Campfire Tales

This set of Tales is an anthology of four narrated by a homeless person to a group of children camping in the woods. The first three stories; a hooked killer killing people, weed is bad because you'll rot and die and an evil Santa tearing the still beating heart of a murderer from his chest are pretty good, but unfortunately they only take up the first half of the film with the rest given over to some shitty pirate story that's clearly been filmed down the local beach.

Tales Of The Third Dimension in 3-D [2D]

Anthology movie with segments linked by a talking skeleton showcasing the worst possible 3D effects, the first two stories are shit, but then everything is saved by a gloriously unhinged final Christmas story.

23 Seconds To Eternity

A feature length compilation of all the short films and music videos from The KLFs music making days, so no million quid burning etc but a clear demonstration of what The KLF* is about nonetheless.

*Also known as The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, furthermore known as The JAMS.

Trilogy Of Terror

A superb anthology clearly influenced by both Bava’s Three Faces Of Fear and the litany of Amicus productions about at the time. So we start with an edgy tale, go into something with a psychological sting to its tale and then end with all the budget being spent on a monster that causes mayhem. King.

Immoral Tales: The L’Age d’Or Cut [Contes immoraux]

Five tales of arty smut chronicling a spectrum of immorality with getting a shifty blowjob at one end and having an incest baby baptised into the church at the other. 

Kwaidan

Four traditional Japanese ghost stories that are gorgeously shot and beautifully paced, except the third one where the singing outstays its welcome.

V/H/S/99

Less found footage, more amateur film making by characters within the stories, but if that story can be told without the characters filming it then it just doesn’t need to be found footage. The stories themselves? The first is shit, the second requires you to buy the concept of supernatural entities purchasing cameras and setting them up, the third is brilliant and could have been improved infinitely if it was shot properly, the fourth is deeply average and the fifth is the only one that really works in the format.

From Beyond The Grave

The last of Amicus' quintessentially british portmanteau horrors. One of the best with David Warner doing Hellraiser in miniature, Donald Pleasance and his daughter being weird as fuck, a no nonsense British Exorcist and the cleverest twist Amicus ever managed. And yet despite all of this greatness it’s all dwarfed by Peter Cushing’s central performance as a sinister antiques dealer. King.

The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson uses the anthology format to tell three and half stories that all explore the niche genre known as Wes Anderson Movies.

Torture Garden

The cat was ok, the Hollywood robots were dull and the possessed grand piano was dumb as fuck. But Peter Cushing getting pissed on sherry was ace.

V/H/S/94

Fourth in the anthology series maintaining themes set up in the other movies. So the wraparound story is incomprehensible like the first movie, the Found Footage rules are bent as much as possible like the third movie and just like the second movie Timo Tjahjanto’s segment stands a clear head and shoulders above the rest, blowing everything else clean out of the water.

Dark Place

(Frightfest Day 2)

Anthology movie where the odd numbered ones were pretty good and the even numbered ones not so much. More odds than evens in this one though, so that’s ok.

Verotika

An anthology of three shitty stories. The only good bit in the first was laughing at the four rubber arms that hung limply off the sides of a six armed man, the second featured no good bits whatsoever and the third one wasn’t even a fucking story, just some woman twatting about in a barrel of jam.

Tales From The Lodge

(Frightfest Day 5)
An extremely British story about telling stories. Not British in the shitty way where everything looks cheap and everybody just shrugs and gets on with it but the good way where all the humour is bone dry and snarky and everything is full of invention.

Tom Holland's Twisted Tales

Not actually an anthology or a film for that matter. This is a series of nine web episodes full of half baked ideas, smothered in astonishingly poor digital effects and apalling attempts at acting, with each one introduced by Tom Holland in the manner of an old man telling his care home nurse that he's just shit himself.

The Vault Of Horror

Five excellent Tales From The Crypt adaptations that showcase a far more macabre, bloodthirsty side to Amicus and a wrap around story written by somebody that clearly could not give a fuck about what was going on.

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

Five stories about the capriciousness of life and death and one story about how stories help distract us from the capriciousness of life and death.

The Field Guide To Evil

(Frightfest Day 5)
Like most horror anthologies some stories could do with being longer, some could do with being shorter, some could do with being better and there’s roughly two too many. Strickland’s is the best.

Tales From The Crypt

Another of Amicus' extremely British portmanteau selections this time adapted from the extremely American EC horror comics of the fifties. The most well known story features Joan Collins and a homicidal Santa, the best story features Peter Cushing being very sad and the worst of the five, a rare dip below the usual Amicus standard, is an overlong excuse to make somebody walk down an uncomfortable corridor.

Ghost Stories

Faithful adaptation of an already very excellent stage play.