Tales from the Other Side (2022) User Reviews

Good For a Slow Night When You're Looking to Kill Some Brain Cells

[rebeltaz-18705 · 3/10 · 28 August 2022]

OMGosh... where do I start? The whole "Hansel and Gretel" shtick has been played out to death. I'm not giving away anything to say that you can see that coming a mile away. But the stories...

For starters, the filming is amateurish. The camera is obviously handheld - you can see it shaking and bobbing all over the place and it's worse in some scenes than others. Then, of course, there is the lighting. Like always today in hollywood, they light scenes with 4 watt night light bulbs that they try to pass off as 100 watt bulbs - i.e. Lamps and ceiling lights only cast a very faint glow over the entire scene. But them, in other scenes - especially outdoor scenes - the shots are completely blown out! They can't even be consistent. Finally, the audio changes from scene to scene - hissing and popping one minute and crystal clear the next... Complete amateur hour.

Then there are the stories themselves!

"Flicker" is alright as far as stories, go, but it really doesn't make sense. A guy gets a job as a video editor for a funeral service, but starts seeing things in the film that wasn't really there. I guess had it been fleshed out longer, it could have made for an interesting episode on TV.

"Petrified Boy" is just ridiculous. A circus performer has a "petrified boy" who comes to life and starts killing if exposed to light. :rolling_eyes: This one is told as a story within a story within a story.

"Crystal Ball" is about the only one that's even worth watching. My only question is what kind of a person steals a crystal ball from a fortune teller thinking that that will fix her crumbling marriage? But over looking that, meh.. it's ok.

"Either/Or" is just offensive. In this one, mental patients claim to hear the Voice of God. The doctor has got to be one of the most smartarsed, patronizing excuses for a doctor I've ever seen. How this is supposed to be a "horror" story, I have no clue. Doesn't even fit the overall tapestry that they are trying to weave here.

"Blood Red" is about two artists who are broke and a chick who knows how to make them rich. Trying not to give anything away here, but I want to know how someone who is tied to a cross can commit murder AND suicide!?

Finally we have "Krampus versus Elf." This one is a short stop-motion claymation disaster. No plot, no story, no talent.

Honestly, don't waste your time...

A nearly worthless anthology beyond the kid-friendly approach

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 2/10 · 21 June 2022]

While out trick-or-treating, a group of kids decides to visit the house of an accused witch which leads to her telling them six scary stories as a means of showing her good intentions.

The Good Stor(ies): Crystal Ball-Heading into a fortune teller's tent, a woman and her reluctant boyfriend decide to steal the crystal ball for themselves which soon sets them on a course of intense and deadly personal tragedy. This was a decent enough segment that seems to be mainly hurt by its running time more than anything else. The central idea has promise and feels right at home in an anthology like this with the theme of an unspeakable evil coming to punish those for their wrongdoing which comes in the form of a series of somewhat creepy visuals depicting their past coming back to haunt them. This all feels fine enough and has plenty to like about it, but just absolutely feels out-of-place in an anthology series aimed at younger kids with its focus on an extramarital affair being brought up constantly and the more adult implications that it brings about. In short, it works well enough for what it is but just not in this kind of entry.

The Bad Stor(ies): Petrified Boy-While hosting a yard sale for their grandfather's belongings, a patron learns about a fark family legacy involving the myth of the petrified boy, a popular carnival attraction that was rumored to be the center of a terrible tragedy. This is a highly uninspired opening in that it doesn't really feel like anything really gets accomplished here. The sight of the doll itself, posing as the titular boy since he never moves or speaks, is a creepy enough image but nothing else is done with it due to the rather brief running time that focuses far more on reaction shots of the crowd looking at it than it does to the dolls' actual rampage. Since this turns around and then ends on the being's apparent death that should signal the start of something happening, it just stops and transitions back to the wraparound for a massive letdown overall.

Flicker-Hearing of a job opening at a funeral home, an aspiring filmmaker takes a job as a memorial video editor for the recently deceased, and when he starts in on his job discovers what happened to the previous editor which puts his life in jeopardy. This one came off decently enough but also had some issues. The biggest factor here is the rather solid atmosphere that takes place on the site which comes off rather well with some decent visuals throughout as his mind starts playing tricks on him. It just feels way too familiar with the obvious finale being highlighted way too early in the running time to make an impact and the brief running time making it feel far too much like a prologue to something creepy happening at the service, especially with a confusing final coda that doesn't get explained.

Either/Or-living in an insane asylum, a man who claims to be the lone recipient of God's voice tries to convince his psychiatrist that he's not crazy for following God's instruction to murder his wife and kids. There's just little to say about this one as it's just not in the slightest bit interesting in any manner. The setup isn't that creepy or chilling as nothing about it comes off as threatening to anyone else, the concept of this one isn't scary or designed to elicit fear of him for what he's going through, and it has little purpose being in a series of segments designed for kids. This whole thing could've been taken out of the film and nothing would've changed rendering it a complete waste of time.

