Whether you are a movie collector or not I am sure that you have seen the multitude of DVD compilations at you local big box store. Sets where the cram 8-100 plus movies onto two DVDs. You know, to lock in that low budget movie freshness! These compilations usually have some sort of theme to them even if it is just by genre. They also tend to get the lowest of budget films owned by the lowest of budget companies. Sprinkle in some movies in the public domain and you have created a craptacular compilation treasure trove. But, unlike actual treasure, you might want to be wary of spending time on these sets. For some, like my foolish self, these can contain the odd hidden gem, or even the next super fun "So bad it's Good" movie to watch with my friends. To most other people they're a steaming pile of horse crap. But, how are you to know how good or bad these sets are without actually sitting down and wasting your time with them? Well, that's where I come in. In this new set of reviews, I will cover the quality of these dollar bin dwellers and see if I can find some hidden gold among them. Then, I will pass the savings onto you. The genre of film matters not, I will review everything from horror, to action and family packs, as long as they are cheap and have at least eight movies on them. There may also be some future special editions with larger movie counts or even mini sets. I will also be steering away from DVD sets that are collections of a single franchise for now, but I will do sets from a single director.
So, here we are! A series demanded by no one and attempted only by the foolish. Ii is time to begin my spectacularly crap filled journey into the madness that is Craptacular Compilations! Prepare yourself and read on if you dare.
We begin our journey with the creatively named "8 Horror Films." Although, in fairness, not all the films on here I would call horror. So, obviously, that's not a great start.
Before beginning to watch this set, my hopes for a hidden gem was given a boost after seeing some notable names on the back. The movie Absentia is written and directed by Mike Flanagan, who also wrote and directed Gerald's Game and Netflix's Haunting of Hill House. Plus, Butcher Boys was written by Kim Henkel who also co-wrote the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as a few of the sequels in the series. So, maybe there might be some good on here.
For these reviews, I am going work my way up from worst to best as well as give a "Hidden Gem" award to the movie that I think stands out the most from the crowd. It doesn't have to be the best movie on the set, just one worth noting above the others. So, let us begin, starting with the worst movie on the set.
8. Darkroom
Darkroom is a 2013 horror/thriller about a woman who goes to trauma therapy to get yelled at until she is allowed to model for a weird set of siblings. In a twist, instead of asking her to model, they kidnap and torture her.
I mean, there is more to the plot, but the movie spends the first thirty minutes jumping back and forth through time so it can get kind of confusing. Of course, it just abandons that concept for the latter half of the film, which is probably for the best.
The siblings are supposed to be acting out on their repressed impulses because of having a crazy religious mother but spend most of the time just bickering with each other. To be honest, there is very little else to this movie other than a jumbled first 30, and a plodding cliche final two thirds. Easily the worst of the bunch.
7. House of Good and Evil
Another 2013 horror/thriller from this set, and it may also have been a Syfy movie as well. The House of Good and Evil sees a couple move out to an isolated old house to try to get their marriage back together after the death of their unborn child. Mind you, that death was caused by the jerk of a husband, so this whole "we can work it out" thing probably won't find any traction.
Between the low dialogue audio for the main actress, the overly long run time for a very short story, and the movie's obsession with throwing jump scare music over the most mundane of happenings, HOGAE is a hard watch. I did like the aspects of how isolation can work on the mind of a person, but this movie does such a crap job of everything else, that it doesn't make much of a difference in quality. I guess 2013 was a bad year for straight to video horror/thrillers.
6. Butcher Boys
This was the first movie on the set and it instantly dashed some of those hopes I had beforehand. Butcher Boys is a horror/action/comedy from 2012, written by Kim Henkel. Let's just say that it is a long way from being good. Like a long way.
Awash with chase scene after chase scene, very little stands out as good in this film. It does, however, suffer from having every villain be a weird crazy person, which never works for me. If everyone in your movie is wacky and weird, then nothing stands out at all. The weird becomes normal, which makes it dull.
The only standouts include a character that is totally not Leatherface, but really is, who drowns out all other dialogue with his constant yelling of MMWAARRRHHHHH!!! Also, the movie starts with a scene where a lady gets abducted and thrown into a van. Then when her daughter comes out of a store to find out that she's gone, she looks angry and says "Not again." That's solid gold inside a turd.
5. Cargo
We now hit the low end of the middle of the set with 2011's dramatic thriller, Cargo. Surprisingly, I was digging this film for the first half. The movie does a good job of showing the terror and complete lack of human respect in the world of Human Trafficking. It's dark, terrible, and claustrophobic. You felt for the girl, who just wanted a better life. Yet, she finds herself a victim. Kidnapped and sent away without any idea if she will live or not. It was horrific and at times even a bit gripping. Then the second half of the film happened.
