Chad, the owner of Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium, recounts a series of bone-chilling, blood splattering tales to illustrate the rules of the horror genre to his newest employee.
Starring: Noah Segan (Knives Out), Baron Vaughn (Mystery Science Theater 3K) Chase Williamson (Beyond the Gates), Jocelyn DeBoer (Greener Grass), Jeremy King (Camera Obscura), Dustin Rhodes (WWE Legend), Zoe Graham (Boyhood), Hawn Tran (The Watchmen), Kirk Johnson (Lazer Team), Chelsey Grant, Jon Michael Simpson, Josephine McAdam and more.
Directed by: Emily Hagins, Chris McInroy, Hilary & Courtney Andujar, Noah Segan, Baron Vaughn, Anthony Cousins & Aaron B. Koontz
Rarely do I lead off a review giving away how I feel about a movie. Well it didn’t take long for “Scare Package” to earn my respect, and jump towards the top of my list of favorite horror comedy anthologies. It certainly has a chance to end up being the best and funniest horror comedy anthologies around. It’s built on tackling horror tropes with no fear covering many aspects of horror that we fans talk about all the time.
Besides the tropes, the anthology is tied together by Chad (Jeremy King), who owns Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium. His store seems to be open for only one customer named, Sam, who also loves movies, and might even want to secretly work there. Too bad that role just got filled by a surprise applicant, who Chad puts through an on-boarding process. It’s this process that introduces the audience to a fabulous collection of short horror films.
“Scare Package” actually opens with the appropriately named short film “Cold Open.” In this one, a guy with a great name is tasked with setting up the forthcoming evil in the opening scenes of horror movies. That’s right, he's actually told how to set things up, and the audience gets treated to several standard horror openings. Apparently he wants more out of this than being just the opening guy, and epically fails when he tries to get more involved than he’s supposed too! What’s great about him is that he seems to just innocently go about everything while just wanting to play a bigger role in things.
The next short, “One Time in the Woods,” has everything fans would want in covering horror tropes, and having a bloody and gooey fun time. It starts making the audience think it’s going to be about werewolves, but then throws in what usually happens in the woods…the appearance of a slasher! The werewolf gets stuck in transformation and becomes a head in a puddle of gooey mess. It ends up giving hilarious commentary as the group of people try to survive the slasher. This film is so bloody, so messy, and just fall out of your seat hysterical.
Other films cover a range of horror tropes and genres like cults, Giallo, not being able to kill a slasher, possession, spoilers, and more. All happening while ridiculous events play out in “Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium” leading to the final film “Horror Hypothesis.” Chad’s gone from his video store to being apart of an experiment in a horror movie of his own. Just think of this last film as “The Cabin in the Woods” the remake. Chad feels like he’s the super horror fan that will use his horror knowledge to get out alive from a group of usual suspects…the jock, the stoner, and the final girl. It’s here that Chase Williamson plays the stoner, and later reenacts a scene from one of horror fans favorite franchises.
That’s not the only surprise in this final film. Dustin Rhodes plays the Devil’s Lake Impaler, who absolutely destroys everything in his path. The deaths are so great, and of course so unbelievable. He closes in on Chad and the few survivors until they get help from a true horror icon (to remain nameless so that you’re surprised). This person couldn’t have been a better pick for how this movie plays out, and there’s even a clue or two of their involvement if fans look hard enough. There’s only one way this is going to end, and that’s with the final girl, and yet another twist from another one of the films that puts a terrific punctation on this anthology.
It’s very clear that “Scare Package” is made by horror fans who have nothing but love for horror. They use their knowledge of horror to fearless pick the genre apart in a fun way. The humor is top notch, and the kill count and blood splatter is glorious! Presenting a horror trope movie based in a video store just seems so right. The acting is on point in every film, and the surprise guest appearance couldn’t be more fitting. Of course fans will like some of these short films more than others, but overall they do their job in covering as much horror as they can. In the end, this package of films is a fantastic gift to horror fans that I give 4.5 pools of blood!
HorrO
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