Doomsday Stories

Phil Herman presents this horror anthology of the end of the world, DOOMSDAY STORIES where he co-produced, is the co-writer and co-director, and he also plays a couple of vital character roles in the film. The total Running time is 2 hours, but it doesn't seem that long, with a massive amount of drama and action happening.

This film comes with trigger warnings, graphic depictions of murder, gore, and rape.

The synopsis says this film is about a survivor in an Apocalyptic world who tells stories leading to the end of the world.

First off, I like the fact that Herman uses the same actors in his films - it makes them seem familiar. The costumes look great. The visual effects are unique and compelling, brilliant use of colour that enhances the look of the film. There are some psychedelic undertones that add something special. Considering this is a lower budget film, the effects are appealing to the overall look, mood and tone. There is some use of meta-cinema happening too. We see several artistic components that add layering and texture - the gore, the shifts in point of view, from 3rd person to 1st person, to a gaming format and a time travelling scene. There are interesting location changes. The narrative and raw emotion from the characters, are well thought out and delivered. The camera angles, cinematography and artfully delivered textures and colours are very intriguing. These are all wonderful aspects that shouldn't be overlooked and should be commended. This is what we have come to expect from Herman and his team. The musical ensemble blends in nicely as it glides from thrash metal to classical pieces, ominously suspenseful instrumentals in places, they set the scenes in a dark and fascinating way. The different settings and location changes, help to keep the stories alive and the momentum flowing. There are scenes of complete devastation as we see images of cities turned into wastelands, total death and destruction, as people try to reconcile their new existence, if they managed to survive. Flashback scenes push the storyline along, making the impact effective. Nice amount of action sequences. The right amount of gore - without coming off overdone. The interludes with Zorack keeps the story compact and well contained. Every story has its own impactful meaning behind them. Very relevant considering we are in the grips of a pandemic.

We are introduced to the plot immediately, with the fall of the economy, food shortages, famine and war. The end of the world occurs in 2020. It's a very relatable story, as we see Revelations in the bible come to pass. The 'meanies' virus wipes out the majority of people on the planet. The story truly kicks off with Zorack, who is the narrator of the story. He has his own sad tale to tell, as well as the stories from the book he found abandoned in the woods. He is a haunted man. One of a few survivors.

The film's structure is that it is broken up into individual stories, recounted by Zorack as he wonders the planet alone. To kill time, he reads from this tragic book, stories about the end of the world. We first come to Rick and his dog Lucy, there is a backstory to this that is emotive and sad - like all the stories, the threads are connected. We get some backstory revealed as Rick's story progresses. He is a miserable man, trying to come to grips with his new reality. He has lost everything. All he has is his dog. When he finally reaches his destination, a horrifying scene takes place. Next story we are with Katrina, (who is played by Debbie D, one of the writers) a woman trying to get her act together as bombs are exploding outside as the city is destroyed. Let's just say, her decision to seek shelter in a bunker with a crazy stranger Alvin; it does not go well. Be warned, there is a rape scene. Alvin's spiel about the end of the world is deplorable. He's a diabolical character. The ending of this story is gory to the max, as it is inferred she will be his next meal. In the desert story, I have to commend the costumes department for the zombie scenes, they are horrendous looking. To a speech from the president of the Administration and project 25, and super soldiers. I like the ominous musical score in this story. We follow a man as he is transformed into a cyborg like soldier. It's weird and wonderful as the point changes into a gaming format. How very interesting and unique. Zorack's story is revealed, before we segway into the last story. We land in 2020 with James Kirk, (ironic name considering) as we time travel through this chapter, it becomes clear that he is an obsessive character, on a mission to save his wife Dana, and to stop the virus before it began. 187 times is played by Joel D. Wynkoop, who is one of the writers and directors. Interesting addition to the storyline, as his tale is told. The threads of all the stories are connected as the virus is explained in detail. But no matter how many times he tries, nothing he does seems to be working. In fact, as he has totally messed up the timeline, the repercussions of his changing things, is having a flow on effect. We go from 2020 to 2050, back to 2020 to 1986. I like this, it has good pacing and carries with it a sense of hopelessness and dread, while James desperately tries to fix everything he has done. There is a lot of jumping around in this story, from 2020 to 2019 to 2023, where the virus is still rife, transitioning into 2019 and back to 2050. However, even with all this happening, I believe the story is well contained and established enough that the storyline is easy to follow. In this scene meta-cinema is used, when we see a shot of the lighting and that the interrogation room has no closed ceilings. I believe this addition is always a fantastic element that only comes from independent films, as big budget Hollywood movies would not get away with it but is exactly what we would expect from an indie film. Then we move onto the Space Time scene, with James's time travelling down a tunnel. Interesting! There are some comical lines that add humour to the story with the police. It's an interesting chapter as we find out more of James's backstory, and he flounders around trying to fix the timeline that has been destroyed due to his careless actions. The drama in this story is developed well. With the Asta device and the travel suit, he is able to move through the years with relative ease. At the end, does he get what he wants? You will have to find out.

