Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims' eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep. But as the stories unfold, something much stranger is ... Written by

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the_wolf_imdb from Prague
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This movie is really a very bizarre one, even in the context of bizarre / horror movies. It is no ordinary horror however - more or less it is unusually deep trip into the darkness. Forget "positive heroes running from demons or killers". This is way way darker and definitely not suitable for typical viewer.

The first story almost seems lame but the darkness increases from the this very point on. When it reaches "Vision Stains" you may be sure you are watching something so dark it may just come from Hell itself. Yet these stories are no gore flicks, they have their wicked souls, their own twisted logic. Some of them like the "Vision Stains" are really hard to watch.

I absolutely do love "The Accident". It is basically not a horror story, but more poem or "experience". It is very slow, gentle, almost tender story about the dying and the meaning of life and death. It is absolutely mesmerizing, brilliant example of storytelling mixed with great soundtrack and the editing. It is pure 10/10 and alone makes the whole movie worth watching. It does not fit here however - it is not dark, not twisted and in some ways almost zen-like positive. It is really beautiful.

I could not recommend this movie for everyone - the only really accessible story is "The Accident" which is the weakest in the terms of gore and the most powerful in the terms of philosophy. The other stories could be way too much disturbing for ordinary viewer - not because they are full of gore, but because of twisted and elaborated evil, abuse, loss, suffering and despair depicted here. It is very powerful and dark anthology, definitely no ordinary teenager slasher movie. No fun is here, no light at the end of the tunnel. You have to have right mood to watch this anthology or you will end up really depressed.

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dschmeding from Germany
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"Theater Bizarre" is a horror anthology that much reminds me of last years "Little Deaths" in that it takes some rather strange and extreme ideas for some of the stories of which there are many. So lets start at the extremely disappointing beginning...

"Mother of toads" is a totally lame and rather typical horror story about a couple on holidays meeting a strange witch inviting them to look at her Necronomicon. Some Lovecraft references, nudity and slimy frogs just don't nail it here. Total snooze fest with the laziest storyline of all.

"I love you" continues equally boring with bad acting, annoying German accents and a dysfunctional couple at the end of their relationship. Throat-slitting and blood on white sheets also don't nail it since the story goes nowhere and seems rather childish to me. Basically as forgettable as the first story and nosedives with dumb lines like "My vagina and your penis never were friends".

"Wet dreams" is about a guy having nightmares about castration and a psycho therapist telling him to open his eyes to wake up from his dreams. The whole thing ends in a rather bloody mess with a twisted idea for the end but ultimately the whole storytelling is uneven and suffers from bad acting.

"The accident" is the first highlight here. This is no real horror story but a rather slow meditation on life and death through the eyes of a mother and her little daughter who witness a motorcycle accident. This has great atmosphere and some really gripping visuals (the deer looked frightenly real and the acting is great) and is especially moody because of the perfect piano score and great editing. Unfortunately the promising short leads absolutely nowhere in the end.

"Vision stains" is some really twisted stuff by "Subconscious cruelty" director Karim Hussain. It starts off gritty with a homeless girl getting high on heroin in some dirty back alley when suddenly another girl appears and kills her and takes her eye liquid in a syringe injecting it in her own eyeball. The basic idea of transferring the last flashing pictures while dying to another person reminded me of an Italian movie with a camera (can't remember the title). But this one goes further and uses some pretty disturbing images. This one has a point to end on but honestly I found it a little uneven too.

Last but not least "Sweets" continues the disturbing imagery with some pretty nasty food fetishes and a bizarre break up scene of a couple. The guys acting is pretty incredible and makes the food fetish theme twice as bizarre. It all culminates in one of the goriest scenes of this anthology.

The surrounding Theatre-Plot with Udo Kier has some great visuals by "Wizard of Gore" Remake Director Jeremy Kasten but the lack of a story and Kiers accent which is nearly as annoying as that of the male lead in "I love you" ruin it.

After all this is your typical anthology. It fails on many levels (most of the time on the lazy storytelling) but has some nice ideas and visuals. Its hard to say which story is the best because basically the first half totally sucks and the second raises the bar a lot but because of the flaws has no real highlight. If you want some bizarre stories like in "Little Deaths" enjoy the second half but don't expect too much. Even with all those sick ideas ... when the curtain falls I was left thinking "Meeeeeh".

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Mark Vessey from England
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Not since the original Creepshow has there been a horror anthology as amazing as this. Comprising of six different short films, each with a different director and introductory segment, every short film is entirely different and unique in their own way and even the segments in between with Udo Kier and extremely entertaining to watch. Mother of Toads is a great B-movie throwback, I Love You is like a violent version of The Room, Wet Dreams has Tom Savini, therefore it is automatically gold, The Accident is harrowing and haunting, Vision Stains is interesting and engaging and Sweets is disgusting fun. Best horror of the year.