At that point, the movie basically turns into a sex trafficking road trip film. As, our lead gets put into a car with a driver who escorts, well...escorts. Except instead of it being mutual, he is basically taking the sex slave to wherever her owners want her to go. The movie devolves into escape attempts and bickering about whose life is worse. I'll give you a hint, it's not the drivers.
4. Crave
Crave is a slow-burning thriller from 2012 that stars Ron Pearlman and Edward Furlong. Well, it's more like Crave features those actors for long enough to put them on the cover.
Our hero in this is a freelance crime scene photographer. Although, he may also just be a random photographer with friends on the police force. The movie doesn't do a great job explaining what he does, other than saying he likes to take photos. Honestly, I think he must work for the police since they usually don't hire freelancers to take photos of brutal crime scenes.
The plot kind of revolves around the main character seeing himself as a hero in a set of Walter Mitty-like scenes. Although his fantasies are a lot more violent. Instead of having fun adventures that show him as a self-confident person, he is imagining caving in peoples skulls with a hammer. These fantasies also include monologues that are laughably bad.
It's a solid attempt to show the descent into madness, but with such an unlikable lead it was hard to stay interested. Plus, at 113 minutes that's is just too much movie for so little story. Still, it made the top four! Shows how good this DVD set is.
3. Scary or Die
Scary or Die is a straight out horror anthology film from 2012. It has a set of five shorts that range from evil clowns to zombies and such. It also broke the top three of this set without really having to try that hard.
The film, on the whole, is pretty average. None of the shorts really stand out in a good way, with the best being "The Path." The first short "Crossroads" is also fun if not a bit goofy toxic zombie story.
Sadly, for the evil clown fans out there. "Clowned," the short film apparently good enough to put on the cover, tests your patience by being longer than the rest and by also being just plain awful. It follows a man slowly turning into an evil clown after finding an evil clown wig. So, it's totally the movie "Clown" with two extra letters.
The anthology ends with a cliche voodoo story and leaves you with the impression that as these shorts got worse and worse, that they would lure you in with some not so bad short films, in an attempt to keep you from turning the DVD off halfway through. Even worse, it is easily the third best movie out of the eight.
2. Absentia
The aforementioned film by Mike Flanagan, Absentia is a thriller/mystery from 2011. The story follows a woman who is trying to cope with the disappearance of her husband now that he has been declared dead in absentia.
As the story slowly unfolds, you begin to see a more unexplained set of circumstances revealed. Numerous break-ins, disappearances of animals and people, as well as strange figures being spotted in the neighborhood. The police, who are the worst part of this film, do nothing and refuse to believe the lead character no matter how much evidence she has shown them.
Absentia does a good job moving from grief and sadness, to horror. It builds a dreadful feeling inside you that works in its favor. Although, the movie leaves a lot unexplained by the end, which is a bit of a knock. I don't need everything explained, but just a bit would have been nice.
I have a feeling that most people would have put Absentia as the number one film in this set. It is easily the most polished and well put together movie. Yet, there was something about the next film that I just enjoyed. Not only did it stand out as good, but it had a fun concept, that was a bit new to me. So, not only is it my favorite on this set, but it also gets the Hidden Gem award as well. That movie is "Dark Tourist."
1. Dark Tourist
A dark tourist is a person who enjoys going to places where tragedy and murder have happened. They like to visit the homes of serial killers and their victims as a very dark hobby. This is the premise at the beginning of Dark Tourist, also known as The Grief Tourist.
I admit I don't think I have seen a film using dark tourism as an angle like this before, nor did I really know that dark tourism was a thing. Netflix has a series about it now, but at the time of watching, this felt new to me.
So, our main character, who is a bit of a quiet loner uses some vacation time to visit the old haunts of a famous arsonist/murderer in California. While there, he finds some mementos from the killer while visiting his childhood home in the backwoods. He also begins to see visions and hear the voice of the killer talking to him and egging him on. Reality begins to blur and our dark tourist starts to become something a lot more evil.
I really liked Dark Tourist. In fact, one of my biggest complaints is how they didn't spend enough time on the changes in the lead. He was just evil after a few seconds. There was no real conflict, no slow burn change, just evil. I barely ever say this about films, but Dark Tourist could have used a bit more time to flesh out this storyline. All in all, though I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
There you have it, the first Craptacular Compilation. 8 Horror Films consisted mostly of thrillers that had horror aspects to them, so I would have gone with the equally creative 8 Thrillers as a title, but what do I know.
I'm not going to recommend picking this one up from the dollar bins. While I liked two of the films, I don't think either one is good enough to pay for six other movies of very low quality. That being said, it might be cheaper grabbing something like this than trying to find and buy copies of the films themselves. So, I would say don't go looking for this set, but if you find it cheap, then grab it for at least two good watches.
Coming Soon - Craptacular Compilations 2 - Midnight Horror Collection: Zombies!