VOD of the Dead - HOW DARK THEY PREY (2022)
No genre loves a good anthology film more than the horror genre. As I’m sure I’ve said at some point in another review, anthologies are also really hard to get right. More often than not the stories are uneven and you’re lucky if at least one of them is good enough to justify watching the entire movie. Sure, there are standouts amongst the crowd that defy all odds (CREEPSHOW, V/H/S 2, ASYLUM), but these are exceptions that prove the rule. The thing is; anthologies are a lot of fun! Even when they don’t entirely work, there are usually some interesting ideas embedded within, and because there are many stories vs just one the likelihood that you enjoy one of them makes the experience far more worthwhile. TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, AND THE OUTER LIMITS are all examples of how anthologies, albeit in television form, can be an endless supply of new and innovative ideas around how stories are told through the medium of film and tv. So when we got word of a new horror anthology titled, HOW HARD THEY PREY we were eager to see if this anthology will hit more than it will miss.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Four dark tales about the haunting nature of man and the unknown from WWII to Alien investigation, finding the occult, and kidnapping with torture.
HOW IS IT?
As someone who devours all anthology horror films, good and bad, I always root for them whenever we get a chance to screen them even though they are often somewhat of a letdown. Luckily, HOW DARK THEY PREY mostly defies the pitfalls of anthology horror and impresses both with some interesting stories and some low-budget independent horror charm. There are a total of four (4) stories in HOW DARK THEY PREY and in an interesting turn of events they actually get better as the film progresses. It stands to reason that for four stories the first and the last would be the most important to get right and in the case of HOW DARK THEY PREY it seems that the stories escalate almost in sequential order based on my personal preference where the one after is better than the one before. I don’t have any hard data on the quality of segments in anthologies, so take my pseudo-theory with rocks of salt.
The stand-out stories out of the four for me were the last two. This is not to say that the first two are not good, I just found that the back half was more my speed in terms of the kinds of horror I like. The first story is about two podcasters/vloggers who are investigating a local UFO sighting and the second is a WWII period piece where two American soldiers are confronted with a German one in unusual circumstances. While the first one was kind of funny in parts, it got off to a slow start and alien/UFO horror is not in my top genre spots. The second story is ambitious in taking place in history and is far more philosophical in nature. While I admired the implications of what was happening, I felt like this is a story that needed a lot more time to earn its ending. Considering HOW DARK THEY PREY is only 72-minutes long, it begs the question if some additional components were added would it make a difference?
The third story is easily my favorite of the bunch, and it does a great job of foreshadowing as we follow a young man who meets an older man fishing by a lake. A friendly conversation becomes much more as they become closer and the older man begins to divulge his real intentions. This story is all driven by great dialogue and two solid performances to make this feel real. While this one has the least amount of action, the payoff and buildup are absolutely worth it and feel sprinkled with a little Lovecraftian seasoning. The fourth story is by far the longest and most entertaining as it takes on a monochromatic color scheme to tell a tale about a woman, a cop, and a Fred Flinstone-faced killer. This particular entry, which I came to find is titled “Nelly”, walks the tightrope of horror comedy well and offers up a few interesting twists that are unexpected even if it does get a bit absurd by the end. All in all the four films have no interwoven tapestry to bind them together, which works quite well for the film and doesn’t force a mediocre throughline story. It’s admirable that the filmmakers were able to do so much in such a small amount of time and also on limited budgets, and is a continued testament that great storytelling will always deliver no matter the budget.
LAST RITES
HOW DARK THEY PREY is a fun independent horror anthology that doesn’t wear out its welcome, leaving viewers wanting more, and has more than one story you’re sure to enjoy!
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
ADAM AMBROSIO (segment Encounter Nightly)
Written By
ANTHONY LOCASCIO (segment Nelly)
Starring
Where can you watch it?
HOW DARK THEY PREY coming to Amazon Prime Video and Watch Movies Now on September 15.
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