About the Author: Paul Andolina is a great fan of movies. You can check out his sites Wrestling with Film and Is the Dad Alive?

Morbid Stories is an anthology film that was released in October 2019. It features 5 segments by 5 independent directors. The segments are mostly about the undead in various forms, usually vampires or zombies, although one story centers around ghosts, and another features a ghost but is about some kind of creature.

The wrap-around segment is directed by Asif Akbar and is how the other stories come into play in the film. A young woman named Candy has recently broken up with her boyfriend Mike, while on the phone with her mother the gas in her house suddenly shuts off, not wanting to stay home alone she gathers her two dogs and sets out in her car. On her way out of town she tunes into a radio station that mentions an attack on the United States, each segment is prefaced by the radio announcer mentioning an attack.

The first segment, titled Invasive Species is directed by Mick Thomas. The Singers are a young couple who are awakened when they hear a knock on the door, Jamie collects his baseball bat, tells Helen to monitor the surveillance camera and heads downstairs to investigate the noise. A long-haired stranger is at the door, asking to come in to make a phone call because one of his friends is injured. Helen is confused because she can hear the strangers at the door but they are not appearing on the camera. Turns out the strangers are vampires and they are here to kill the Singers. It’s one of the stronger segments in the film.

The second segment of the film, 3 Months, is directed by Ashley Mei who also stars in the segment. Mallory Yoshida (Mei) is almost 18, she has been taking care of her siblings almost full time. Her friends Lola and James come to visit her and contact some spirits. Lola and James are not fans of Mallory’s siblings and James is an extremely angsty teenager. Mallory and James are not taking Lola’s attempts to contact a spirit seriously so she excuses herself to the bathroom for a good cry. Meanwhile, James is confessing his love to Mallory and asking her to run away with him. She tells him they only have 3 more months and then they can do whatever he wants. Lola is possessed and kills Mallory’s sibling’s pet rabbit. Lola attacks James and the segment ends. I found this segment interesting but felt it had little to do with the rest of the film’s theme but according to the film’s tagline “Death Is Only The Beginning,” I guess it does.

The third segment, directed by and starring Will Devokees, Writers Beware is my personal favorite of the segments. A writer named Robert Zirn (Devokees) is feeling troubled after some recent bad publicity and needs to lay low to write his new book. His assistant Paul finds him a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Robert isn’t too pleased about this and continues to complain about it to Paul, and the owner of the house Don. Something is living in the attic and Robert lets it out and it chases him through the house. It’s a tale of a bad man getting his comeuppance. 

The fourth and final segment, More Than You Can Chew, is directed by Clint Kelly. It revolves around Morgan a recently turned vampire who is struggling with her transformation, food no longer satiates her hunger and makes her sick as a dog, she runs outside to find a victim but instead tries to eat a zombie, who takes a bite out of her. Something is horrible is happening to her but her boyfriend Jake comes over and she is forced to try to tough it out. Her boyfriend Jake is played by Eigh8t the Chosen One, a rapper, and a former Youtube DVD reviewer. This segment features the best effects of the entire film.

Altogether I thought this was a solid anthology film but it does have its issues. Some segments have music featured in them and it is so loud that it drains out the dialogue, the segments themes don’t really seem to connect well, especially considering the radio continues to talk about zombies and vampires. I really thought the whole film would feature zombies and vampires as it comes out of the gate pretty strong with that approach. Some of the segments aren’t that greatly realized, with the wrap around and 3 Months being the most lackluster. 

You can definitely tell this is not a film with a gigantic budget but I still had some fun with it. It can be rented through Vimeo for $2.99 and purchased for $8.99, but if you have Amazon Prime you can check it out without any additional costs.