The Portmanteau horror film allows a viewer to get a few chances to be scared and shocked. You’re not stuck with one story and set of actors for the entire running time. During the early ’70s Amicus Productions imported several of these fright fests from England such as The House That Dripped Blood and Asylum. Now in the 21st Century, we’re given Dark Stories, an anthology film from France that’s filled with five tales of bumps and scares with a few familiar faces to American viewers.
The framing story has Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) as a mom who discovers the ventriloquist dummy she ordered in the mail is a lot more independent than she imagined. She does her best to delay the dummy by telling him a series of stories. “The Ghoul Feast” has an art director and her head of security discover that there’s creatures lurking in the masterpieces. Can they keep the museum from becoming a blood bath for patrons? “The Park” starts out as a cute romantic comedy in between two joggers, but goes goes really sinister as the sun sets. “Dead but Alive” has a man wake up in the morgue. But this wasn’t an error from the EMTs not able to find a pulse. He’s dead and still alive and needs to find out who put him in a bodybag before his limbs fall off. “Boughtat” has a woman visit a friend after her journey around the world. What she mentions is she might have picked up uninvited company along the way. In this case, she swears it is a demon from Northern Africa. “The Last Judgement” has a producer and a cameraman show up at a farm to interview a man who swears he was abducted by aliens. This episode has two recognizable faces in Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman), and Dominique Pinon (Alien Resurrection). After the last story, the mother and the dummy have their shocking conclusion.
There’s no dud segment in the film as they stories. The effects look great including watching the guy’s body fall apart as he goes to save his family. The big shocker is to find out that Dark Stories was a French TV series all put together. This explains why many of the stories are bilingual. The movie is subtitled in English. This is also a very smart move because repackaging the series as a Portmanteau makes it easier to binge watch without pondering how many episodes you’ve seen in a row. Dark Stories is worth staying up all night.
Dark Stories is available on major digital platforms as well as DVD
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/dark-stories/umc.cmc.3i9ewgu3tibdn6x49qnrg4kb8.
The video is 2.0:1 anamorphic. The images look sharp as the fears jolt the screen. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and stereo. Both tracks are in French with some English dialogue. The movie is subtitled in English.
Making of “Boghtat” (13:54) includes how the monster took a smoke break between set ups.
Making of “The Last Judgement” (13:23) has the crew show up at the farm house before the aliens.
Making of “The Blood Doll” (13:42) sets up the framing story. We get a behind the scenes look at the French sound stage.
Making of “The Ghoul Feast” (13:27) explains how things came in and out of the various paintings at the museum.
The Making of “The Ghosts of the Park” (13:03) gives us a sense of how to haunt a public place and the secret of acting with a plastic bag on your head.
Making of “Dead But Alive” (14:00) shows how to make your actor fall apart.
Making of “The Little Dark Stories Shop (11:47) shows how the dummy’s head was constructed and the other nasty special effects.
Theatrical Trailer (1:34) teases us with the tales.
Shout! Studios presents Dark Stories. Directed by Guillaume Lubrano & Francois Descraques. Starring Kristanna Loken, Michelle Ryan and Dominique Pinon. Rated: Unrated. Running Time: 102 minutes. Release Date: August 10, 2021.
