User reviews

I was happily surprised that this movie was very watchable and reminded me of my old pulp horror comics. Another reviewer was right when he compared it to Tales from the Crypt, so if you like that style of show this will be right up your alley.

The stories are all intertwined one way or another which made me enjoy it even more. Was it great? No, but it was damned good for what it was.

Southbound does three things well.

First, it has some genuinely new stories to tell. That's not typical for horror, where the same few stories are iterated upon repeatedly.

Second, it has fascinating characters that are brought to vivid life, with remarkably few brush strokes, but without ever resorting to stereotype. The quality of the writing, direction, and acting shine.

Finally, each of Southbound's authors know to leave enough unsaid. Each chapter suggests a world of back story, but there's no spoon anywhere in sight. Which is particularly important for horror, where what is made explicit can never approach the creepiness that is only imaginable.

What does it do wrong? Well, the effects can be shoddy, and there are a few scenes designed around an effect, rather than the effect crafted to the vision, leaving those scenes wooden. But that's all, and for each awkward bit of gore, there are two or three masterfully directed scenes to compensate.

Southbound is a seriously enjoyable horror flick. See it when you can.

Southbound is unlike most Horror films, belonging to a sub-genre I would define as "intertwined". 5 different stories leading to and deriving from each other: Two friends on trying to get home, a girl band trying to get to their next gig, a man trying to go home to his loving wife, a brother trying to rescue his sister, and a family on vacation before their daughter goes to college. Sufficing to say nothing ends well.

The common ground for the tales is the actual ground, as they all seem to be taking place at the same location, referred to as "the middle of nowhere" and giving a strong sensation of Hell itself. Also, all the characters seem to be tuned in to the same radio station, where the DJ hints of his awareness to their sins and struggles. In each story, the protagonists (if you can call them that) have secrets in an escalating level of severity, and I guess the moral is that Karma always catches up to you.

Seeing as how each story is around 17 minutes in average, it's quite challenging for me to rate the film as a whole. The screen writing is by far the best feature, as the stories leave you confused, wondering, desperate and lost. Some fine shooting and cinematography as well, especially during the beginning of The Accident part (great work from directors and screenwriters Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin). The acting is also good, but the each of the cast is given little screen time, so it's hard to say anything more. I will say that all the cast is largely unknown, and still showed a lot of promise.

All in all, Southbound would appeal to fans of more "artistic" Horror films. It's unusual and quite unique, leaving the audience with an uneasy sense of bewilderment. While not my preferable sub- genre, I was very impressed with it and enjoyed it to the last second.

As with any anthology movie, the good thing about them is if you find one of the stories unfulfilling, you only have to put up with it for no more than 20 minutes or so before moving onto the next one. That's not to say there were terrible segments here, but some were clearly better than others. Not only were most of the segments nice on their own, but there was an over-arcing storyline tying them all together in an intricate way. This really amped up the overall creepiness of being trapped in the middle of nowhere where 'evil' reigns supreme.

Of the five, "Jailbreak" seemed to be the weak link as a whole and felt anticlimactic. The story wasn't the best, but the real head-scratcher was the way it ended. It was kind of odd, definitely corny, and didn't really seem to tie into the overall story much. I won't spoil anything but I imagine most people will feel the same way.

"The Accident" and "The Way In" are without question the best segments. They were tense, graphic in a good way, and the most entertaining. The Accident was the best because it seemed to be the most plausible (even if it did stretch that notion towards the end). The idea of hitting someone with your car late and night and no one being there to help seems all to real. Amp that up with some grisly imagery & the obscure and you get something pretty wild and entertaining. Following these two are "The Way Out" and "Siren" (if you were a fan of this segment, I suggest checking out the foreign film, "Borgman").

"Southbound" might not reach the heights of legendary anthology movie, "Trick r Treat". Or have a truly memorable segment like "Safe Haven" (VHS 2). But it is an enjoyable 90-minute anthology film that comes together quite nicely when all is said and done.

This quote makes a whole lot of sense since It seems like all our characters are in purgatory. They are hopelessly lost or have committed heinous crimes, and they are now in a place where they cannot escape, and are stuck in an endless loop.

Wraith demons appear from the start of the film and look like they are after fresh souls, or waiting for death to occur. This is why they seem to appear spontaneously throughout the film when bad things are about to happen.

Southbound is an anthology that follows a different set of characters through five interlocking stories that are all linked to the main plot, and by the end, everything seems to come together nicely in one big circle.

I'll admit the film is pretty well done. It speeds through the stories quickly, it was intriguing and full of mystery and action, and so while you want to find out more about a previous tale, you don't the chance to stop, reflect and catch your breath.

