IT'S ALIVE!!!! Telluride Horror Show is happening now!!! Buy your pass and play along at home here. Sickle and I do daily reviews of the content we see. Tonight, Sickle is tackling two of the short blocks while I'm giving a glimpse into the horror anthology, The 100 Candles Game. You should expect more THS coverage from us for the next 3 days, so keep a lookout! And without further ado, here we go!
The 100 Candles Game Review
Anthology films are all the rage these days, especially around the Halloween season! The 100 Candles Game is another anthology horror film that brings a lot of festival shorts into the mainstream. Interestingly enough the 100 Candles Game was actually a really old NoSleep story on Reddit and the interlocking story is heavily based on that!
But unfortunately, that doesn’t really mean the interlocking story was good. There were a few issues I had with it. One was the lack of ability of the main storyteller to make a lot of sense. I understand variety is the spice of life, but when I start laughing in the middle of your serious movie due to goofy dialogue, maybe work a bit more on the delivery. Another thing was just generally poor storytelling of the interlocked story. I am not a huge stickler for continuity, but these movies jump around randomly. The nice thing is that the interlocking story quality hardly ever ruins anthology films when the shorts are good! There were 4 shorts that were awesome in 100 Candles Game. The first is about a mom who sees demons but her family doesn't see them, so she comes off as insane. It has really good effects and some creepy reaching hands. Another is the intro short which follows a little girl meeting another little girl in the forest. Tables turn a few times in that one and it is a nice twist on a twist. The third one is about a little kid and his dad and some crazy creatures hunting them on their farm. If this short's ending was what would have been the ending that happens in It Comes At Night, that movie would not have been disappointing. Finally, we have one we have seen at Telluride before about a priest who exorcises a demon, delivers a baby, then betrays everyone!
The nice part about a new anthology film is sitting around with your friends and getting excited when you have seen some before. It is never really disappointing when you see something you have seen somewhere else in these movies cuz you get to see everyone else's reactions and see what they think! I personally believe that is why anthology films will always thrive. I still to this day show people A Night of Horror Volume 1 on Prime because I love the short, Point of VIew and it doesn't exist outside of there. In essence, a short being included in an anthology is a great way to experience it on a streaming platform that isn't Vimeo or Youtube.
While I do think the interlocking story of 100 Candles Game was weak I really loved some of the shorts. Sickle and I love short horror and anthologies are another way for us to CONSUME. If you like anthology-style horror check out this movie at some point over the next few days during THS 2020! And check out our coverage tomorrow and all weekend!
Horror Rating System
Horror Qualifier: 10/10
Horror Quality: 8/10
Film Quality: 5/10
#telluridehorrorshow #ths2020 #100candlesgame #anightofhorror #nosleep