by Bob Ward

Shudder brings us another movie exclusive to their streaming service with the campy anthology movie Scare Package. The main idea intrigued me, 7 different films by 7 different directors. I’m a sucker for any kind of anthology horror flick, so I went in with an open mind and saw what this film had to offer.

This entire film has a backdrop of “Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium.” Chad is the owner of a still functioning VHS rental store, which makes the various stories and how they fade in and out feel seamless. Chad is played by Jeremy King, who is honestly the best part of this movie. The way he acts and reacts to everything he goes through while trying to train a new employee while being constantly interrupted by a crazy regular customer (who has been over looked for the job).

 

The first film: Cold Open (written by Emily Hagins)

 Meet Mike, Mike has an extremely odd job, he sets up horror tropes in various horror movies. He cuts power lines and phone lines, when a young girl is baby sitting. He even complains about how hard it is to “curse a doll”. He decides this life isn’t for him anymore and that he needs to be more involved in these movies. Once he makes that decision, its major hit after another. Having gore mixed with hilarity, it reminded me of one of my favorites, Tucker and Dale vs Evil.

 

The second film: One Time in The Woods ( Written by: Chad McInory)

As so many different late 70s early 80s movies have done, we go into the woods for what feels like a horrible situation. We have a group of teens standing around when a stranger runs up to them with an ominous warning. After that warning a big swerve happens and what comes after that is a mixture of hilarity and effects that would make Troma Films jealous.

 

The third film: M.I.S.T.E.R. (Written by Noah Segan)

This film started off extremely odd and kept that feeling the entire time. It shows a girl start to fight someone, then it could be herself or not….there’s more to this film, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out and I’m still not sure if I understood or not. The fight choreography is phenomenal, I just had a hard time understanding what the story was about.

 

The forth film: Girl’s Night Out of Body (Written by Courtney & Hillary Andujar)

Yet again we get into another classic horror movie situation and setting. Three girls are out and about, they check into a hotel and are stalked by a slasher villain type. It has a similar feel to Quentin Tarantino’s Deathproof. The girls notice they are in trouble and go from hunted to hunter. It looks great, but the story wasn’t there for me. The overall girl empowerment spin on the classic trope is awesome.

 

The fifth film: The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill (Written by Anthony Cousins)

We meet a group of friends who have been fighting a Jason-esque slasher for years. The Jason /Friday the 13^th comparisons don’t stop at the type of killer they are fighting. The way that they interact, with the slasher, the past they have with the slasher. This film ends with a little bit of humorous twist. I really enjoyed the fact that they went completely nuts with this.  Apparently, Anthony Cousins is a huge fan of the genre and wanted to go over the top.

 

The sixth film is: So Much to Do (Written by Baron Vaughn).

Easiest way to put this is SPOILER!!!!

 

The seventh film is Horror Hypothesis (Written by Aaron B. Koontz & Cameron Burns)

This film brings us full circle. Mike is back and we get to see how everything has unfolded since we left him. We get some pretty funny dialogue and the story is wrapped up in a nice little bow.

 

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the movie. Shudder exclusives have been pretty good, but nothing really jumped out at me yet. This movie wrapped up a lot of humor and gore into one package that I didn’t know I needed in my life until I saw it. It’s witty and pays homage to my favorite genre of movies. I already purchased mine and this will be hitting my regular Halloween rotation for years to come.

I’m giving Scare Package a 3.5 out of 5 Hairpieces!

Much love to those lovely people at Shudder.

 

RLJE Films SCARE PACKAGE  is available on VOD, Digital, DVD, and Blu-ray. Do yourself a favor, and get it!