Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories (2016)
Starring Barbie Clark, Warren Ray, Thomas Dunbar
Directed by Sean Blevins, John William Holt, Jon Maynard, Nathan Thomas Milliner, Justin Seaman & James Treakle
Give me a lesser known director (or directors, for this matter), and create a piece of work that is representative of the true love for the genre that only a horror fan can offer, and I’ll take it over a big-budgeted presentation any old day of the week. Now, that’s not to say that I won’t hold it to some lofty expectations – I mean not any piece of shat will get my approval, but if it’s ideally crafted and displayed admirably, then I’ll smile upon it, and the Volumes Of Blood sequel has captured my concentration once again.
The latest anthology piece, titled Volumes Of Blood: Horror Stories, adds 8 new gory-fresh quickies to its lineup, with a six-pack of directors at the helm, all generously giving their time and creative energy to this production. While it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for me to drone on about this film, let’s just delve into the stories and see if the viscera sticks to our skin, shall we? First up on the slab is the short, Murder Death Killer, and it gorily depicts a botched robbery and eventual slaughter by a man named Atticus Crowe, who was killed and put to good use as a scarecrow out in the field near his workplace – fun quickie, decent gore, and overall a nice introduction to this movie. The second tale is Haters, and in a nice twist, we see two opinionated horror fans (Milliner and Kevin Roach) watching the first short film in a theater when they’re given the boot by an overzealous usher. The dialog alone in this one is worth the price of admission, and it’s simply a fun add-on to the rest of the exhibition. The third fixture in this collection was Trick Or Treat, whereas a library security guard and his girlfriend are introduced to a slasher on Halloween night – quick, interesting, and a conducive piece to the rest of the stories – movin’ on!
Tale number four: A Killer House – a quickie about a real estate salesman plying his craft and unleashing some rather interesting historical nuggets about the home he’s attempting to push (ahem, sell) to a couple of prospective buyers. What this short starts off as quickly takes a sharp turn, but does provide some interesting viewing. Thanksgiving takes center stage in tale number five, and it’s called Feeding Time – a story of an insurance salesman under the gun to dish off a policy, and his last stop of the night leads him to a home where he’s got to do a bit of monster-busting – goofy, but entertaining. I honestly saw this as the weakest of the installments, but hey, there’s got to be one, doesn’t there? Gliding along to the sixth yarn, called Blood Bath, a simple hope of some sexy-time in the shower leads to eerie visions and a lot of the flowing crimson for a man who’s off his meds – fun stuff, but again, mildly memorable in a nutshell. Christmas Eve is on the docket with tale seven, called Fear, For Sinners Here, and this short will warn any holiday happy-pants about the dangers of opening your doors to carolers – one of the more entertaining shorts, for sure. Wrapping up this demented presentation was The Deathday Party, and it wrung out (perhaps to an exhausting level) the ups and mainly downs of the middle-age declaration. Seemed like a display that was a bit out of place, but still managing to find a niche in this movie. Overall, aside from the film being a tad on the lengthy side, I’ll admit that the work of all the directors, producers and writers added up to a labor of love that wears its heart on its sleeve, and a little on its pants, and some on its shoes. Any way you cut it, the second Volumes Of Blood was a decent follow-up to the original, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a third installment when the time comes.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
