"WORST LAID PLANS" (2024) Is A Vacation From Hell With Mixed Results (REVIEW)
Vacations are a blessing and a burden, and so much of that is on account of the places you go and who you go there with. We can all remember a shitty vacation we’ve had. Perhaps it was a family trip to a place you didn’t care for, or maybe you had an accident in a museum and had to walk the halls shamefully with your soiled shorts…not like either of these has ever happened to us or anything. Vacations aren’t all bad, but in a horror movie, they are downright deadly. Whether you’re a family in the Nevada desert being besieged by mutant hillbillies or two couples in a cabin infested with Kandarian demons, horror movie vacations are less relaxing and more restless and repulsive. Such is the premise of the newest anthology from Scream Team Releasing, “Worst Laid Plans.” Is this anthology of vacation-themed horror the escape you’ve been looking for, or is it a tourist trap of half-baked ideas?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Three tales of vacation-themed horror adapted from the bestselling book by Grindhouse Press.
HOW IS IT?
To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “Horror anthologies are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” Anthologies can bring some of the best stories in the genre, and also some of the most uninspired, sometimes in equal measure in the same movie. The unevenness of (most) anthologies is a hard nut to crack, and while it is somewhat expected it also is avoidable. Sometimes a good premise, a great wraparound, or just the stories themselves can blend into a terrifying tapestry. “Worst Laid Plans” has some of these elements, and succeeds in offering a unique and playful idea for vacation-themed horror vignettes, but the stories themselves leave something to be desired.
Opting more for a slimmed-down take on the anthology, each segment in “Worst Laid Plans” is disconnected from the other and separated by individual title cards. So no wrap-around, narrator, or connective tissue aside from the shared theme that all of these stories are about vacations. The first one, “Deep In The Heart” is a sweet and silly sea monster-laden story that is part love story and part schlocky creature feature. The love story about a closeted college kid with an overbearing and discriminatory father and squeamish mother who goes on the cave tour from hell is at times overdone but at its core a tender story that offers up some fun practical effects. The father character is a bit much and a lot of that has to do with the on-the-nose lines, but it is saved by the tourguide, Danny who is quick-witted and genuine. This story was probably the best of the bunch, followed by the second story, “You’ve Been Saved.” Here, we have a couple of friends on different ends of the religious spectrum who intervene in a domestic dispute with a twist. Much of this one dabbles in philosophical musings of belief and how that shows up, or doesn’t, in life. The twist at the end is good enough, but not as clever as it thinks it is, and doesn’t keep pace despite an approximate 30-minute runtime. It is a good idea that stumbles in the execution, much like the third story.
“Taylor Family Vacation ‘93” is certainly the most unique of the bunch, and the most disorienting. From the start, you have no sense of time, place, reason, or motive as to what is going on. As the head-scratching subsides it becomes clear that this nightmare logic storytelling shall persist while some details emerge about the why. It is hard to go into detail about what happens, however, the delivery becomes so convoluted that the third act relies entirely on blunt exposition to tell you what is going on. Almost as if the writer realized how confusing it was becoming and had to course-correct. It’s a missed opportunity too, because the end could be a real emotional wallop if it were handled more delicately. In a way, it is emblematic of the anthology as a whole as it excels in creating captivating circumstances that wobble in their execution. Anthologies aren’t easy, and the vacation theme is a ripe one, so perhaps there is some water in this well still for another go-round of vacay holiday horror!
LAST RITES
“Worst Laid Plans” is a trio of stories about the horrifying ways that vacations can go wrong. Despite a playful premise and a novel premise, the stories are a mixed bag of good ideas delivered in an uneven way.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
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Where can you watch it?
Worst Laid Plans is available to buy now from Scream Team Releasing Direct!
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