The anthology horror film used to mean a lot more, as Amicus used to make movies that stuck together as a narrative whole instead of just jamming together multiple shorts into one movie and putting them out for content. At least How Dark They Prey has an interesting handheld shot demonic beginning to get us started.

What helps is that this was made by only two directors, Adam Ambrosio, who made the “Encounter Nightly” story and Jamison M. LoCascio, who made the “Harrowing,” “Blood Beach,” and “Nelly” chapters. That allows this to have more narrative cohesion than the average — or below-average — horror portmanteau you find streaming online.

“Encounter Nightly” has a paranormal TV show meeting a woman who has seen aliens. And her husband may know a bit more about them than anyone they’ve ever encountered. “Harrowing” has two U.S. soldiers pinned down by German forces before things get really strange. “Blood Beach” — that’s perhaps a title that could have been changed so it doesn’t force comparisons to the original film — explores the Lovecraftian side of fishing. And “Nelly” has a goofy cop and the woman he’s trying to ask out get abducted by two men wearing masks from The Flintstones who are armed with chainsaws.

To be positive, I did like how the last story reconnects to the framing story, which rarely happens in modern anthology films.

How Dark They Prey is now available on Amazon Prime and will be on the Watch Movies Now YouTube channel for free soon.