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Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left
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A creepy mechanical puppet man (the always delightful Udo Kier at his most divinely strange and unnerving) relates six weird tales of horror to a scared young woman (a solid performance by Virginia Newcomb) at an old abandoned Grand Guignol theater. First and lamest story, "The Mother of Toads" - Director Richard Stanley really fumbles the ball with this one: There's no tension or spooky atmosphere to speak of, the main characters are bland and unlikable, and super close-ups of slimy croaking toads are laughable instead of scary. Despite a pleasing turn by Catriona MacColl as a seductively sinister witch, a memorably sweaty sex scene, and striking imagery of the French Pyrenees mountains, this clunker fails to make much of an impact. Second and grimmest yarn, "I Love You" - Blessed with brave thespic contributions by Suzan Anbeh and Andre Hennicke and given further dramatic punch by an uncompromisingly bleak tone, director Buddy Giovinazzo's segment about a doomed romance between a paranoid man and his fed-up wife packs a potently devastating emotional punch. Third and most quirky anecdote, "Wet Dreams" - Director Tom Savini does a bang-up job of blending comic, erotic, and grotesque elements into a deliriously idiosyncratic mix, plus ever-dependable indie horror icon Debbie Rochon hits it out of the bitchy ballpark as the spiteful and frustrated wife of an unhappy hunk and the twisted surprise ending is an absolute pip. Savini himself has a ball in a colorful and amusing role as a flaky shrink. Fourth and most poignant story, "The Accident" - Beautifully acted by Melodie Simard and Lena Kleine, director Douglas Buck's touching and thoughtful cinematic meditation on life, death, and mortality delivers a powerfully simple, yet meaningful central message about the bittersweet fragility of existence itself. Fifth and most original outing, "Vision Stains" - Director Karim Hussain makes the most out of the fascinatingly novel and original premise of a young woman who lives off the memories of other folks by taking fluid from their eyeballs at the moment of death. This yarn not only benefits greatly from a haunting melancholy atmosphere, but also offers a wealth of trippy visuals and a startling bummer ending. Sixth and most disgusting tale, "Sweets" - Director David Gregory scores a supremely revolting home run with this remarkably icky affair about an obsessive guy who gets in way over his head when he falls for a nutty gal with a hardcore food fetish. This one's flat-out freaky and repulsive, with oodles of stomach-churning shots of people pigging out on sugary foods and a perfectly ghastly climactic cannibal feast. As an added bonus, Lynn Lowry makes a sharp cameo appearance as a haughty socialite. Recommended viewing for fans of outré fright fare.

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andrewbarry6336
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I admit that while I heard quite a few good things about this movie I held off on it because I typically do not like anthologies but this one was pretty good and original. I will speak on the ones that stood out to me.

The Mother of Toads was OK but nothing special. It involves a couple and a witch. I wont say much more but honestly I thought this movie would be a let down after they started with this. 6/10

I Love You was actually pretty interesting and had a nice story. You do feel for the guy if you have been in a similar position but it goes a little crazy in the end. 7/10

Wet Dreams Has Tom Savini directing so the effects are top notch and probably the best of any of the films. I did like the story and this was my second favorite on this film. Just a little side note, you will either love it or hate it so I understand the reviews not liking this one.8/10

The next three are decent except for sweets which I hated. Vision Stains and The Accident are good however and I have to admit that this anthology surprised me in a good way. Also The Accident is my favorite and the story is amazing. Not a lot of gore or creepiness but I found it to be a great short.

The Wrap Around story is probably the best wrap around story of any Anthology that comes to my memory. While the twist wasn't to surprising, it was still a great idea. Opens a lot of doors if the franchise gets revisited. Still though some of the stories are weak IMO and it is definitely not for everyone, even some horror fans will not like it. I give it a 7 outta 10.

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Varboro from France
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6 short stories of uneven quality full of gore, violence, sex, drug, nudity, candy, profanity and utterly mad people. never frightening but disturbing and often disgusting. Really, really, really unsuitable for young public.

The stories are very different, Too bad the first one makes a bad first impression. It is the only one I found misplaced here, it is a classic horror story with a Lovecraft background and shallow mundane characters. It could be good in a longer better written and more developed version. But all the others are about a lot of madness and twisted love, culminating with the last one, surrealistic and blasphemous, ending with a perverted vision of Da Vinci last supper. I like it. A lot. Of course I wouldn't watch this kind of movies everyday but for a change it is very nice... Well, nice is not exactly the word.

