I love movies, old and new, good and bad, whatever genre. And generally I aim to be encouraging towards film critiquing and ratings and to be understanding of other people's opinions. If it is a movie that I didn't care for, I do least try to recognise and appreciate what it tries to do. When a film is a collection of short stories, like Death 4 Told, it can go either way, either it works or it doesn't. While I did see that Death 4 Told didn't offer that much new to the table it did have some potentially good ideas. Unfortunately for Death 4 Told, it is an example of a "compilation" film that doesn't work.
The beginning credits are only one of many reasons to the problem. The pictures shown here are very disjointed, with any scares incorporated feeling thrown in with only the sense of ambiguity working in that regard. These wouldn't have been too problematic if they were done in a reasonable way, but no that wasn't to be. The editing is very rushed-through, and the image quality is so jumpy and under-sized that not only is it difficult to make out who was who and such but it was rather incomprehensible as well. The music is also a large part of the problem. You can tell that it tried to be creepy, but due to over-use and very out-of-tune notes it only managed to be very annoying instead.
We now have the first segment, A Doll's House. It did have potential with a pretty good set-up. However it was spoiled by the lack of any terrifying or suspenseful atmosphere and due to an ending that feels abrupt the fact that it feels unfinished. The dialogue is trite at best, and the story only managed to be dull and predictable. What was even worse was that key explanations were made difficult to understand. And I blame the music and sound effects for this. The music in A Doll's House is the same as it is in the beginning credits, obvious and annoying and more irritatingly it actually drowns out the dialogue. Further disadvantaging things are the cardboard characters, cheap and rushed filming and wooden acting(well the drunk character was okay, but he isn't in it enough to make any real impression).
Next is Folklore. And I'd say of the four segments, it was Folklore that was the worst. Why? Where to begin? Maybe that it uses every possible cliché in the book and utilises them horribly, nothing is done with them and feel as though they're only there for the sake of it. The special effects are also laughably bad, the werewolf is obviously stuffed and looks so fake you are howling with laughter rather than biting your nails. The filming continues to have a cheap look to it, the writing is once again stilted and the music is annoying as ever. Other than the effects, it was the characters that really grated. You'd be hard pressed to find characters as obnoxious and unbearably shrill as the ones in Folklore. Even worse is that the actors have next to nothing to work with other than screaming, whining and throwing insults, trust me that is not good acting, far from it.
The World's Most Haunted of the lot was the one that had the most promise, and is more ambitious than the others, so a little credit is due. The acting is a little better than it was in A Doll's House and Folklore, but that is sadly faint praise as the characters completely fail to engage and the writing is not much different than the rest of the overall film. The music is little improvement either. As is with the other three segments too, The World's Most Haunted is badly hindered by the low-budget, everything just looks so rushed. But it was the story that was the biggest problem. It had potential due to its ambition but the execution only managed to be confusingly perplexing rather than having any sense of atmosphere. This was especially true in the history of the asylum exposition, which really could have been so interesting, the very echoey sound makes it difficult to understand and get your head round.
Finally, there is The Psychic. After being severely underwhelmed by the rest of Death 4 Told, I was expecting very little from this segment. Again, there is very little different. The Psychic does get a point as it does have the only real redeeming feature of Death 4 Told, which is the good performance given by Margot Kidder. I wish I could be more complimentary, but that's all I can say that is good. Tom Savini is okay, but you can't shake off the feeling that he is better as a make-up artist than he is an actor. The Psychic also is visually slapdash and musically overbearing, basically not much new from the other three segments forming the film, and the dialogue is enough to make the toes curl. The story is unimaginatively told and holds no surprises whatsoever, while you just don't give a tuppence about the characters or what happens to them.
Overall, apart from Kidder's performance Death 4 Told is a near-irredeemable mess. 1/10 Bethany Cox
The beginning credits are only one of many reasons to the problem. The pictures shown here are very disjointed, with any scares incorporated feeling thrown in with only the sense of ambiguity working in that regard. These wouldn't have been too problematic if they were done in a reasonable way, but no that wasn't to be. The editing is very rushed-through, and the image quality is so jumpy and under-sized that not only is it difficult to make out who was who and such but it was rather incomprehensible as well. The music is also a large part of the problem. You can tell that it tried to be creepy, but due to over-use and very out-of-tune notes it only managed to be very annoying instead.
We now have the first segment, A Doll's House. It did have potential with a pretty good set-up. However it was spoiled by the lack of any terrifying or suspenseful atmosphere and due to an ending that feels abrupt the fact that it feels unfinished. The dialogue is trite at best, and the story only managed to be dull and predictable. What was even worse was that key explanations were made difficult to understand. And I blame the music and sound effects for this. The music in A Doll's House is the same as it is in the beginning credits, obvious and annoying and more irritatingly it actually drowns out the dialogue. Further disadvantaging things are the cardboard characters, cheap and rushed filming and wooden acting(well the drunk character was okay, but he isn't in it enough to make any real impression).
Next is Folklore. And I'd say of the four segments, it was Folklore that was the worst. Why? Where to begin? Maybe that it uses every possible cliché in the book and utilises them horribly, nothing is done with them and feel as though they're only there for the sake of it. The special effects are also laughably bad, the werewolf is obviously stuffed and looks so fake you are howling with laughter rather than biting your nails. The filming continues to have a cheap look to it, the writing is once again stilted and the music is annoying as ever. Other than the effects, it was the characters that really grated. You'd be hard pressed to find characters as obnoxious and unbearably shrill as the ones in Folklore. Even worse is that the actors have next to nothing to work with other than screaming, whining and throwing insults, trust me that is not good acting, far from it.
The World's Most Haunted of the lot was the one that had the most promise, and is more ambitious than the others, so a little credit is due. The acting is a little better than it was in A Doll's House and Folklore, but that is sadly faint praise as the characters completely fail to engage and the writing is not much different than the rest of the overall film. The music is little improvement either. As is with the other three segments too, The World's Most Haunted is badly hindered by the low-budget, everything just looks so rushed. But it was the story that was the biggest problem. It had potential due to its ambition but the execution only managed to be confusingly perplexing rather than having any sense of atmosphere. This was especially true in the history of the asylum exposition, which really could have been so interesting, the very echoey sound makes it difficult to understand and get your head round.
Finally, there is The Psychic. After being severely underwhelmed by the rest of Death 4 Told, I was expecting very little from this segment. Again, there is very little different. The Psychic does get a point as it does have the only real redeeming feature of Death 4 Told, which is the good performance given by Margot Kidder. I wish I could be more complimentary, but that's all I can say that is good. Tom Savini is okay, but you can't shake off the feeling that he is better as a make-up artist than he is an actor. The Psychic also is visually slapdash and musically overbearing, basically not much new from the other three segments forming the film, and the dialogue is enough to make the toes curl. The story is unimaginatively told and holds no surprises whatsoever, while you just don't give a tuppence about the characters or what happens to them.
Overall, apart from Kidder's performance Death 4 Told is a near-irredeemable mess. 1/10 Bethany Cox