By Strega Cerbone
In an era where horror anthologies are a dime-a-dozen and reboots outweigh any sense of creativity, Scare Package is an incredibly refreshing, funny while bloody – alternative. Ask any horror aficionado and they will tell you that to be a horror fan transcends mere love of the genre. Horror goes beyond the content of the films, it’s a lifestyle that we lead. Horror has its own rules that are gospel to those that speak the language of the films. For horror adherents, there is a rite of passage and a ritual to knowing certain films by heart and recognizing greats of the both the films and the broader world surrounding them, such as the FX community. Scare Package understands this and delivers a perfect gift to the community and fans of horror everywhere.
Scare Package doesn’t have a dud in the bunch. In fact, the biggest complaint would be that we don’t get to spend enough time with one segment in particular, which is a wonderful complaint to have with this kind of endeavor. There are eight segments total, spread out over the course of 103 minutes, a lengthy running time for an anthology but thankfully not a moment is wasted here, with things kicking off at a sprightly pace with a short quite literally entitled “Cold Open.” The first glimpse of a signpost for an abandoned insane asylum sets the goofy tone right away. Scare Package is light on its feet, barely pausing for breath to ensure we’re never in danger of getting bored.
Scare Package, Shudder’s latest must-watch, is an anthology so, even without knowing anything else about it, one’s guard is up. Anthologies are tough to get right chiefly because they’re only as good as the final instalment or, worse, the wraparound story – consider the wide, yawning chasm between the brilliant V/H/S/2 and its meandering, confused follow-up, V/H/S Viral which, shockingly, employed the talents of genre fan favorites Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson yet still managed to fall flat (hell, I couldn’t tell you what their short, or any of the others for that matter, was about without looking it up first).
There are countless homages, nods, and buried Easter eggs referencing films that members of the horror community all know and love. It’s a ton of fun to experience. Especially the cameo in the final segment, one that I will not spoil. Once you know who it is, you’ll probably be able to guess why. As a child of 80’s, I have watched the good, the bad and the ugly of 80’s cheese. The anthology pays homage, like so many other recent movies, but this time, rather than thinking of Craven, Raimi, and Carpenter, the movie wants to recall those special fun bad movies that we all rented back in those days, things like Night of the Demons, Spookies and Monster Dog. This approach plays around with over-the-top gore effects and deliberately bad performances, but it nonetheless has a charm that has been strongly missed, especially for folks that carry a nostalgia for that time and those movies.
Overall, Scare Package is a remarkably effective, solid film. The tone is fun and light-hearted, with the emphasis on gooey, crunchy, splattery gore and solid, smart jokes. The requisite synthwave 80’s score, ties the whole thing together and, although the movie employs several talented cinematographers, the combined look of the movie is terrific; rich, tactile, and colourful. A must-watch, horror fan or otherwise.