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Tales From the Other Side and Disconnection in New Anthologies

There are good ways and bad ways to approach an anthology feature. The simple approach is to connect a handful of unconnected stories in order for the film to work as a whole. However, there’s a delicate art to accomplishing that correctly. The first V/H/S movie used a man watching old cassette tapes to present multiple shorts from the lo-fi horror scene. The film as a whole works well because it’s thematically shown that way. Creepshow is another excellent example because both the stories and the overall presentation are a macabre slice of comic book nostalgia. As I watched Tales from the Other Side this past weekend, it became more apparent to me than ever that horror anthologies have begun to disconnect from what makes them a delight to watch.  

Three costumed children sit around a candlelit table covered in treats in Tales from the Other Side

For the most part, Anthologies have become a showcase for great short films to acquire a bigger audience. It keeps costs down for film producers because most of the film has already been shot and grants everyone who worked on the film some industry exposure. Basically, if the film is successful, everybody wins. I love short films and have said before that some of the most creative horror concepts can be found there, and most film festivals even present short blocks with common themes. Recently, indie anthology films have just been pressing horror shorts together without much of a hosting narrative that ties them together with a common theme. 

Tales from the Other Side is one of those loosely tied-together films. The main narrative, called “Scary Mary,” shows a group of kids (Brooklyn Anne Miller, Tristan Lee Griffin, and Anna Harr) being abandoned by their trick-or-treat chaperones in favor of a frat party. The kids then decide in favor of making it a Halloween they’ll never forget by visiting the local haunted house for future infamy among their classmates. The woman inside, Scary Mary (Roslyn Gentle), is nothing like the neighborhood legends. She invites them in for pastries and other treats while telling the children a handful of horrifying tales.  

Beginning with “Petrified Boy,” Tales from the Other Side jumps in. The first episode of this anthology deals with another group of children being told about a nineteenth-century circus freakshow after seeing a poster for the circus’s main attraction at a yard sale. “Flicker” concerns a video editor (Brandon Thane Wilson) who takes a job at a local cemetery (from veteran horror staple Vernon Wells) composing short videos. He soon discovers a haunting presence with him in the editing booth, one that has begun imposing a new edit. “Crystal Ball” finds a young couple (Chelsea Valea and Nick Navarro) trying to hold onto their failing marriage. They attempt to spice things up by stealing a fortune teller’s crystal ball, and a hellish nightmare follows. “Either/Or” takes us to an insane asylum where a philosophical argument over the return of Christ resides. Elijah (James Duval) believes he hears the voice of God, and it tells him to kill his wife and child. Now in the asylum, others have begun hearing him as well. “Blood Red” chronicles an artist’s wife (Cat LaChoie) as she concocts A Perfect Murder by blackmailing her boyfriend (Hunter Johnson) into killing her husband (Michael Broderick). However, things aren’t quite what they appear. Finally, “Krampus vs. Elf” depicts two boisterous children fighting, and the mother that tells a brutal story of a bloody battle between Krampus and an elf. Told through stop-motion animation, this Christmas origin tale is anything but holly-jolly. 

A couple sit in a tent in front of a table with a crystal ball on it in Tales from the Otherside

Jamaal Burden’s “Petrified Boy” and “Krampus vs. Elf,” are fine enough tales intended for Mary’s audience, especially since there are children within the story, even if that is slightly redundant. Scotty Baker’s “Flicker” bridges slightly into the implications of adult themes, and a couple of the stories after become subjectively adult-oriented. Jacob Cooney’s “Crystal Ball” and Frank Merle’s “Blood Red” specifically have to do with extramarital affairs, and “Blood Red” contains a brief sex scene. If “Scary Mary” is telling these children these stories, perhaps she omitted the steamy details, but it feels like “Blood Red” is the kind of tale meant for a completely different audience.  

The flow of these stories also feels a little off. I suppose “Krampus vs. Elf” is placed at the end of the anthology because it involves a different holiday, but it’s hardly Tales from the Other Side’s best effort in terms of effective scariness. I believe that accolade belongs to Jacob Cooney and co-writer Zack Ward’s “Crystal Ball,” which has a story akin to Drag Me to Hell that plays out like an Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode with fascinating surrealism. Though it ends rather abruptly, it is easily the best effort in the series of shorts. It’s followed by the Gordon Bressack penned and Lucas Heyne directed “Either/Or,” which genuinely provides a bit of food for thought in a Seventh Seal moment between doctor and patient—which arcs accordingly into a frightening idea. While I can say most of the film’s stories aren’t particularly scary, there’s still a bit of fun to be had in Tales from the Other Side, especially in these two episodes.  

A man looks at a bloody knife in his gloved hand in Tales from the Other Side

Some of the other stories just don’t come together in the same fashion. “Flicker,” for instance, has a certain creep factor, but the story moves too fast and doesn’t pop because the atmosphere and intensity simply aren’t there. “Petrified Boy” and “Krampus vs. Elf” have the opposite issue, feeling atmospheric and folksy but fizzle out without much story. “Blood Red” is a little slice of HBO years Tales from the Crypt, but it feels out of place in a collection of campfire stories with an arc aimed at children. 

And that brings us to the reason Tales from the Other Side doesn’t work as a whole. “Scary Mary” may be better than a few of its tales, but it’s an obvious Hansel and Gretel moral fable that is played out and tired. The narrative is so loose it feels like you could throw any five short films into the film, and it wouldn’t miss a beat. The overall narrative has no connection to the stories it tells, and while that doesn’t always work (see: Phobias, Nightmare Cinema), it does provide a better experience for the viewer. Movies that make those connections, Trick’ r Treat, Tales of Halloween, The Signal, and Southbound, tend to become recurring horror favorites among anthology fans. If the producers of Tales from the Other Side want to try again in future anthologies, I’d beg them to consider an angle that makes the overall narrative feel more worth it for the viewer. 

Tales from the Other Side is out on VOD and DVD on June 7. 

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Written by Sean Parker

Living just outside of Boston, Sean has always been facinated by what horror can tell us about contemporary society. He started writing music reviews for a local newspaper in his twenties and found a love for the art of thematic and symbolic analysis. Sean joined Horror Obsessive at it's inception, and is currently the site's Creative Director. He produces and edits the weekly Horror Obsessive podcast for the site as well as his interviews with guests. He has recently started his foray into feature film production as well, his credits include Alice Maio Mackay's Bad Girl Boogey, Michelle Iannantuono's Livescreamers, and Ricky Glore's upcoming Troma picture, Sweet Meats.

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