‘American Terror Tales 2’ Review (Amazon Prime)
Stars: Luba Hansen, Daniel Johnson, Scott Gaver, Jesse L. Green, Steve Delgado, Michelle Gernon, Corey Taylor, Cortney Costanzo, Melissa Miller, Nina Rose | Written and Directed by Dustin Ferguson, Brad Twig, George James Fraser, Joe Lujan
Opening with a scene featuring a homeless guy seemingly psychically willed to upchuck his own intestines by a skull-faced silent killer, it’s safe to say American Terror Tales 2 gets off to an auspicious start. What follows is an anthology that features three unconnected stories in a film that touches upon some genre stand-bys, delivering some grisly, gory fearful fun.
The opener House of Profane (not to be confused with the long-gestating The Profane Exhibit) continues on from that opener and tells the story of a group of “teens” who decide to put each other to the test by spending the night in a house owned by someone called Skullface. Now I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near ANY place connected to someone called Skullface, so why the hell this lot do remains a mystery… Said home not only contains our teens, but the killer from the prologue (the aforementioned Skullface) and a bunch of his ghostly victims, all still wandering around the property! This first segment, written and directed by Brad Twig (10/31 Part III, WrestleMassacre) first appeared way back in 2016 in the Todd Sheets-created anthology Sleepless Nights and seeing it again here reminded me of just how much fun I had with this Evil Dead-esque haunted house short – which might be light on story but is packed with blood, gore and some great “monster” effects work.
What’s a horror movie these days without a little killer doll action? We had Chucky, Annabelle and Dolly Dearest… Now it’s time to say hello to Billy! Another previously released short, appearing as recently as 2021 in the anthology United States of Horror and originally debiting as a standalone short (which won Joe Lujan a Best Director award at 202s Spookfest), Billy starts as it means to go on, with a woman going about what looks to be daily chores before tying a cinderblock around her neck and throwing herself into the pool! Five months later a couple come to view, and thus buy, the house in which the woman drowned… yes, yes, we know. Big mistake! After moving in the couple find Billy (a doll who looks like he could be the offspring of the titular Black Devil Doll From Hell) in the back of a cupboard and, as all couples do in genre films, they throw Billy out. Well, as usual for killer dolls, Billy doesn’t want to leave. And then strange shit starts to happen as the couple come under the spell of Billy.
When you see a doll in a horror film, be it a feature or a short, audiences have almost been trained to expect the kind of doll that runs around hacking and slashing at its victims. Not Billy. Billy doesn’t do anything – in fact, he’s like the puppet from Richard Attenborough’s classic horror Magic. He stares and stares and stares until its victims are literally driven insane! That doesn’t mean Billy is boring, it’s just something of a slow-burn story, one that is the antithesis of the segment that came before it, replacing blood and literal guts with a spooky, almost malevolent, atmosphere.
As the final segment begins you can help but feel we’re going to see something seemingly influenced by Dario Argento’s most famous work, Suspiria. Of course this segment, entitled Balletomane, is not merely connected to Argento’s work by the subject matter – dancers attending a dance school, in this case, a small ballet school run by an unseen but VERY heard strict teacher played by Melissa Miller (Miller is also credited as executive producer on this segment too) – what Balletomane also shares with Suspiria is witchcraft! But whereas the teachers in Suspiria had ulterior motives for their student(s), here it’s one of the students themselves, Ellie (Cortney Costanzo), who’s constantly bullied for not being up to the same demanding standard as the rest of her class! This final segment is the shortest of the three, and the least substantial – Ellie conducts her ritual and her mortal enemy in her ballet class drops dead the next day. That’s it. There’s little to no dialogue apart from the aforementioned unseen ballet teacher – instead opting for musical cues to set the mood. Unfortunately, it makes this segment feel more like an afterthought – an idea brought to life that is sorely missing substance.
Given that American Terror Tales 2 is available to watch for free it’s hard not to recommend the film – especially given the strong opening segment. Whilst it was fun to see House of Profane again, I hadn’t experienced either of the other stories in this film before; however, I can see an issue with genre fans who’ve already consumed the two pre-existing (that I know of) shorts in this anthology… Is it worth sitting through them again for the final segment? Probably not. But for everyone else, this is definitely worth 75 minutes of your time!
*** 3/5
American Terror Tales 2 is available to watch for free on Tubi in the US and Amazon Prime Video in the UK.