Gallery of Fear

USA 2011
produced by
Zoe Daelman Chlanda, Peter Kindrachuk, Bart Mastronardi, Eric Richter, Alan Rowe Kelly (executive), Anthony G. Sumner (executive) for Southpaw Pictures, Tinycore Pictures
directed by Alan Rowe Kelly (segments Critic's Choice, Down the Drain, A Far Cry from Home), Anthony G. Sumner (segment By Her Hand, She Draws You Down)
starring segment Critic's Choice: Debbie Rochon, David Marancik; segment By Her Hand, She Draws You Down: Zoe Daelman Chlanda, Jerry Murdock, Terry Shane, Joshua Nelson, Kristen Overdurf, Laurel Nathan, Marianne Smith, Fawn Nathan, Antonio Abud, Mackenzie Miller; segment Down the Drain: Jerry Murdock, Raine Brown, Mike Lane, Robert Norman, Miguel Lopez (= Joe Encarna), Jessie May Laumann, Shane Kulman, Tom Lanier, Henry Borriello; A Far Cry from Home: Alan Rowe Kelly, Don Money, Jerry Murdock, Benzy, Katherine O'Sullivan, Terry M. West, Susan Adriensen, Robb Leigh Davis
screenplay by Alan Rowe Kelly (segments Critic's Choice, Down the Drain, A Far Cry from Home), Anthony G.Sumner, based on a short story by Doug Smith (segment By Her Hand She Draws You Down), music by Tom Burns, Gene Hodsdon, special effects by Brian Spears, special makeup effects by Benzy, Henry Borriello, Michael Todd Schneider, Anthony G.Sumner, monster design segment Down the Drain: the Incubus Group

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Framing story (Critic's Choice): Roberta Van Houten (Debbie Rochon), an egocentric art critic, is lured to an art gallery in the middle of nowhere, where she is the only guest, and where she finds a trio of paintings that, when unveiled, tell her gruesome horror stories. A fourth painting of course tells of her own imminent demise ...

• By Her Hands, She Draws You Down: Cath (Zoe Daelman Chlanda) is a street artist, travelling the countryside drawing people's portraits for a few bucks, always giving extra attention to their mouthes ... because through the mouthes on her drawings she sucks out her models' lifeforce. Her husband (Jerry Murdock) travels with her to keep her in check - but Cath grows hungrier by the minute, and she knows him so well she can draw him from memory, in the dark ...
• Down the Drain: Stanley Moffet (Jerry Murdock) is a substitute teacher who is so annoying and so annoyingly boring that nobody respects him, not his students, not his ex-wife (Raine Brown), not his principal (Mike Lane) - who even fires him eventually -, simply nobody. And thus, Moffet has long become a target for bullying by everybody. Then though he finds out a tentacled monster is living in the drain pipes, a monster that's sympathetic to his cause - and now his luck changes ... 
• A Far Cry from Home: Kayle (Don Money) and his crossdressing boyfriend Lane (Alan Rowe Kelly) have decided to take a roadtrip to the country to fix their relationship - and stop at a curio shop in the middle of nowhere - bad idea, because the curio shop is run by a couple of rednecks (Katherine O'Sullivan, Jerry Murdock, Benzy) who don't like gays, especially if they're crossdressing. And encouraged by the local bigot preacherman (Terry M.West) they have found very gruesome ways of getting rid of these gays ...

Somehow, Gallery of Fear seems like a timewarp, as the film has the feel of many a great genre-movie from yesteryear, especially of the 1970's grindhouse variety - though don't get me wrong, Gallery of Fear is by no means derivative, or tries to desperately recreate the looks of the bygone era, tries to winkingly repeat the shortcomings of old B-movies, or camps things up to the hilt to hide a lack of content, or even give it that post-modern, oh-so-insightful spin - none of all that, instead Gallery of Fear concentrates on telling a bunch of macabre, sometimes even gruesome stories full of nicely fleshed-out characters, carried by a very competent cast with quite a few standouts (Jerry Murdock, Alan Rowe Kelly, Terry M.West and of course the always dependable Debbie Rochon) and very solid and subtle directorial efforts. Basically, it is a movie that reminds you of just how much fun there can be in horror without going over-the-top.

Totally recommended!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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