anthology
Despite some reservations, the short films featured in Chicagoland Shorts Vol. 3 are creative, thought-provoking and accomplished.
In our latest interview, we talk with director Michael McQuown, whose latest work is the anthology horror film The Dark Tapes.
Anthology films are generally regarded as being uneven, and even ones that are respected are sometimes not perfect through every single segment. I wanted to explore anthology films by looking at some with mostly negative reviews, hoping to find something great hidden within. Some of the films I watched in preparation were bad, with no moments of relief to help make it through their running times, while others were enjoyable with slight problems.
The title of horror anthology Southbound implies a deep sojourn into racist, redneck Americana, locked and loaded under a blood red, lone star. This is a Democrat’s version of hell, ruled by Donald Trump’s tentacles and all of his Republican demons, suckered into building a never ending wall between America and the rest of the world. Southbound suggests a one-way ticket to Hades, but its various characters are still on their terrifying journeys, clutching desperately to their ever diminishing morality.
Amicus Studios had the reputation for being the rival studio to England’s famed horror factory Hammer studios throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. While that may be true in some respects, Amicus also had the goods to make some truly enjoyable horror anthologies that managed to be both entertaining and scary. As a devout fan of Hammer studios, it feels nearly traitorous to be praising their rival Amicus, but to ignore their body of work would just be flat out ignorant, as Amicus proved to be a formidable rivalry to the house of horrors that Hammer was known for.
Over at our official Facebook page , we are currently posting daily Film Recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is Portmanteau Films (otherwise known as Anthology Films), films usually compiled of different shorts/segments normally linked up by a connecting narrative.