George A. Romero presents Deadtime Stories: Vol. 1 – DVD Review
The Film:
Despite the cliched title, a George A. Romero-produced, sponsored, or whatever anthology film should have gave horror fans some much-needed goosebumps, yet I doubt many horror fans have even heard of this collection, prior to clicking on my review. That’s just part of George A. Romero presents Deadtime Stories, Volume 1‘s issues. Most of what was originally made for Volume 1 doesn’t appear, as planned back in 2009, yet that little trivia matters not. The three shorts here, have little bite, sorely aping the good zombie man’s name for nothing more than marketability.
Acting like any other anthology film, we get our host who introduces us to the upcoming segment, followed by a few quips at the end, and our host here is obviously George A. Romero. He looks like he’s having fun, something that doesn’t translate into the shorts or the audience. Valley of the Shadow kicks off the film with a tale about a woman hiring a rescue team to travel into some unknown jungle looking for her missing husband that she loves so much. Can you see where this is going? Voodoo-ish zombies arrive, but hey, the married couple remain together forever now. It ends decently, but it takes forever to get there. Mysterious happenings, arguing, the like film up most of its running time, until a few off-screen murders and our punchline.
Up next, after some quips by Romero, is Wet, a sort of interesting mermaid tale that doesn’t have the ‘bang’ ending it needs. After discovering a mysterious box, his curiosity turns to bloodshed, when he reawakens a mermaid curse. This had plenty of potential, but it’s problem is that it just peters out. The mermaid’s make-up is kind of creepy, and the bloodshed hurts a certain head I would want to get hurt, but much like the previous segment, there’s just nothing here to provide the spills and chills of other, better anthology offerings.
Oddly, the last segment was directed by Tom Savini, but in press notes and on the packaging, his name is removed. Odd, huh? House Call is pretty good, easily the best of the lot. It has this old fashioned look to it, in set design, costumes, cinematography, which aids the story about a mother who invites a doctor over to diagnose what’s wrong with her son. Remember Romero’s mid-70s vampire film, Martin? That’s House Call, but with a slightly different spin. If Deadtime Stories had a little more inventiveness behind these shorts, instead of being throw together (or at least that’s what it feels like), maybe horror fans could be excited again. It’s not George’s fault, so don’t lump this in with his Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead, even though you’ll want too. At least it’s better than that awful Creepshow 3 that aped Romero’s good name. Deadtime Stories at least tried.
The DVD:
Audio/Video: Millennium Entertainment offers a decent release here. The shorts are low budget, and while we can tell, the transfer is as good as it should be. There’s no video anomalies whatsoever. The audio is okay, sometimes harsh and shrill.
There’s no extras, outside of trailers for other Millennium Entertainment films.
The Film: Rating: 
The DVD: Rating:
