Mania

Every self-respecting horror fanatic loves anthologies, right? But what to do when you run out of possibilities and already watched all the obvious classics like "Creepshow", "V/H/S", "Body Bags", "Trick 'r Treat", etc.?

Fear not, because there exist a whole lot of worthwhile horror anthologies that most people - even genre fans - have never heard of. For obscure omnibus-horror, seek out "Screams of a Winter Night", "Screamtime", "Freakshow", and "Deadtime Stories". And those are only just covering the 80s! There's another truckload of great anthologies from the 70s and prior.

"Mania" is another example, and I hadn't even heard of it myself. This is probably due to the film being thoroughly unremarkable and anti-spectacular, but still, it has a certain anthology-charm that genuine horror fans are likely to appreciate. "Mania" doesn't have a wraparound story or a host/narrator, and it exists of four straightforward suspense stories with a twist at the end. Every individual tale is simple but effective, and they cover a variety of thriller topics, like framing for murder, lethal dogs, child abduction, and assault. Personally, I found the first two segments "See No Evil" and "Intruder" the best ones. They are predictable and rather silly, but not as predictable and silly as last two segments "Have a Nice Day" and "The Good Samaritan". The only familiar name involved in this cheap mid-80s production is co-director Paul Lynch, who previously made the modest slasher-hits "Prom Night" and "Dog Island".

This looks like a made for TV movie or one that was for the direct to video market. Four horror/thriller stories each with a twist in the end. The stories are titled "See No Evil", "The Intruder", "Have a Nice Day" and "The Good Samaritan". There is no linking device and nothing supernatural so it is not like The Twilight Zone more like Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

This neglected Canadian horror anthology begins auspiciously with an engagingly written, remarkably intense psycho-thriller concerning the glacial machinations of a murderous night stalker has a genuinely oppressive tone with some pulse-wrecking Giallo-esque chills to instil tumultuous mental ills in the viewer! And for much of its brief running time this nerve-slashing segment feels quite substantial, with the climax packing quite a heavyweight punch! Creeping bestially into Robert Bloch/Steven King terror-tory, this marvellously mean-spirited shaggy dog story proves to be an unrelenting, profoundly disturbing depiction of the terrible miasmal torment of long-buried childhood fears cruelly unleashed upon the adult mind that is not for the timorous of heart!

The penultimate instalment in this slick, ominously staged slasher omnibus is a well-conceived, atmospheric, sharply edged, garrote-tight shocker that maintains a hellish intensity throughout, offering a rewardingly dark, ambivalent conclusion to this especially claustrophobic, pulse-quickening bite-sized nightmare!

Ending on a real doozie, the final terror-tingling tale has quite the wickedly paralysing sting at the end of it! After an excessively boozy night on the tiles one seemingly docile, meek-minded businessman grimly finds himself in the maniacal midst of a violent suburban squall of psycho-stalking pulp madness worthy of terror-master Richard Matheson himself, effectively directed by Paul 'Prom Night' Lynch, the tough, bloody, sweat-slathered dénouement is excitingly mounted, delivering more than enough bellicose bang for your Canadian dollar!

'Mania' is a surprisingly effective and frequently chilling 80s horror compendium, superbly written, strongly acted with a slickly-honed sense of impending doom, this especially diabolical collection of creep-fried Canadian celluloid remains an entirely worthy addition to any true B-horror compendium connoisseurs attention!

Below average horror anthology. In the style of Creepshow and Two Evil Eyes comes this collection of short horror tales. All the stories revolve around a psycho of some kind hence the title. There are four stories total and each runs around 20 minutes. The first story i found semi-decent but i quickly lost interest after that and the other ones only seemed to serve as a boring set up for ultimately the twist endings, which by the last story had become easily predictable. It has the 1980's home video/VHS horror aesthetic so it may be of interest to hardcore 80's horror fans but its not a patch on those other two anthology movies i mentioned.