Leofwine_draca
SCARY OR DIE is a low budget horror anthology with a few nods here and there to the likes of CREEPSHOW and its ilk. This one ploughs the same territory but is hardly on the same level as the older films, appearing very cheap and amateurish in places, but at least it's watchable and the old standby still works: if there's one story you particularly hate, you can rest assured that another one will replace it soon enough.The first tale is about Mexican zombies, and I think it's the strongest here: certainly it's the only one that manages a few genuine scares in the Romero mould. The second effort is about a Korean vampire, and it's weaker all round, with a very light story barely sustaining the scant running time and a too obvious twist in the tale. The third story is about a serial killer who dismembers his victims, and is probably the weakest here; there's so little story that a key scene ends up being repeated. The fourth story is about an evil clown who bites a man who finds himself also turning into a clown. It has a neat premise but goes on too long. The wraparound segment isn't worth mentioning.SCARY OR DIE knows that it isn't up to much in the scare department, so it throws in plenty of gore to make up to it. The acting ranges from poor to adequate, while the technical values are acceptable for what is a low budget genre production. Hardly the worst I've seen then but far from the best; this sits somewhere in the middle of the road.
GL84
A website host examines a series of stories that take place among residents of Los Angeles.The Good Stor(ies): The Crossing-A group of teens take a trip to the Mexican border for fun and games with captured illegal aliens, but things take a dark turn when their previous victims rise from the dead to take revenge. Actually fairly decent enough with a clever twist here in that it's not immediately about the torture of the victims before since this one manages to get through a little spiel before getting to it's main point, which is fun but those aren't that interesting. Thankfully, the zombie attacks are gruesome and gory enough that they're one of the saving graces here, and manage to make a clichéd segment into something fun.Clowned-After getting bit by a strange clown for his brother's birthday party, a man finds transforming into a frightening clown and tries to stave off a series of murderous urges as he searches for the one responsible for his condition. Clearly the film's main selling point as there clearly was a lot put into this one with it's extended and obvious length advantage over the others, it's also quite a lot of fun as the change comes on quite slowly and makes for a pretty chilling transformation as all the parts start coming in slowly before the big reveal at his final form which is outrageously creepy and saves the whole film just by itself. While it doesn't get resolved and features a lame shock twist, this is still bloody enough and has a great air about it that it's easily the best thing about this entry.The Bad Stor(ies): Tae-Jung's Lament-A lonely man attempts to rescue a woman from a strange thief, and upon doing so is granted an opportunity for thanks with her and her friends, unaware they're part of a vampiric cult being hunted down by a master tracker. Far too much melodrama than horror with his rituals about trying to honor his deceased wife and trying to live while doing that, but it doesn't really have a lot of scary moments. The final twist is quite nice as they don't have any association with normal vampiric activities or actions, which again makes this quite frustrating since it doesn't make them appear to be for any reason other than a shock twist at the end. The rescue attempts aren't that bad and actually have some good stuff to them as the segment doesn't tell us what's going on and are just throwing them into the scenario. Overall, this one just feels quite lacking.Re-Membered-Having finished his assignment, a dirty cop returns to his patrol route in an attempt to get away with his deeds, only to be constantly under suspicion that the dismembered body in his trunk is still alive. A pretty disappointing effort that again runs on tons of clichés, as this one acts like the Poe story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' with a different organ chosen as the only difference here, but the constant thumping in the trunk of the car and his frantic worry about getting away with it are just right out of that story. It's brevity is another issue, as the barely fifteen-minute time doesn't allow for it to go anywhere but the story doesn't really give it the chance to. The appearance of the still-alive body at the end doesn't have any ring to it at all, and overall this one feels like filler.Lover Come Back-After a spat with her lover causes her to die, she returns from the grave powered by a voodoo curse to seek revenge on her philandering spouse. This is overall the weakest at barely ten minutes in length and given a pointless, needless narration which brings out the entire backstory and what's going on on-screen while it's happening and robbing it of everything it could've had by choosing to do such a tactic. Again, the story plays out the way you expect it to without any real change simply because it don't offer any place to go but to dwell in the land of the familiar and because it focuses so long on the romance to start the relationship before dwelling on the supernatural return this doesn't get the chance to do anything of any importance before it goes for the familiar, and more than any of the segments this one's inclusion is pointless and unnecessary.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.
