The Theatre Bizarre (2011)
Director: Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Jeremy Kasten, Tom Savini, & Richard Stanley
Where to get it: Image Entertainment
Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people’s memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims’ eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep. But as the stories unfold, something much stranger is happening to Enola. Something irreversible and horrific. Something that awaits its next audience in THE THEATRE BIZARRE.
And we have another anthology. This one came along with a great deal of hype, due to the names that were working on it. We got Buddy Giovinazzo from Combat Shock, the effects legend Tom Savini, and even Karim Hussain to name a few. And like many anthology films, this one is a little hit and miss in a few areas. The film does give us some very creative and creepy shorts. Some like, “I Love You”, deliver in gore at the end, but seem a little out of place. But I am happy to report that in his segment, Karim Hussain, does seem to have finally figured out how to make a story with a plot and no offend anyone. His segment, Visions Stains, is probably the one that makes you the most squeamish. But overall, I would say that I felt the film could have helped it’s self out by being at least one story short. Gong through six of these does kinda wear the viewer out near the end. But thankfully, that’s where you hit the more artsy segments like, The Accident and Sweets. But if you don’t like really odd and thought provoking stuff, you might not care for those that much. I like that stuff, so it was cool with me. The film was just running a little long. But for what it’s worth, Sweets, is gross, over the top, and extremely odd. Odd in a good way of course.
Also, as much as I hate to say it, Tom Savini didn’t do himself any favors with, Wet Dreams. It packs a few gore punches, but ultimately just seems to just be there without any real point. It follows the opener, Mother of Toads. That’s a harmless and creepy way to start. I still can’t help but to think that at the end of the day, the overall package that is, The Theatre Bizarre, ends up just being average at best. It’s better than more recent anthology films (Deadtime Stories, I am looking at you), but it still can’t be seen on a level with such gems as Creepshow and 4obia. If I were to break each one down it would go like this: Mother of Toads 6.5, I Love You 6, Wet Dreams 5.5, The Accident 7, Vision Stains 6.5, and Sweats 7.5. The story that ties everything together, is fun but predictable. I’m not even sure I could rate that on it’s own. But when you add everything up here, you get a cool but not spectacular film. Worth a watch, but probably nothing to sing the praises of too much. And be warned going in, you will probably be disappointed if you are just looking for a horror filled good time. This movie is slow-ish, weird, and tries to make you think at different times.
(7/10)
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