“GRAVE INTENTIONS” (2021) SHOWS US WHY HORROR ANTHOLOGIES CONTINUE TO BE TERRIFYING

Horror stories have been around for thousands of years. Gathering up together and sharing some of our frightful tales has carried on from our youths to the stories we tell today. People love a chance to sit by a fire with their friends, conjure up a spooky atmosphere and retell the horror stories we love. One amazing thing that horror movies have incorporated in the last few decades is horror anthologies. This particular brand of scary movies takes a handful of short stories and brings them to the silver screen. There have been so many amazing films with chilling tales such as “Creepshow”, “Trick R Treat” and “All Hallow’s Eve” to name a few. 

The horror anthologies that rank supreme in our horror movie collection means the world to us. Some of us grew up with one of the greatest horror anthologies shows “Tales from the Crypt”. Because of this epic 7 season run, those of us who continue to enjoy this show has developed a bit of a “high standard” when it comes to anything to do with horror anthologies. There have been many that have succeeded but also some that have been forgotten through the ages. Any horror movie fan you ask will most likely have a different favorite than the previous person you asked. Different tastes or fan favorites are all enjoyed in some aspects of horror anthology films. 

I recently got the chance to watch “Grave Intentions” from Terror Films. This particular movie is an anthology that offers 5 tales of terror from 7 different directors. This collection of talented filmmakers, actors, and stories are brought to the movie audience by Madame Josephine (portrayed by Joy Vandervort-Cobb). Madame Josephine brings a unique spin to the introduction of horror stories as she tells of experiences from five of her customers. I will say I really enjoyed the “Miss Cleo” like the ambiance that Joy Vandervort-Cobb’s performance brings to each introduction of these stories. She sets the mood very well and creates a spooky atmosphere for each of these stories. 

My only issue with these introduction scenes is not the performance, style the set they choose or even the dialogue. Truly what was bothersome to me was how the introduction scenes were shot compared to the high quality of each of the five stories that are presented to us in this movie. It took me a bit out of the movie when they would cut back to Madame Josephine. It is very much the opinion of someone who has seen way too many movies and notices those kinds of things. I do enjoy the “YouTube tutorial-like presentation” that is provided in those scenes. Each time a story is introduced there is a certain flair that comes with each story.  

The first story “The Bridge Partner” stars Beth Grant, Sharon Lawrence, and Robert Foster. When Mattie (Beth Grant) gets paired with a new and mysterious bridge partner Olivia (Sharon Lawrence) only to get threatened during their first meeting on screen. It isn’t said whether or not this was in her imagination but based on how her husband Don (Robert Foster) and her friends treat this shy housewife, you would think she was losing her mind. 

All the craziness stacks up towards the finale of Mattie and Olivia sitting together getting ready to practice bridge when a devious smile comes across Olivia’s face. This is the moment you feel that something big is going to happen, especially since there is quite the build-up with Olivia’s chat about the destructive nature between sheep and dogs. All this is set up as a way to illustrate her determination to kill Mattie. The whole story leading up to the end felt a little rushed unfortunately but the actors in this short story do well with channeling their characters. 

The second story “The Disappearance of Willie Bingham” stars Kevin Dee and Gregory J. Fryer. This is story was very terrifying and disturbing. The story revolves around newly incarcerated murderer Willie Bingham (Kevin Dee) who is told by his criminal representative (Gregory J. Fryer) that he must endure a variety of surgeries as punishment for his crime. This crazy twist and turns between surgeries and being presented to classrooms full of kids warning them to “be good” or they will “end up like him”. Kids of the early ’90s of course will remember those “motivational speech” assemblies. These were presented to us “youngsters” as cautionary tales not to follow in the footsteps of mistakes they have made. Sure they could sometimes be inspirational but hey all had the “final advice” speech that was given to us to “stay in school, stay away from alcohol and be good to people” we had all heard a million times before. 

The insanity and torture that Willie Bingham has to go through is madness. It first starts tame with the removal of one of his hands and continues to go deeper and deeper as a slow-burning torture. This torture leaves Willie Bingham a bandaged, limbless husk of his former self as he just sits in his room quietly going more insane. This torturous tale is quite the gem. The storyline and intense acting from Kevin Dee really makes this story stand out. This one was done so well that it very much my favorite out of the five stories. 