I wish more films were done like this. There will always be pros and cons but the film did what it intended. It had a favourable story, it had gore, it had mystery, it did have some gritty and unsettling moments, and it fits in very nicely to the horror genre.

The only real negative I can say about this film is that it doesn't delve deep enough into character development. We don't know much backstory, and what has transpired in the past. And therefore your connection with the characters is not as strong as it could be.

However, something always seems to catch up with them. And even though there is a lot that we aren't aware of, most of it doesn't matter since you can get a good enough grasp on the situation, and can sense that in the end, the outcome will be unpleasant.

A quick note on the hospital scene which was one of the most brutal, visceral and disgusting scenes I think I have ever witnessed in a movie to date, it kept you a little frozen in shock, but was also, the edge of your seat cinema.

We get wraithlike skeletons, cults, murderers, a creepy abandoned hospital, some weird townsfolk, and some monster elements sprinkled into the five stories. The DJ was a nice touch and effortlessly blended into when a story had ended, and when the next one was about to begin.

This is one of those surprise horror movies that have a fulfilling story and a decent ending. I recommend this film if you are a horror fanatic, as I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

7/10.

Or at least a really cool version of Hell.

Several stories connected together to create one big vicious cycle of a horror story about the misfortune of a few people to end up on the wrong side of the dessert.

It's an anthology that reminds me of the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt, and it's truly on the level of creativity, especially when it comes to story telling visually.

Not surprisingly done by the same team as the ones who brought us V/H/S. If you love that movie, this is right up your alley.

It was scary, gory, and messes with your mind, all at once, and it's perfect.

Thumbs up!

This movie sells itself as a horror anthology featuring "five interlocking tales of terror" but in reality only about half the stories are actually connected and the terror went out for a ride and never came back.

The movie feels like a bunch of deleted scenes taken from other movies and mashed together. Most of stories are linked kind of like this: we follow a person A who walks by person B and now we start following person B; or we step out of the hotel room of person A and step into the room next door to start following person B for no reason. There is no interaction between person A or B (with a few exceptions) which makes most of these connection meaningless and does not enhance the overall narrative (if there is meant to be one).

None of the characters are memorable and the film doesn't make any effort to develop them or make the audience care about them. It's just a number of random people doing random pointless things. We follow one group, then we follow another group which has no relation to the first group, and now we follow another random person who just happened to be nearby. Why should the viewer care what happens to any of them?

The writing and acting was cringe-worthy and hilarious at times. The CGI was hard to look at. The gore was actually ok. The camera was often too shaky and annoying and they often filmed with a wide lens which distorted the picture on either side of the screen. The movie does not rely on jump scares but at the same time it doesn't do anything an average horror-viewer hasn't seen before. The R-rating feels wasted on it.

This is what the honest movie description should say: "Five loosely connected tales of boredom that follow the fates of forgettable strangers who find themselves in random predicaments over one very long and tedious night on a desolate stretch of desert highway." At least they got the part about the highway right!

Skip this movie and go watch Trick 'r Treat (2007) to see a fun horror anthology done right, where the stories actually connect meaningfully, and the characters get some development in the little time they are given on screen.

The scariest thing about this movie is how many people seem to think that this is good horror. I don't know how this movie got so many high ratings or which parallel universe those reviewers came from, but Southbound doesn't do anything new or interesting and is ultimately just a disappointing messy roadkill that even a family of demon-worshiping cannibals would not enjoy.

Pretty confusing story. 1st I thought it was a alien movie then I thought it is a ghost movie then last i saw some human killing by mask wearing people so I thought it is a gore slash movie.... At the end I fully confused what the ***k is the story? Not satisfied

As an Actor myself Anthology films are one of my favorites in the genre but many times you get several stories that dont hold up to the others, in Southbound however that is not the case. This is a film that could have easily come out back in the 70s 80s and even has that grindhouse look and feel and feel especially with the score. I highly recommend this one check it out !

Im a sucker for short horror stories and southbound has 5 of them. Long story short, the stories dont make sense and have little to no connection. There is no context, what you see is what you get. I thought the second story with the driver was really really good and i would love to see a full movie of this, the other stories were meh to ok at best. Without the second story i would have rated this 4 stars.

This isn't exactly an anthology movie--technically, all the segments segue into one larger story--but it makes less sense than most films with unrelated tales. My biggest problem with it is the writing. You get some interesting set-ups, or you get some decent payoffs, but never both in the same sequence. Every story leaves out major details that cause them to not really be complete. It's not a matter of drawing your own conclusions, it's not a situation where you have to interpret what you see or put the pieces together. They straight up said, "this would be cool," but didn't take the time to think the whole thing through. The result for me was that I ended up really really not caring. EC Comics, Tales From the Crypt, The Twilight Zone--at least they tried to tell complete, well-structured stories.

