Laserdisc makes this two weeks in a row with anthology horror films. This was not planned. In fact today I got home and thought “huh, it’s Wednesday” and I had shit planned for today. Somehow this little buddy was knocking around in my notes and I decided to take it out for a spin. I was even more pleased to see the short running time. Any film that is under 20 minutes is always fine by me.

This selection of films couldn’t be any more different than Hole in the Wall, but both contain the same strain of humor mixed in with the story. It’s all a bit surreal. On one hand it’s quite funny for a laugh, but most of this feels light-years away from the days of Bill Rebane. It seems to now be the goal to make something that’s intentionally bad instead of trying so hard and falling flat. Perhaps it’s an homage to the strange cult films that came before them. All I know is that films like Laserdisc just don’t have the same charm, even if it is still pretty entertaining to watch.

Laserdisc opens with a pair of friends going trick-or-treating together. The first house they arrive at only has candy in the basement, according to the resident. So the friends willingly enter the basement before being invited to watch a laserdisc together. On this laserdisc are the short films that they watch throughout the night.

Since this has a running time of a sweet 17 minutes, you can expect that all the segments are pretty damn short. “The Mutation” follows a man and his unwillingness to listen to others (mostly be looking in the freezer). “Sweetest Kill” is a diabetic’s nightmare. “The Horror Roll” is about a man without loo roll and his quest for a clean bum. The following segment, “The Sale That Keeps Selling”,  gives a bit of gore when one man tries to take out a vacuum cleaner salesman.

The final segment, “Warm Jellybeans”, contains a plot about two brothers just wanting to complete a drug deal before their dance class. They even have enough time to throw in a twist at the end of this one.  Nice Melons Films (who present the film and made the two segments – “Warm Jellybeans” and “Laserdisc”) took first place at the 48-hour Film Project for Milwaukee for a different short film they made. They have a string of short films up on their YouTube page and each has the same feeling as the one that carries through Laserdisc. 

 

It’s clear that none of these segments don’t want to be taken seriously. I wouldn’t believe anyone for a second if they said I was supposed to get something out of this other than a little chuckle. Not even a shudder. I guess calling Laserdisc a series of horror shorts is using the term as loosely as possible. Dare I even say it, but I almost miss the days of Rebane and that lot. Even if they are horrible. I really don’t think anthology films and I are meant to be.