Southbound (2015)

Dir: Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath, Radio Silence

Is the traditional style horror anthology film dead? Will we ever see a set up like THE VAULT OF HORROR or TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE again? A style that usually includes a host who introduces each segment with each story being separate from the others save for being part of the wrap around segment. Post PULP FICTION must we always have plot threads intertwined and jumps in the time line? Or am I just a grumpy old man pining for the days of yesteryear? And why am I complaining about it when it does work, as seen in the entertaining, and bewildering SOUTHBOUND.

There's no Crypt Keeper but there is a road, a cursing D.J. (Larry Fessenden) and the characters of the five segments to tie everything together. The opening segment, The Way Out, is about two men (Chad Villella and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin who both appear in V/H/S) trying to escape from floating, tentacled reapers after committing an unnamed act. Stopping at a gas station / diner, the two find themselves trapped in the small town, unable to escape.

The second tale, Siren, involves an all girl punk band (Fabianne Therese STARRY EYES, Hannah Marks SLASH and Nathalie Love ) traveling in a VW camper to their next gig. When one of their tires blows out stranding them in the middle of nowhere, they grudgingly accept a lift from an odd acting couple (Susan Burke and Davey Johnson). The couple invites them into their home, which with its outdated decor looks like Squaresville to the young rockers. Things take an even odder turn when the neighbours (Anessa Ramsey THE SIGNAL and Dana Gould, a producer of THE SIMPSONS) stop by for a mystery meat dinner.

The third story, The Accident, has a distracted driver (Mather Zickel) running over a young woman on a remote stretch of road. Calling 911 the driver is giving instructions to pick up the seriously wounded woman from the road and drive into a town that appears deserted. Carrying the woman into an apparently abandoned hospital, the 911 dispatcher's requests take a turn into TWILIGHT ZONE territory.

A man (David Yow BLEED) with a shotgun busts into a bar looking for his long lost sister (Tipper Newton THE ABCs OF DEATH) in the fourth tale, Jailbreak. Only to find that his sister wants to remain lost. And keeps company with some unsavory types.

The last yarn, The Way In, has dad, mom and their daughter (Gerald Downey A VOICE IN THE DARK, Kate Beahan THE WICKER MAN remake, Hassie Harrison DEMENTIA) on one last holiday together as the daughter is now grown up. Answering knocks at the front and back doors of the motel they are staying at, the family sees masked men with evil intent on their minds surrounding the room.

SOUTHBOUND is one weird ride with heavy emphasis on the ambiguous and leaving mysteries unexplained. The floating reapers from the first tale of terror appear throughout the film but I don't fully understand their meaning. I was also thinking that the bar in the fourth yarn was a hang out for werewolves! Yes, it took me that long to pick up on what was really going on. Despite my bafflement I enjoyed SOUTHBOUND and its collection of oblique weird tales. The direction, writing and acting are all good. There's a fair amount of gore and a couple of very black, dark gags to please the gorehounds in the audience.

*** out of ****