Scare Package
Part of: SLASH Filmfestival
Seen on: 26.9.2020
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Scare Package is a great anthology that takes on horror tropes and ridicules them with a whole lot of love and a great sense of humor. The various segments all bring something else to the table and yet all fit together, creating the feeling of a unified film more than many other anthology movies manage. It really is very well done overall.

More about each of the segments after the jump.

Cold Open
Director: Emily Hagins
Writer: Emily Hagins
Cast: Jon Michael Simpson, Haley Alea Erickson

Mike Myers (Jon Michael Simpson) works behind the scenes for horror movies – making sure signs are turned around or the power goes out at the right moment. But just once he would like to take on a bigger role.

Cold Open is wonderfully hilarious. Poor Mike on his quest for meaning was not only a great idea in itself, but set the mood perfectly for the rest of the film. I loved it.

Rad Chad’s Video Emporium
Director: Aaron B. Koontz
Writer: Cameron Burns, Aaron B. Koontz
Cast: Jeremy King, Byron Brown, Hawn Tran

Chad (Jeremy King) has a video rental place. He is looking to hire someone and his best customer, Sam (Byron Brown), is hoping that he can work there. But Chad hires Hawn (Hawn Tran) instead, prompting Sam’s envy.

Rad Chad’s Video Emporium was a great framing device for the segments in the film and had a couple of really funny moments in their own right (like Chad’s booty shot). I had fun with this one.

One Time in the Woods
Director: Chris McInroy
Writer: Chris McInroy
Cast: Mac Blake, Will Elliott, Carlos Larotta, Stephanie Thoreson, Jessie Tilton

A group of friends goes on a camping trip to the woods where quite a few dangers lurk for them.

This is probably the goriest segment – and it’s definitely the fun kind of gore. I liked the way they just threw like five different tropes on top of each other here and saw what chaoes ensued from that.

M.I.S.T.E.R.
Director: Noah Segan
Writer: Frank Garcia-Hejl, Noah Segan
Cast: Noah Segan, Frank Garcia-Hejl, Jocelyn DeBoer

A man (Noah Segan) finds a flyer in a bathroom that invites men to unite and find their manliness again in the organization M.I.S.T.E.R. He becomes curious and goes – but things don’t quite turn out as planned.

For a hot second there, I was very worried that this segment would actually take the Men’s Right Activists route, but thankfully that was not the case – the segment takes a different and pretty great direction. And it has one of the best instances of death by chocolate ever.

Girls Night Out of Body
Director: Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar
Writer: Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar, Ben Fee
Cast: Melanie Minichino, Gabrielle Maiden, Atsuko Okatsuka

Ali (Melanie Minichino), Jamie (Gabrielle Maiden) and Ray (Atsuko Okatsuka) are heading for a girl’s weekend. But a mysterious lollypop gives their weekend a very different turn.

This was a nice, feminist horror in the short version – and was probably more successful in its feminism than the films at the SLASH this year that were touted as feminist so far. And generally. it was just really funny. Wonderful.

The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill
Director: Anthony Cousins
Writer: Anthony Cousins, John Karsko
Cast: Chelsey Grant, Tommy David, Jack Hartwig, Julie McCarthy

Daisy (Chelsey Grant) has had it with the serial killer who keeps hunting her and her friends – she has a plan to get it over with once and for all.

This segment takes on the “the bad guy rises again” trope and dials it up to 1000. It is fun in its absurdity and has quite a few very nice jokes. Entertaining.

So Much to Do
Director: Baron Vaughn
Writer: Baron Vaughn
Cast: Toni Trucks, Aaron D. Alexander, Baron Vaughn

Franchesca (Toni Trucks) is about to head home to watch the finale of the biggest TV show around. But driving through a mysterious fog, she brings something home with her.

I liked the idea of taking “what would you do to avoid spoilers” and spinning it into a horror movie, but overall this was probably the segment that worked the least for me. Still, it was entertaining and fit well with the rest of the film.

Horror Hypothesis
Director: Aaron B. Koontz
Writer: Cameron Burns, Aaron B. Koontz
Cast: Jeremy King, Zoe Graham, Chase Williamson, John Bloom, Josephine McAdam, Byron Brown, Hawn Tran

Chad (Jeremy King) finds himself in the basement below his store where a scientific experiment is conducted on the effect a serial killer has on reality. Suffice it to say that things start going wrong.

Horror Hypothesis is like a meta nod – a condensed version of Cabin in the Woods that is also a nod to horror movies and their tropes. It manages to be more pointed than Cabin – and definitely a whole lot more fun. It rounds off the anthology very nicely.

Summarizing: super entertaining.