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trashgang from Midian
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An anthology of weird an bizarre tales directed by famous names from the genre like for example Tom Savini and Karim Hussain. Not only that, the story teller is Udo Kier, another name in the genre. I also recognized others but the biggest surprise was Catriona MacColl.

With all those popular names from the horror scene you think that this is going to be good. Well, in some way it was in others it wasn't. There's one story were a mother is telling her daughter about death that i didn't like. In fact, nothing really happens. But the other stories were nice to see, let 'Sweets' be the one that can make you vomit. All that eating and eating and finally eating puke. Don't get me wrong here, it isn't like real puke like in some Japanese flicks for example Terrible Meal. Still, you won't feel comfortable watching it. There's even some gore involved in that segment.

all the stories aren't what you think normal, they all have a twist at the end. There's gore in almost all entries, except the one with the one with the mother and child. Also a spot of nudity here and there.

They are already talking about part 2 and it's a thing I'm looking out for. Even the story teller segment has it's own story. Surely one to pick up.

Gore 2,5/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

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Aaron_da_miller from United States
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Theatre Bizarre [8/10] - The wrap around story takes place in a strange theatre (thus the name). Each Segment is introduced using paper mache type people acting like puppets or something. It is somewhat unsettling and each time it gives a little hint as to what is going to happen in the upcoming story. Udo Kier is fantastic and creepy as his roll as our guide. I feel this wrap around story should have had more of a point to it, but in the end, it only serves as a conduit to get us to the actual segments of the film.

The Mother Of Toads [5/10] - This segment takes its influences from HP Lovecraft, and has some really cool and unsettling imagery in them. Because of the short nature of anthology movies, we were never really given enough time with the characters to really care about them and it also feels as though they had to just wrap it up before being able to do anything. Nice makeup though.

I Love You [6/10] - Relies more on the acting chops from its stars for the majority of this part. It does not go anywhere until the last 2 or so minutes, but it does deliver one heck of a finale.

Wet Dreams [5/10] - Being directed by Savini, you know it is going to have good effects, which it does. The real question is whether it has any substance. To its credit, it does make you question what is going on, but it still feels hallow and never really crosses the line into greatness. Not bad, but not good either.

The Accident [9/10] - It feels out of place next to all these segments of horror and gore. It has a great atmosphere and you sit there wondering just what exactly is going to happen that will make you disgusted. While this never comes, you find the director knows how to set an atmosphere, and you will get a feeling from this segment you will not find in any horror movie.

Vision Stains [9/10] - The best of the entire movie. I will not go into the story, as it is best to not know anything. All I will say is that the effects are fantastic, the music brilliant, and the story original and clever. I will be thinking about this for many weeks to come. Even if you don't like these kinds of movies, you owe it to yourself to check this segment out.

Sweets [8/10] - The most artsy out of all of them. It lacks a bit of substance and you are left wanting a bit more, however the ride it takes you on is fun. There are lots of colors and artsyness that make this short stand out from the rest of the pack. I really liked it, even if I wanted more.

In the end, this is a flawed, but ultimately worth it anthology, that I hope to see more of in the future.

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jimmerw from Canada
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The summary gives a pretty good run down of what this movie is about. It is a series of short stories, all shown in a run down theatre.

Though the acting is marginal, it works as the stories are brief.

There is plenty of gore if that is your thing. But what I liked was all of the stories were unique and they all were played out within a story.

If you need a movie that develops characters, this isn't it. They are short stories, quick and to the point. But there were some clever stories, played out well in the short time frame.

This movie is a true B-movie. Low budget, relatively unknown actors, etc. But there were some scenes that would make the most hardened biker a little squeamish.

For a B-movie, I actually kind of enjoyed it, and there isn't much I really enjoy on film. If you have a movie package with your cable plan and this movie is there, give it a watch.