Blood Red-Trying to get on with a sexy woman, a painter is inexplicably drawn into a web of murder and deceit when he finds out that she's attempting to coerce him into killing her husband and abscond with the fortune. There's not a whole lot to this one as it's quite out-of-place in this kind of film. The fact that this one comes off with a traditional film-noir setup of a femme fatale trying to get another man to murder her husband serves as a generally fine setup for a thriller short but is once again completely out-of-place in a kid-friendly genre anthology with the adulterous lovers at the forefront and some salacious material dealing with the duplicitous lovers taking each other out that's what keeps this one down.

Krampus vs. Elf-Desperate for a story to get ready for bed on Christmas Eve, two kids are told the story of an elf rebellion to stop the devious Krampus from running wild over the holiday. This one could've been a lot of fun had it managed to do something interesting with the actual battle of the two different figures but it's the inherent lameness of the actual battle that takes place here is depicted by showing photographs of the figures in posed conflict and trying to pass it off as an actual battle. This just looks laughably awful and comes off immensely cheesy, which manages to hold this one down as bad as it does due to the weak story that showcases a lame setup with little explanation of anything going on, furthering this one as a rather confusing and unimpressive entry to close everything on.

Rated Unrated/R: Language, Mild Violence and a Sex Scene.

Tales from the Other Side

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 7 June 2022]

It's time for another horror anthology. Will this one have anything fun in store?

Three kids (Brooklyn Anne Miller, Tristan Lee Griffin, and Anna Harr) are looking to celebrate the most legendary Halloween night ever. Their trick-or-treat adventure brings them to the home of local town legend Scary Mary(Roslyn Gentle), who seems way nicer than all the stories they've heard. What is scary are the six stories that she tells them in the wraparound directed and written by written and directed by Pablo Macho Maysonet IV.

With that, we're on our way into the six stories and the many, many treats that Scary Mary has cooked up for the children.

Six stories make up Tales from the Other Side:

"Petrified Boy:" Jamaal Burden (Abominable, Elves) directs this story about a 19th century circus that has a petrified boy that escapes. There's a great last shot in this of the eye of the boy glaring that's worth the whole story.

"Flicker:" Carter (Brandon Thane Wilson) accepts a job as editor at a cemetery to edit "life videos" for funerals. It's a high stress job, as the videos are often due in less than a day, but it'll give him great experience and material for his first horror film. I loved that this segment featured Vernon Wells as the funeral home manager. This story was directed and written by Scotty Baker (The Diary of Anne Frank of the Dead) and it's way too short. I'd love to see what this could be as a full feature.

Check out our interview with Vernon Wells about the film!

"Crystal Ball:" A couple at odds after infidelity and now looking to spice things up (Chelsea Vale from Damon's Revenge and Nick Navarro) decide to steal a crystal ball from a carnival fortune teller (Paul Clough). As you can imagine, this does not go well. This was directed by Jacob Cooney and written by James Cullen Bressack, whose father Gordon worked on this movie as well in the next segment.

"Either/Or:" Elijah (a great James Duval) claims he's hearing the voice of God, a God that told him to kill his wife and child. But when everyone else starts to hear from the Lord too...this segment is the strongest in the movie and was directed by Lucas Heyne and Kern Saxton and written by James Cullen and Gordon Bressack.

"Blood Red" was directed by Frank Merle and written by Gordon Bressack and has Ruby (Cat LaCohie) seducing and then blackmails=ing an artist named Terry (Hunter Johnson) into killing her more famous artist husband (Michael Broderick), hoping she can sell his paintings for more when he's dead. But it gets even worse than that...

"Krampus vs. Elf" is another story directed and written by Jamaal Burden that has a stop-motion battle between the characters in the title.

While all of the stories don't work - and some seem way too adult for the doomed children - when this movie does work, it works pretty well. That's how most modern streaming anthologies work. The good segments are usually really good. As for the rest...

the urge of homemoviemaking...

[ops-52535 · 5/10 · 7 June 2022]

Becoming a possessed halloween storybook for kids, told like a creepy kids story, aimed for kids under adult supervision,casted with a lot of kids with good capabilities to learn the scripts and acts, though with a lying shouldershrug here and there they fullfil their part of the deal. To call it a horror may sound sweet to us grumpy old ones that devours blood and gore at daily basis, but for the wee ones it might be a fine intro to the dark spaces of the world, and to not to trust everyone out there...in other words its a childish story made for and with kids, by a group of homebrewed local theater fantasts, with a story told in many small tales, a medley kinda freakshow that works at a slow pace and where the worst word used is''prostitute'', i would define this as a dream come through for some that thinks horror for kids is cool, its made in a glittering crystalclear view, the props and costumes are good and the vivid use of colours works as an antidot upon the evil.....the grumpy old man became bored within the blink of an eye, but hung in there to conclude with a 5 at the scale, its for the kids...

