THE HORROR NETWORK VOL 1 *** U.S.A. 2015 85 mins Dir: Brian Dorton, Joseph Graham, Manuel Marin, Lee Matthews, Douglas Conner, Ignacio Martin Lerma
THE HORROR NETWORK is an anthology consisting of five stories that range from the chilling to the depraved. Opening with the story ‘3:00A.M.’ we are pulled into a night that the lady of the house won’t forget any time soon. Its a light horror opening with a paranormal edge which in comparison to the other stories in this anthology is petty tame. Next up is ‘Edward’ a story of a man who speaks to his therapist about his sleepless nights, the death of someone he knew and the struggle between good and evil.
He soon reveals his darker side to his therapist, and I am pretty sure there is no pill to fix what he has. ‘The Quiet’ sees us following a young deaf redhead schoolgirl as she waits to picked up from the bus stop by her parents. Though they don’t show up so she decides to walk home, only thing is there is a man in a van waiting for her at every corner and soon starts to chase her. What does he want with this girl? To me this story is pretty obvious where it was going as soon as the girl got off the bus, still it was shot well and the girl performed well. Now for something really dark with a cheery title, ‘Merry Little Christmas’. I won’t say much about this one but to say that it is disturbing on so many levels and deals with the cruelty that man can do unto others is enough I think. Oh and that image on the front cover of the box is part of this story so make sure you are prepared to witness something terrifying. Our closing story is called ‘The Deviant One’ and plays on the real fears that we don’t truly know what our neighbours do behind closed doors. This final story is told with no dialogue and is shot in black and white. This is a horror anthology that is purely about the horror and gives you no time to sit back and relax with a comedy section. There is some images that will most likely stay with you for days after watching this. Every episode is very mature and well crafted from the writing straight down to the directing. Worth checking out for anthology movie fans.
Review by Peter ‘Witchfinder‘ Hopkins