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Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
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I briefly tasted the extravagance of "The Theatre Bizarre" nearly one year ago, during a modest genre festival in country. Halfway the second segment, however, there were some technical issues and everybody got reimbursed and had to leave the theater. It took me until now to re-watch the whole thing, but my expectations were quite high because I remembered quite a number of good things from my abruptly ended first viewing. "The Theatre Bizarre" is an anthology, and the one element that immediately determines whether or not an anthology is worthwhile is the wraparound story! This film features one of best wraparound stories, with some of the grimmest and most macabre scenery ever seen. A timid young girl is lured to the sinister and seemingly abandoned Grand Guignol Theater across the street of her apartment, where she's "friendly" welcomed by a marionette version of cult legend Udo Kier and numerous other grisly dummies. As the presented stories pass by, both Udo and the girl undergo a nightmarish metamorphosis. The wraparound is courtesy of Jeremy Kasten, the underrated director of one of the better horror remakes of the decade, namely "The Wizard of Gore". As usually the case with horror omnibus movies, some of segments are good, some of the segments are bad and some of the segments are just too plain weird and flamboyant to judge properly. Unfortunately none of the six tales qualifies as truly outstanding, but at least the segments "I love you", "Vision Stains" and "The Accident" rate as well above average. They are diverse stories with either original basic concepts or uniquely tense moments. "I love you" is a prototypic mini psycho-thriller, but benefices from the ravishing Suzan Anbeh and her monologues that will make every male viewer cringe. "Vision Stains" is about a woman who kills homeless/troubled women and injects their eyeball-fluids in her own veins to live their memories… Until she witness things she didn't want to witness. This little plot is inventive and genuinely horrific, but it could have used a better climax. "The Accident" is somewhat of an alien segment, as it's more of a melodrama instead of a horror story, but it features a wonderfully grim atmosphere and a couple of harrowing moments. The other three tales vary from mediocre to inferior. The first segment "Mother of Toads" is very H.P Lovecraft like, with creepy monsters and nasty make-up effects, but writer/director Richard Stanley totally forgot to tell a story. Tom Savini's "Wet Dreams" contains a few solid moments, but the plot is derivative and rather nonsensical. The final chapter "Sweets", somewhat a crossover between "La Grande Bouffe" and "Delicatessen", tries very hard to be artsy and controversial, but it's actually just ridiculous and preposterous. Recommended viewing for experienced and open-minded horror fanatics.

The scene with Victoria Maurette swimming in the hotel pool in the segment "The Mother of Toads" was shot without a permit.
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Lisa Belle agreed to play The Naked Witch in the segment "The Mother of Toads" because she had always wanted to act in a horror movie.
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The wrap-around scenes with Udo Kier were shot after all the individual segments had been filmed. Moreover, said scenes with shot in a single day.
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Udo Kier came up with the idea to kill the fly.
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Tom Savini had a dream at age nine similar to the one that opens the segment "Wet Dreams."
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The climactic scene in the attic for the segment "Wet Dreams" was actually filmed in a garage.
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The needle in the eyeball shots in "Vision Stains" were filmed after principal shooting for the segment had already wrapped.
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A concrete company based in Connecticut was one of the financial investors for this film.
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The segment "I Love You" was shot in five days.
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Guilford Adams was brought in by producer Alexandra Spector to play the male lead in the segment "Sweets."
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Thirty toads were used for the segment "The Mother of Toads."
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Tom Savini improvised the moment when he cleans his glasses in the segment "Wet Dreams."
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Greg Nicotero was considered as a director for one of the segments.
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The restaurant in the segment "Sweets" was done on a soundstage.
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Buddy Giovinazzo wrote the lead roles in the segment "I Love You" specifically for 'Andre Hennicke' and Suzan Anbeh to play.
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The restaurant flashback in the segment "I Love You" was filmed at 6:00 a.m. in the morning.
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Buddy Giovinazzo decided to go with a small character-oriented piece for his segment "I Love You."
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The opening scene in the segment "Vision Stains" was shot in a paper factory.
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The segment "Wet Dreams" was shot in four days.
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theatre|puppet|memory|dream|cross|witch|male torturing male|bare chested male bondage|subjective camera|reference to valerie bertinelli|heart in hand|decapitation|needle in eye|killing an animal|switchblade|mother daughter relationship|mannequin|drawn and quartered|murder of a nude woman|man punches a woman|husband murders wife|unsubtitled foreign language|caught having sex|abortion|talking during sex|husband wife relationship|character says i love you|character repeating someone else's dialogue|cut hand|berlin germany|creature|transformation|photograph|bare chested male|seduction|forest|character's point of view camera shot|drugged drink|spa|market|american abroad|earring|reference to h. p. lovecraft|france|deer|psychiatrist|sliced in two|torture|wrist slitting|severed leg|memory loss|doggystyle sex|stabbed to death|throat slitting|self mutilation|corpse|vomit|head ripped off|severed head|stomach ripped open|disembowelment|eating heart|intestines|achilles tendon cut|severed arm|leg ripped off|arm ripped off|severed penis|castration|covered in blood|magic|monster|woman on top|food|blind woman|stabbed in the eye|murder|stabbed in the chest|eye gouging|biographer|motorcycle accident|death|dismemberment|nightmare|suicide|knife|flashback|infidelity|love|kiss|sex|underwater scene|book|necronomicon|pregnancy|broken nose|thong|syringe|dead deer|vagina dentata|blood|toad|junkie|cannibalism|candy|gluttony|male frontal nudity|topless female nudity|male rear nudity|female rear nudity|three word title|six stories|omnibus|location in title|anthology|death of son|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
France:16 / Germany:18 / USA:Not Rated