efrainerodriguez-162-774655
Being a big fan of horror anthology movies, I anxiously waited for Scary or Die to become available on Redbox. The film tells five stories, with what looks like a rotting hand watching each one on a computer screen. Each story, with the exception of "Clowned" (the one on the cover) is only about 15 minutes long. The first story was by far the best and most satisfying - The Crossing. It tells the story of two rednecks and a young woman (apparently one of their girlfriends) traveling by pick up truck through desert/rural Arizona. On the way, they stop at a gas/convenience stop, and while the quieter of the two rednecks goes to have roadside bathroom sex with his girlfriend (the thought of the stench alone made me gag!), the other (who also enjoys drinking some stuff - moonshine I guess - that looks like tobacco spit and urine - out of a peanut butter jar) teases the Mexican store clerk, killing him off camera, unbeknown to the female. They take off, and a little while later, arrive at their destination, a crossing along the US / Mexican border, filled with trash, and several graves marked by wooden crosses. They get out of the car, to reveal that the stench the female complained about were two Mexican immigrants, kidnapped and brought to the border for execution. Apparently, the deliverance boys did this quite a bit, as it is presumed they were responsible for the other graves on-site. The female, realizing what they are there to do complains to her boyfriend and pleads for their lives. But they murder both - one of them having revealed that he owned a landscaping company, spoke perfect English, and had kids to support. The female flips out and tries to escape, meanwhile the blood from one of the victims, plus the concoction in the rednecks peanut butter jar seeps into the ground, and up come the Mexican Zombies. While you don't get a clear look at the Zombies, they are menacing, killing and tearing both rednecks apart (man did they deserve it!)and injuring the woman - though she escapes. As she has apparently escaped, we see her shot by some border patrol snipers, mistaking her bloodied body for a zombie... Although this left me wanting more, it was satisfying and my favorite of all the stories. The second and third stories were not so good. One is about an Asian man who rescues what looks like an Asian woman from some thugs that were about to kill her, only to find out the woman was a vampire who kills everyone around her. At the end, one of the thugs hands is seen entering her building with the name "Van Helsing" on his bag. There was not enough dialog in this story, and I lost interest quickly. The third story, called "Dis-Membered" is about a hit man (possibly a dirty cop as the same actor plays a cop in the 4th story) who cuts a necromancer to pieces as part of a job, stuffs him in his trunk, and smokes a cigar in the man's house before leaving, noticing the strange medallion on a side table. Some tell-tale heart antics where he hears noises from the car trunk while driving, checks on the body parts, continues driving, is stopped by a cop that hears the noise in the trunk, has a look, then tells him to drive safely (to his surprise). A few miles after that he stops, looks in the back, and finds only the medallion only, with a message saying "You can't kill me" - then - predicable - he shows up, no longer in pieces, and kills him. The whole story is predicable and again, I lost interest. The 4th and longest segment, clowned, is a good one. Though it does drag a bit, and makes you wonder if the main character has every heard of a hospital... A young drug dealer is bitten by the weird clown with sharp teeth from his little brothers birthday party, he starts changing (the clown makeup is decent), doesn't seek medical attention, leaves home and becomes a homeless man looking for the clown who bit him. The original clown tries to take and eat his brother, but he, now the good clown fighting his instincts, saves his brother and kills the bad one. He can't get close to his family and is losing his sanity, watching children from afar, hungry... Two cops, including one from the previous story, show up and kill him. Clowned is a bittersweet story with a sad ending. The acting was very decent, and again, while it drags, remained a good story. The baby twist at the end was hilarious.The 5th and final segment is the story of the rotting hand watching these stories on a computer screen. She's seen wondering the streets, looking like someone injured walking, or like a hobo. As she walks, memories come back to her. Apparently through magic, it's known that when she loved, it would be forever. She falls in love with the wrong guy who tricks her at first, then beats her and abuses her. He kills her, but since her love was eternal, she comes back and enacts revenge on him. She then leaves the computer alone, goes outside and crawls inside a human sized chest, and locks herself inside. Weird - but good and this one too was too short, it left you wanting more. Overall, Scary or Die is a decent anthology movie with more good than bad. The acting is okay, although sometimes the budget feels apparent. Based on how much I like The Crossing alone, I gave it an 8.