Zorack's character is the most intriguing character and story for me in this anthology. This wraparound effect ties the story together superbly. Throughout the film we witness the deterioration of his mind, as he descends into madness. As his story progresses, we learn some of his backstory through flashback scenes. There's a ghastly recollection that expresses a crazy monologue from Zorack, as he tries to contact his sister. In this moment he is drenched in guilt. When we finally come to his story, we are on the day of judgement. We see the virus in full swing, what it does and how it changes people. I like the podcaster's discussion about the world's situation, revealing more of the story with this method. What he has to say is the normal apocalyptic trope, but it works really well in this instance. In Zorack's last scene, where he finds a conveniently placed old school tape recorder, he learns about a rescue station. Here is when the story wraps up, with Zorack walking towards the rescue station. He has a nasty surprise awaiting him.

Overall, the actors played their parts exceptionally well. The plot is thick as we see the scenes and the individual stories unfold. We are taken on a journey through the lives of people trying to survive the post-apocalyptic world. The ending is satisfying, as we are left pondering what will happen to Zorack. The plot twist is great, leaving us with a massive cliffhanger!

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in apocalyptic horror tales, and any filmmakers who want to explore the realm of independent filmmaking.

Five stories (including the wrap-around). Phil Herman and Joel D. Wynkoop rarely disappoint, and this movie is no exception.

I enjoyed all the stories. Good writing, good acting, good cinematography, good music.

Although I enjoyed all the stories, "187 Times" was the stand-out for me. Joel D. Wynkoop's character goes back and forth through time, trying to get his wife her life back. For those that don't know, the wife is played by Joel's real-life wife, Catherine Wynkoop.

The "boy and his dog" episode had a REALLY cute dog. Phil Herman shines as "The Storyteller".

Enough in it to keep you interested, and entertained.

Sequel?

In this film we find how it is possible to create and develop stories with a minimum budget based on what is essential in cinema, which is precisely to tell stories.

4 stories in the same time frame but with different approaches manage to evade budgetary problems and present a pessimistic vision of the future and, above all, of Humanity, but with an underlying hope in the very essence of the human being.

4 strong stories, well outlined and with strongly motivated characters.

Entertaining film with various proposals that leave room to reflect on the course of our society.

Highly recommended.

I love anthologies when they are done right. I feel that anthologies give an audience a look at directors, writers, and actors who would have not been seen otherwise. Sadly, Doomsday Stories doesn't make the cut of a good movie, even for an anthology. With a runtime of two hours, this is way too long to sit through. Had this been made into an episodic series of shorts, it may have been tolerable.

Throughout all of Doomsday Stories, the effects were quite inconsistent. There were a lot of computer effects used in the picture, so it is weird to me that none of the directors felt the need to use computer effects when it came to gunfire. One story used effects so much that it looked like a video game from the early 2000s. In fact, a majority of the film looked as though it was made in the early 2000s.

There's little sense of cohesion among these segments, which didn't matter in Doomsday Stories as they were meant to simply be collections of scary stories. Here they're supposed to be chronicles of the apocalypse, but they feel more like seperate shorts dealing with different versions of the end of the world, undercutting the theme of Doomsday Stories. The result is an uneven, and unfortunatly unsatisfying, film overall.

Technically it's abysmal, shot on a mobile phone, very bad quality on most camera angles, cringey heavy metal music and acting that's as wooden as my cabin shed. Avoid it like the plague!