Movie was okay

[zara-jane-qadry · 3/10 · 9 June 2022]

Movie was okay, some actors cant act, especially the kids, probably employed their own family members for kids part. The background music is so so loud, you cant even hear the actors talk and it's constantly there despite the scene.

Complete waste of time

[edlc1970 · 1/10 · 10 June 2022]

2022 have given us many bad and low budget boring movies. But this has to be in the top ten. Its a complete waste of time. Its not a horror movie, because Its way to boring. The acting sucks. And it reeks of low budget. If you dont want to waste time and end up being annoyed and bored, then avoid this utter crappy b-move.

Don't watch it

[mzunah · 1/10 · 8 June 2022]

Very bad movie and silly story don't waste your time watching it it doesn't even deserve one star you will lost your time and money this movie should banned.

OMG...

[mousefish · 1/10 · 8 June 2022]

I very often have the impression (rather certainty) that the people who give the ratings have serious mental problems... 🤣🤣🤣 I will start watching the movies rated under 2...

Scary Mary

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 3 August 2022]

The story is an anthology of 6 tales told by Scary Mary (Roslyn Gentle) to three Trick or Treaters who were reluctant to knock on her door. She relates the tales as they eat sweets aka Hansel and Gretel style. The last story used dolls and was the worst in the lot. The stories themselves lacked good horror and a couple had a good plot. I would say if not for a couple of F-words in the feature, I heard one and another was spelled, it would be a kids film.

I agree with the other review "Good For a Slow Night? - But NO, NOT EVEN THAT

[dcu-84704 · 1/10 · 7 October 2022]

I agree with the body of the review by the prior writer -- so I won't waste my time writting anything. The only thing I would add is that the last story in which the mother is reading to two boys at bedtime, "Krampus vs. Elf"; I could not understand a word the mother was reading because of the poor sound quality -- and there WAS no STORY - it was terrible!

It is unofrtunate that this outfit didn't have a bigger budget - well, a budget! The concept held such potential, but they descended into vulgarity and incoherent nonsense resulting in a missed opportunity that could have been something great! With a little bit of effort they could have really had something here! I wish that some one would purchasee this and do a remake. It would be a great intro to an anthology of GOOD stories. A wasted opportunity.

not a complete waste of time but not memorable much

[clreviews · 2/10 · 10 June 2022]

Only couple stories were good, there rest either just not scary at all or kids friendly unless scary marry was omitting some details lol. Some actors were good other not so much. A bit waste of time.

Good concept, very bad execution

[geraldleejones-20639 · 1/10 · 25 September 2023]

While the concept of a witch telling horror stories to unsuspecting kids is a bit shopworn, it is still very doable in the right hands. In this case it is in the wrong hands. Lame plots with absolutely talentless actors droning out their lines as if they were reading them line for line from a book. Lots of unappealing extras and all the children were utter hams. It was painful to watch, but I kept hoping for one good segment...I was ultimately disappointed at the end. The most likable character was Scary Mary.

The overuse of extremely long segments of character emotions and filming techniques which were innovative in 1955 do not help make this film watchable. I regret having watched it. Waste of your time.

Terrible Tales

[dominiclloyd-58436 · 2/10 · 28 April 2024]

I can cope with bad acting, videography and sound etc provided there is a story worth following. But there isn't. In any anthology you expect a few duff ones which will be bolstered by some corkers. But these are all duff. There's no effort to the writing, and it ruins the film.

I lost count of how many stories were shown, but they were all rubbish. More often than not they would end with you wondering why they even bothered. Either that or you would be wondering where the rest of the story was. The cinematography itself wasn't that bad, and the costumes were passable. But the story itself was just non-existant.

Not The Worst Movie Ever

[spiderman-55910 · 2/10 · 10 September 2023]

... Nor will it be anyone's favorite. Bad acting from the very start, with actors staring in awkward directions to obviously read the lines they didn't bother to memorize. While the more experienced actors aren't doing that, they still don't offer compelling performances either. A couple of the stories started off promising, only to take wrong turns. I didn't score it a 1 because there was some effort put into this, and I have seen movies I wouldn't even sit through half of. They should've opted to cut at least one story to improve the others. Overall, this has the quality of a kid's scary movie, which would make the lackluster acting, cinematography, and other minor issues forgivable. The fact that it's not made for kids is why it's so bad. You're not missing out on anything if you choose to skip this one. Watch Trick 'r Treat, Tales of Halloween, or Tales from the Darkside instead.

Why

[pvwqwcxkb · 1/10 · 18 August 2023]

Not sure how this even managed to make it to any streaming sites, it's comparable to the room or Birdemic.

Terrible acting, no concrete story, it felt like I was flipping through channels on tv each show with terrible acting. I thought maybe it could be good for kids from the quality of it but it contains too much violence and sex so not really suited for kids either, seemed like a good concept to present to kids about the dangers of strangers but can't even do that due to its graphic content. Not really sure what they were trying to do with this one at all honestly. Maybe it was just a fun and weird project between friends. But definitely not something good or professional. More like a home made movie.