TWISTED FATES (2012)

Directed by Joe Sherlock, Robert J. Olin, Ron Ford
Written by Joe Sherlock
Starring Michelle “Ame” Mahoney, John Bowker, Ron Ford, Athena Demos, Alexandra Paris, Doom Grrl, Caren Rebekah Parmenter, Bryn Kristi, & Ariauna Albright
Find out more about this film here!

Filmed with a budget as low as they come, there’s something quite charming about this low fi anthology. I shouldn’t like it. The acting is the pits, with most of the non-actors speaking at a monotone level and not exhibiting a lot of range. The stories are less than original. The effects are rudimentary. But despite it all, every scene and every minute of TWISTED FATES oozes a love for all things horror (a quote they used on the poster…just look up there for yourself) and I can’t help but get behind it for that fact alone.

If anything, the folks behind this film should be proud they have a horror anthology completed and able to present. Like most anthologies, the one tying it all together is by far the weakest. It involves a pair of guys who go door to door roofie-ing housewives and having their way with them. Of course, these ne’er-do-wells run afoul of the wrong house-frau and end up having to endure her telling them a trio of tales while dressed in bondage wear.

Tale one, “The New Neighbor”, casts an older man who can’t believe his luck when a sassy new occupant moves into his trailer park and invites him to dinner. Things go wrong in an overly complex yet somewhat ridiculously farcical manner. Tale two, dubbed “Welcome Sister”, is a predictable albeit brutal tale as a pair of joggers run into some hooded creeps in the woods. Finally, “It Haunts” is a nice take on the housesitter alone in the house story that could use about ten minutes shaved off in the editing room, but nevertheless offers up some scary imagery.

Again, TWISTED FATES is low, low, low budget, but redeems itself with some decent takes on age old tales and a palpable sense that this is one of those bare bones budgeteers where everyone involved had a great time making it. I am interested in seeing what the filmmakers have in store next and if you don’t mind overlooking the low fi production, TWISTED FATES has a lot going for it.