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[Blu-ray Review] Anthology ‘Chilling Visions’ Offers A Mixed Bag For the Senses

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One of the great things about anthology films is that if you’re not digging the current story, there’s another coming up shortly. The percentage of crap to gold is usually skewed in the direction of the toilet, but at least there’s typically one story in every anthology that makes the whole thing worth checking out. Such is the case with Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear, the latest omnibus to highlight the talents of independent horror filmmakers around a gimmick. The stories here are each based on one of the five senses. The result is a mixed bag, but a completely watchable one straight through.

There’s no wraparound story, but the five shorts are all loosely connected by a mysterious, omnipotent company that seems to have it’s fingers in a slew of bizarre shit. Characters from one short can be seen in the background of others and the film is full of little in-jokes, but these connections are flimsy and each short manages to stand on its own.

In the first story, “Smell,” a Stepford-looking saleswoman from the company drops in on Seth (Corey Scott Rutledge), a miserable sap stuck in a dead end job. Her sales pitch is that he’s lacking the proper pheromones to get ahead in life. She presents him with a free bottle of cologne, but warns him to use it sparingly, for there are some side effects. Seth sprays a bit on himself at work and soon finds himself the target of aggressive friendliness and adoration – particularly from women. The down side is that wherever he sprays himself, the flesh starts melting away. Of course, by the end he’s practically bathing in the cologne and becomes the incredible melting Seth. The effects in this one are fantastic – especially when his face starts drooping of his skull. It’s a fun short that manages to inject some real emotion amidst all the gross-outs.

“See” marks the directorial debut of Miko Hughes, best known as Gage from Pet Sematary and that smart-mouthed kid from Full House. The premise of “See” is really cool, but the short fails to live up to its potential. It’s about an optometrist who collects his patients’ short-term memories (or something like that). He gets overprotective of an attractive female client of his who has an abusive boyfriend. The confrontation between optometrist and wife-beater is pretty anti-climactic, but there are some fun trippy parts to enjoy.

“Touch” was my favorite of the bunch by far. Directed by Emily Hagins (My Sucky Teen Romance), it’s a simple story about a blind boy who wanders into the woods to seek help after his parents are injured in a car accident. As he methodically counts his steps, noting hunting traps along the way, he finds himself at the cabin of a serial killer. The execution and restrained style of “Touch” pay off really well, even if there are some implausibility involved. There’s nothing over the top though and the child actor is really good. Child actors normally irritate the piss outta me, but this kid is great.

Gore hounds will definitely like “Taste,” from Madison County director Eric England. A charismatic hacker is brought into the company’s headquarters for a job interview. When he declines their offer, the manager doesn’t take it too well. England has fun building up to “Touch’s” absurd climax, but it’s an excruciating journey filled with terrible dialogue and a shallow story.

“Listen” is Chilling Visions‘ found footage entry, from YellowBrickRoad filmmakers Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton. This one involves two young researchers attempting to piece together footage of a piano performance that allegedly drives people to kill themselves in fits of madness. There’s some effectively creepy footage of the performance and they were kind enough to cut out the audio at times so us viewers won’t tear our own guts out. Gotta admit, I got caught up in this one and let out a relieved sigh when the audio dropped out. “Listen” makes for a nice final bow.

Overall Chilling Visions is worth a watch. The ratio of decent shorts to misfires is four to one – a most impressive average than most contemporary anthologies. And “Touch” alone makes it worth at least a rent.

A/V: The 1080p HD transfer is solid throughout. Each short has its own look, but the quality of detail and definition remains strong for the entire running time. The DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 mixes are also perfectly fine. “Touch,” which takes place entirely outside, benefits the most from the 5.1 ambiance.

Special Features: This is a barebones release for Scream Factory. There’s a one-minute deleted scene from “Smell” and some trailers. That’s all.

Patrick writes stuff about stuff for Bloody and Collider. His fiction has appeared in ThugLit, Shotgun Honey, Flash Fiction Magazine, and your mother's will. He'll have a ginger ale, thanks.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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