DVD REVIEW: George A Romero Presents Deadtime Stories Vol 1

Release Date: 03/10/11

SYNOPSIS:

George A. Romero Presents Deadtime Stories, Volume 1 Directed by: Jeff Monahan and Matt Walsh Starring: Nick Mancuso, Kristin Slaysman, Jeff Monahan, Amy Marsalis and Bingo O’Malley Running time: 76 minutes, Rated R Three film shorts presented by the godfather of horror George A. Romero. In “Valley of the Shadow,” a woman gets funding to investigate her husband’s disappearance. “Wet,” a lonely alcoholic fisherman digs up the wrong type of buried treasure. Housecall, a town doctor is called to the home of a boy who is experiencing a change and it’s not puberty.


REVIEW:

As a long time fan of George’s work I thought that this might be something in the vein of Creepshow and was looking forward to the three stories presented. Alas that was not the case as each of the short films had an introduction from the master of the macabre read in the form of a short poem. Whilst it was cleverly done, the production values of the three tales were more handheld than professional camera’s, the stories fell short of what I was expecting and at the end of it all I only really enjoyed one of them (the third by Tom Savini) as it had a decent surprise twist to the mix.

Add to this a poor cast of characters, some poor effects and sadly it is a volume best left on the shelves in the hope to catch it on the TV (which knowing the Horror Channel won’t be that far off.) A great shame all in.