Dark Tales

Now, had I known beforehand sitting down to watch this 2017 horror movie titled "Dark Tales", that it was a horror anthology, I would have avoided it like yesterday's blue cheese. Yeah, horror anthologies tend to be dubious affairs at best, and the ones that are watchable and entertaining are very far in between. Still, I opted to watch "Dark Tales", now that I had managed to land a copy of it, but my expectations and hopes to "Dark Tales" went from slim to none, when it dawned on me that it was a horror anthology.

Most of the stories and segments in "Dark Tales" served best as mere background noise. You know, the kind of movie that you put on, but you start doing something else aside from paying attention to the movie, and just listen to the things happening and the dialogue. That was the case with many of the segments in this particular horror anthology, so not exactly stellar entertainment here.

The stories were incredibly random, and I failed to see a red thread throughout the course of the narratives.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the anthology, I was only familiar with Sean Whalen. The acting performances throughout the various segments were actually not too bad. I've seen far worse in other horror anthologies, so the acting performances here helped keep the movie afloat.

The special effects were fair. Some of the segments didn't really use special effects, where others made good use of them. So it was a mixed bag of nuts here, for better or worse.

My rating of "Dark Tales" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

We are offered 8 tales, and while the budget is demonstrably low, the shorts and their components are actually stitched together increasingly well as the film presses on, yet never reaches any terribly high bars.

The downfall of this anthology is that it really struggles to tell a single story with most of its short vignettes, most likely due to mediocre scripting and directing. And if they do tell a story, it more than likely lacks depth of any kind, thus diminishing immersion and buy-in ("Keeper" and "Pretty Boy" being exceptions). The sound design isn't terrible, but the mixing is particularly bad in some cases (voices will be quiet while music and ambiance are booming) Voices that are loud sound choppy and obtrusive. The special effects aren't terrible, yet aren't that great either. Acting is hit or miss depending on the vignette in question, but seems to drastically improve with each short.

The wraparound is less of a wraparound and more of a found footage sort of thing along the lines of V/H/S, only, nothing connects them in between. The story that wraps them all together goes like this: some video tapes were found in the wake of a demonic attack on someone's household. The vignettes that play out are said video tapes.

Below are brief plot summaries of each one:

Kicking things off we have "Friends Forever," (Volume Down, Subtitles On for this one; trust me) a murder mystery of sorts about a girl allegedly involved in a series of murders that have recently occurred. The evidence is quite staggering. 1/10

"B is for Bath" features a mysterious woman who is talking a reluctant man into donating blood to her cause. 2/10

"Night Smiles" tells the classic tale of a babysitter watching a set of toddler twins, but what's with that clown doll? 4/10

"Dr. Leo" involves a man tied to a wheelchair as he stumbles through a damp, dim, and bloody basement, slowly uncovering the reason why he might even be there in the first place. 3/10

In "Life is Cheap" we see two young men delivering on a crack deal when things start to go sideways. But who's playing who? 2/10

Next in line, "Keeper" is a grim tale about a woman trapped in her captor's basement, where she must meet his demands if she wants to stay alive. This one is both the longest and the most convincing. What a twist! Did NOT see that coming. 7/10

Onward to "Michael," which sticks to the theme of captor and captive, with yet another twist ending. 5/10

The last of the stories is titled, "Pretty Boy". A woman is called by a self-proclaimed-God's-Gift-to-Women named Pretty Boy, who promises to appease her fantasies so long as she follows his one simple rule. 6/10.

Loved watching this film. Kept me on my seat . Awesome story and suggest all to see 💯 From beginning to end it kept me wanting it to go on and on.

This is true entertainment at its best.!

This movie was a mess, all the stories just ended. I did like keeper and Pretty Boy was okay, but the rest were just stupid and went nowhere. I wouldn't bother watching it unless you have absolutely nothing to do. It's just bad.