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DR. SAVILLE’S HORROR SHOW (2022)

Directed by Kevin R. Phipps.
Written by Craig W. Chenery, Kevin R. Phipps, Kirk Levingar, Allen Valor.

DR. SAVILLE’S HORROR SHOW starts out with a man talking to his wife in a bar, who is distracted by another woman. The woman buys the guy a drink and we cut to him waking up strapped into a dentist’s chair with a mad doctor type named, presumably, Dr. Saville. While the man is obviously wondering what the hell is going on, Dr. Saville tortures him and shows him short films on the screen in front of him. And thus, another horror anthology begins.

“Consume” is a short story/urban legend that I have seen play out before as a woman who wants to lose weight for her wedding decides to take a pill with a tape worm in it prescribed by her doctor. Of course, there is no such thing as a quick fix and the promised effects seem to have, disastrous side effects. It’s a morality tale, as much of these short stories tend to be. And though it isn’t the most original, I will say the acting is sharp and the effects are quite good and squirmy.

Next is “It’s Complicated,” about a man who has difficulty finding the right girl. He not only immediately finds something wrong with his dates, but he hates conflict and avoids breaking up with them, preferring simply to ghost them. The guy gets a gift called an Aqua Buddy, which turns out to be a human sized Sea Monkey-like being who at first seems to be the perfect mate, but the cracks in the façade begin to show pretty quickly and this mate is difficult to avoid or break up with. I liked this one quite a bit as it takes some jarring turns and sticks its landing pretty strongly.

“Break” is the third and final tale in this collection. It starts out as your typical zombie apocalypse story as a father and daughter struggle to survive with the undead occasionally showing up at their doorstep and the father beating them to death with a hammer. They struggle to maintain food and other necessities and everything seems to be quite cliched until it doesn’t. This is another well paged, strongly acted, and decently realized little tale. Not only is it suspenseful, but the final moments are surprisingly tragic.

I found the connective tissue between the stories with the actual Dr. Saville and his tortured victim to be uninspired, but the stories within are really strong. This is the case for most anthologies, so don’t let the hammy wraparound deter you from checking out DR. SAVILLE’S HORROR SHOW. It’s a trio of strong tales of terror with a lot of talent in front and behind the camera.

Check out the trailer here!!