I read too many glowing reviews, which increased my disappointment I feel.

The good: the concept of the 5 loosely related, lurid stories is clever, as is them taking place all in the same desolate area. If you like creepy, graphic horror, that's also present. Also, very imaginative monsters in some of the stories.

The bad: It's not fleshed out enough. I don't need exposition, but these stories are so unexplained it's almost like they ran out of money when filming the picture. And it's so low-budget that it was hard for me to get invested in the characters. The entire concept of what this town might intrigued me, but nothing is explained and I came away wanting more.

Great concept, but lackluster execution.

Referenced Joyce's novel since the same impenetrability and circular narrative style are apparent in "Southbound", an "indie" now playing in very few theaters; only one in the NYC area. It is a movie made up of five connected stories in which the end is the beginning, hence the circular feeling; the same feeling derived from reading the Joyce work.

Although there's no intellectual challenge here, "Southbound" is a cut above the 'slasher' film in technical achievement; it is well-written and acting is surprisingly good. The script is better than normally found and retains the confounding motivation and irrationality predominant in films of this type. But it is a 'slasher' and there are buckets of blood everywhere, with lots of gruesome scenes.

"Southbound" is not for all tastes, but if you like horror movies and the uneasy feeling and sudden blasts of 'scare', this one is for you. It is better than many mainstream films of the genre and should be in many more theaters. But be sure to wear a slicker to protect from blood spatter.

This is a great anthology horror. Inventive stories, we had a blast!

I can understand how some would appreciate this type of film.. but I found it too quirky and lacked meaning.

The movie is good created with different approach but lacks the basic foundation not explaining most of the movie which makes it little disappointment. It feels like incomplete story as you don't know about what's really base of movie.

Southbound, like just about every anthology out there, has a fair mix of good stories and mediocre ones. It begins with one of the weaker ones - two men on the run from floating alien/skeleton looking creatures in the desert who keep winding up back at the same desolate cafe. From there, we get to one of the better and creepier stories where a girl band breaks down on the side of the road on the way to a gig and are taken in by a kindly couple who seem to be hiding a sinister secret.

After that, you have a story about a man who hits a body in the middle of the road and tries desperately to save them. Rounding up the film are a story about a man looking for his lost sister in a creepy town and a family experiencing a home invasion while on vacation.

Southbound places its two best stories (the girl band and the hit and run) right in the middle of the film, but even those have a few issues. Thankfully, the atmosphere, cinematography, and acting are so on point that you can just shrug off any plot issues to the dreamlike nature of the film. They're definitely memorable and will stay in your head for a while.

Checked Southbound out at the Midnight Madness screening at TIFF 2015 and it was a blast. A throwback to the horror-anthology style of the 80's but with a fresh twist on the wraparound. The device in which each segment flows into the next was unique and added a new layer to the experience.

I am a huge fan of horror anthologies in general (VHS, ABC's of Death, Late Night Double Feature, etc.) but occasionally they seem like a collection of shorts thrown together. While there is a charm to those types of anthologies, Southbound is clearly well thought out and designed.

Loved all the segments, with "The Accident" being my favourite. This is a well written, shot, directed and performed feature. Highly recommended.

Saw this yesterday and I really liked it. It's done by the guys who did the VHS movies so that's something good, right? This movie focuses on different travelers crossing a long desert highway where they meet their darkest fears. This was good anthology. Each story was really well done, they kept me on the edge of my seat, they were creepy and intense. Like Trick or Treat and Christmas horror story each story is connected to one another. Every time something shocking happens at the end of one story it cuts into the next story with sometimes featuring one of the characters from the last story. It gives you the feel that you aren't even watching an anthology movie because you are figure out that the characters aren't facing a different horror but the same horror that everyone is facing, it actually feels we are just changing from one lead to another you could say . I would like to say more about this movie, but i don't want to give anything away and some the stories of are to explain. If you like anthologies like VHS than you'll really enjoy this one.

The plot of the movie was interesting, the characters were well-developed. The location (the desert) was just fine. Even though, most reviews were positive about that movie, I think some stories didn't even make any sense. Anyway, the first story was so weird, messed up and uninteresting. The second story was so creepy and well-written. The third story was so weird and intense. The fourth story was awful. The last story was just ok. In my opinion, it was a weird movie, sometimes boring, but some other times interesting. Also, the kills were so bloody and gory. Last but not least, the ending was totally unexpected.