The third story “Violent Florence” stars Carly Thorn. This following tale might be more intense than the previous one (which I didn’t think could be possible). This story revolves around Florence (Carly Thorn) who saves a stray cat from being hurt by some violent teens and safely takes it home with her. She seems like a shy and kind girl but that all changes when arriving at an abandoned building. Her cruel and violent intentions are shown very quickly as she unleashes her rage on the newly acquired cat. 

There is surprisingly a lot of blood and violence in this story, as the cat goes down fighting. We close this short story to see Florence has vanquished her new foe and dumps its body under a tarp of many other dead cats. If this whole story wasn’t odd enough, the final moments are confusing as the reasoning behind everything is revealed. I will say that even though this one was a little too much for me, Carly Thorn did an amazing job with her transition from shy to murderous. She also did super well with the physical actions that came with it. The whole story is pretty unexpected and chilling, but feel there will be some people who enjoy the intensity.

The fourth story “The Son, The Father” stars Lucas Oktay, Christopher Morson, and Lukas Hassel. In this story a young Luke (Lucas Oktay) celebrating his 11th birthday while having to deal with an alcoholic mother (portrayed by Colleen Carey) who pretends to be dead to “teach” her young son what to do in a crisis. This causes Luke to finally want to get his mother back for constantly doing things like this to him, so he fakes his suicide so that she will learn a lesson as well. 

When his mother and father (Lukas Hassel) see what has happened his father rushes to call 911 while the sight of her son lying dead causes her to have a heart attack. While pleading with his mother to wake up, she begins laughing and gets up to provide him the advice of “you can’t kid a kidder”. In a twist that comes out of nowhere, Luke kills his mother by stabbing her through the throat, clearly being finally pushed too far by her. 

Luke’s father walks in on the bloody aftermath and we fast forward to ten years later with Luke’s father in jail, waiting for his now 21-year-old son to visit him for Luke’s birthday. The years have clearly not been well to Luke as you can tell he has been sliding more into madness. He tells his father that he continues to see his mother everywhere lately and is having to constantly get rid of her. This “serial killer in the making” really peaked my true crime junkie interest as we see the start of the horrifying and bloody path ahead of him. The transition from him being a somewhat happy kid to a potential serial killer was enjoyable. 

The final story in this macabre twist and turns into madness is “Marian” starring Astarte Abraham, Johanah Basanta, and Paw Anya Bugarin. In this particular terrifying tale, Marian (Johanah Basanta) is haunted by someone calling her to go downstairs. Her mother (Astarte Abraham) keeps trying to keep her from doing so and even tries to keep her safe from the harm this entity may cause her daughter. The figure finally reveals herself to be Marian’s abusive aunt (also portrayed by Astarte Abraham). While trying to shake some sense into Marian she cries out for her mother. The crazy twist of this story is that her mother has been dead for over a year, as her aunt reminds her quickly. 

After receiving some pretty gruesome torture from her aunt, a black smoke-like corpse (Paw Anya Bugarin) appears from under her bed. This is slightly hinted at throughout the film as Marian has tons of drawings of a figure like this all over her room. You think that in the drawings the dark entity is torturing her but it is actually her mother trying to protect her from beyond the grave. I will say the final few minutes of this movie are surprising, satisfying, and horrifically bitter-sweet. 

 Overall I will say that I enjoyed this movie. I am a sucker for horror anthologies. I felt there was some kind of gem in each one of these stories that stood out to me while I watched them unfold. As mentioned before, Madame Josephine is portrayed superbly by Joy Vandervolt-Cobb. She really made the setup for each of these stories unique. The way each of these stories is shot feels like an artistic love letter to the genre. This is even more so as the brother/sister directorial team of Jocelyn and Brian Rish are long-time horror fans themselves. If you love horror anthology movies as I do, you will really enjoy giving this a watch.

 “Grave Intentions” from Terror Films will be available on DVD and digital purchase on October 15th.