of like those Whitman’s sampler chocolate boxes. There’s plenty of good stuff in there but every now and then you bite into one that doesn't taste too good.

V/H/S (2012) Review

Directed by: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard, Radio Silence

Starring: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard

I love a good horror anthology, and it's been quite a while since I've seen one so I was pretty damn excited when I finally got a chance to check out V/H/S. With an impressive list of directors including Ti West, Adam Wingard and the collective Radio Silence, V/H/S was bound to be impressive. At least I hoped so.

V/H/S is broken up into 6 segments, 5 of which make up the bulk of the anthology while the 6th binds them all together. The list of segments is as follows:

'Amateur Night' - David Brucker
'Second Honeymoon' - Ti West

'Tuesday the 17th' - Glenn McQuaid

'The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger' - Joe Swanberg

'10/31/98' - Radio Silence

All of these 5 segments feature within the 6th (Adam Wingard's 'Tape 56') as footage compiled on separate VHS tapes. Tape 56 shows a group of misfits who have been hired by an undisclosed third party, to break into a home and steal a certain VHS tape. When they arrive however they find more than they expected. A dead body, a bank of television sets and dozens of VHS tapes which they will need to sort through in order to find what they are looking for.

I won't go into each individual segment very deeply however I will say that they are quite varied in content (which is great) and as with every anthology some segments are better than others. My personal favorites were 'Amateur Night', 'The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger' and '10/31/98' but as for the other two segments and even 'Tape 56' in which they are all wrapped up, I thought they were much weaker. 

'Tuesday the 17th' (as you may have guessed) pays homage to FRIDAY THE 13TH with four friends who travel to a lake where a number of murders have taken place. 

'Second Honeymoon' follows a couple on a road trip across America as they see the sights until one night they have a mysterious visitor at the door of their hotel room. 

I was particularly disappointed with the latter because Ti West did such a great job with THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL but here he has created something which just basically seems (to me at least) pointless. The same can be said for the former segment, they both have no real meat on their bones. They just kind of happen and didn't leave me with any impression at all.

Fortunately the offerings from Bruckner, Swanberg and Radio Silence made up for the weaker segments, and I found all three of them to be original, surprising and entertaining. Overall there is a nice mix of tension, supernatural stuff, gore and creatures. Basically something for everybody.

I really liked the whole concept of V/H/S and I thought that it was a very interesting idea to put found footage inside a found footage movie. But is that too much found footage? At around 2 hours long V/H/S is made up entirely using this POV style and by the end of it I was honestly over it. If they had halved the film's length it probably would have been alright but 2 hours was just too much for me. Adding in some webcam style in Swanberg's segment almost helped to break this up but not quite. And (although it's probably already obvious) if you're not a big fan of this shaky style of filming then you definitely will not like V/H/S. The filming in 'Amateur Night' alone is some of the most wobbly, disorienting, all over the place filming I have ever seen.
I can enjoy a good found footage film if it adds to the atmosphere or the story, but 2 hours was just too much for me. Add to that the fact that the segments are a mixed bag of good and bad, and V/H/S turned out to be an above average anthology, but ultimately still a disappointment.