"All Hallow's Eve" (2013)

Watched "All Hallow's Eve" (2013). Going into this I had no idea what it was about, aside from the killer clown on the poster art. The film opens with a women babysitting two kids on Halloween night who have just returned from trick or treating. As they empty their bags, one of them discovers an unmarked VHS tape among his loot, which right away screams "creepy". Now at this point, I assumed that the film was going to be more like "The Ring", in that whatever was on the tape was going to somehow affect them. And while I won't say whether that's true or not, what the film really turns out to be is an anthology film, something I totally wasn't expecting (or wanting to be honest). The film is divided into three segments, with the wraparound story being the babysitter watching these as part of the VHS' content. Without getting into reviews of each of the segments, I'll just say that as short films, they totally do not work or have any kind of sense of narrative - they just simply begin and end. In fact, the director, Damien Leone, is also the film's make-up FX artist and it feels like he was more focused on showing off his skills in that area than he was as a storyteller. That said, there are a few spooky elements with the wraparound story, which by itself was the only aspect of the film I genuinely had any interest in. Had the film simply been about blurring the lines between what was on the screen versus reality, it could've been a lot more effective. 4 out of 10 for me.