A slick and atmospheric anthology ‘Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker’ showcases a range of horror shorts ‘phoned in’ by the listeners of a sultry late-night radio show. Whilst the stories coming in are as eclectic as they are creepy, the radio’s host ‘Candy’ finds herself caught up in some real-life horror, quickly finding not all of her fans are contacting her by phone.
Typically horror anthologies are a tad hit or miss, however, I’ve always a soft spot for the format, as when they work, I will gladly take a number of short sharp chills over long bloated movies; especially if its just one concept or idea the story is based on; and in ‘Nightmare Radio’, I’d say its svelte 80 minute runtime and numerous short stories cut a good balance – taken as a feature length, it’s a fairly hollow, but overall engaging flick.
The stories are nicely diverse, and whilst all the typical horror tropes are here, the brisk short films, whilst perhaps forgoing any meaningful character development, play out as a best hits horror montage, presenting a range of brief set pieces, as opposed to fully fleshed out segments; this approach works better for some segments than others.
Genres covered range from bloody slashers, cat and mouse killers, CGI ghost infested asylum, to bizarre psychological horror, there is a consistency in quality to all of them, getting their setup established quickly and delivering the goods long before exposition threatens to bog down the pacing. The movie is also somewhat self-aware, with the radio host calling bullshit on some of the stories as they start of with a degree of engagement and plausibility before descending into the typical farcical horror conclusions we’ve come to expect from the genre’s entries. It’s brief moments of humous interruption that give the movie a little sass here and there, just to remind us perhaps its not to be taken all to seriously.
Some creepy, some cliché, and whilst there was nothing absolutely stand-out from any of the tales and whilst there are some known names behind the camera with Nathan Crooker, Mia Kate Russell, Lorcan Finnegan, Adam O’Brien, Carlos Goitia, Ryan J. Thompson and David M. Night Maire all submitting sections, it’s surprising how well they fit together in terms of atmosphere and pacing. If I had to pick, I would say that Mia’Kate Russell’s ‘Liz Drive’ is perhaps the strongest segment with its twist ending really catching me out, and ‘Chateau Savignon’, from director David M. Night Maire delivering an interesting setting and similarly contrasting ending.
Lorcan Finnegan’s ‘Foxes’ is sublimely shot, yet ambiguous, whilst segments ‘Insane’ and ‘Playback’ are anything but, with CGI ghosts and abrupt jump-scares to add impact to otherwise generic supernatural plotlines. Oddly it’s the wrap around story by Carlos Goitia which features the radio host, which is possibly the weakest element featuring some lazy ass rationale for a killer to be stalking her, some fairly poor-taste scripting, and despite its attempt at a twist-esk ending, its not enough to save it from feeling thoroughly outclassed by the other short presented in the anthology. Shame because Paula Brasca’s performance of Candy has quite the presence otherwise.
The final short, well the one I’ve not references specifically, is ‘Playback’ and interesting idea, but the short is literally over in a few minutes, so remains just that, it definitely would have benifitted with more in the way of a conclusion.
Overall, I feel that your time with ‘Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker’ is going to go one way or the other. Personally, I quite enjoyed the swift nature of the segments, for just getting in and on with whatever story, concept or trope they hoped to convey, but I can equally see that, as a result, there isn’t anything more to them than that, and the stronger segments in particular would have benefited from more time spent fleshing out their ideas.
A slick and atmospheric anthology ‘Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker’ showcases a range of horror shorts ‘phoned in’ by the listeners of a sultry late-night radio show. Whilst the stories coming in are as eclectic as they are creepy, the radio’s host ‘Candy’ finds herself caught up in some real-life horror, quickly finding not all of her fans are contacting her by phone.
Typically horror anthologies are a tad hit or miss, however, I’ve always a soft spot for the format, as when they work, I will gladly take a number of short sharp chills over long bloated movies; especially if its just one concept or idea the story is based on; and in ‘Nightmare Radio’, I’d say its svelte 80 minute runtime and numerous short stories cut a good balance – taken as a feature length, it’s a fairly hollow, but overall engaging flick.
The stories are nicely diverse, and whilst all the typical horror tropes are here, the brisk short films, whilst perhaps forgoing any meaningful character development, play out as a best hits horror montage, presenting a range of brief set pieces, as opposed to fully fleshed out segments; this approach works better for some segments than others.
Genres covered range from bloody slashers, cat and mouse killers, CGI ghost infested asylum, to bizarre psychological horror, there is a consistency in quality to all of them, getting their setup established quickly and delivering the goods long before exposition threatens to bog down the pacing. The movie is also somewhat self-aware, with the radio host calling bullshit on some of the stories as they start of with a degree of engagement and plausibility before descending into the typical farcical horror conclusions we’ve come to expect from the genre’s entries. It’s brief moments of humous interruption that give the movie a little sass here and there, just to remind us perhaps its not to be taken all to seriously.
Some creepy, some cliché, and whilst there was nothing absolutely stand-out from any of the tales and whilst there are some known names behind the camera with Nathan Crooker, Mia Kate Russell, Lorcan Finnegan, Adam O’Brien, Carlos Goitia, Ryan J. Thompson and David M. Night Maire all submitting sections, it’s surprising how well they fit together in terms of atmosphere and pacing. If I had to pick, I would say that Mia’Kate Russell’s ‘Liz Drive’ is perhaps the strongest segment with its twist ending really catching me out, and ‘Chateau Savignon’, from director David M. Night Maire delivering an interesting setting and similarly contrasting ending.
Lorcan Finnegan’s ‘Foxes’ is sublimely shot, yet ambiguous, whilst segments ‘Insane’ and ‘Playback’ are anything but, with CGI ghosts and abrupt jump-scares to add impact to otherwise generic supernatural plotlines. Oddly it’s the wrap around story by Carlos Goitia which features the radio host, which is possibly the weakest element featuring some lazy ass rationale for a killer to be stalking her, some fairly poor-taste scripting, and despite its attempt at a twist-esk ending, its not enough to save it from feeling thoroughly outclassed by the other short presented in the anthology. Shame because Paula Brasca’s performance of Candy has quite the presence otherwise.
The final short, well the one I’ve not references specifically, is ‘Playback’ and interesting idea, but the short is literally over in a few minutes, so remains just that, it definitely would have benifitted with more in the way of a conclusion.
Overall, I feel that your time with ‘Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker’ is going to go one way or the other. Personally, I quite enjoyed the swift nature of the segments, for just getting in and on with whatever story, concept or trope they hoped to convey, but I can equally see that, as a result, there isn’t anything more to them than that, and the stronger segments in particular would have benefited from more time spent fleshing out their ideas
