It's impossible to accurately review this movie, since the quality is all over the place, and there are plenty of foreign directors here, some of which reflect very specific issues in other cultures.
I discovered this movie because I was curious about what Ti West was up to. I saw that he was credited for this movie. It's sad to say that I actually think his short is one of the weakest.
There were a number of sequences that I can say that I really didn't understand. Gravity (I'm not sure if I understood it. If I did, it's not a story.) Ingrown, Orgasm, Removed. There were ones that were bizarre. Fart was hilarious, but still completely bizarre. Hydro-Electric Diffusion was interesting, but impossible to figure out. And Zetsumetsu was probably the strangest one of all, but I don't know if I can claim to understand what it might be about.
Then there were a bunch that fell into the mid-range. Klutz, Unearthed, Speed (which may have been referencing Russ Myer movies) or Nuptials.
The highlights were Cycle, Dogfight, Exterminate, Libido, Pressure, Quack, and XXL. Each of these offered something unique. Libido was fascinating, partly because we never learn any background about how the characters come to be in the situation they're in. Quack is self-aware, and plays out in a very pleasing way, even after building some tension. XXL was really interesting, mostly because I identify with the story. A fat girl is teased on her way home. After getting home and gorging on food, she takes out a knife, and winds up hacking away at her body until she reaches the appearance she wants. While I haven't had quite the same desire, when I had a fungal infection that wouldn't stop itching, I kept on thinking how great it would be to just cut off that portion. Pressure was incredibly dark, mostly because it was entirely believable.
The nature of this project led to some common characteristics. First, the movies are use a minimal amount of dialogue. Second, there's a whole lot of slow motion. I think that Dogfight was entirely in slow motion, except for the last shot.
Before watching this, I wasn't sure how I would like it. I love horror anthologies. This format seems a little tightly wound though. With about 5 minutes (shorter than that - 10 minutes was taken up with credits) per story, bad stories would soon be over, but good ones would require some more development. Instead, this shortness meant that some of these directors weren't up to the task. They made some stories that don't really qualify as stories. Still, it's an interesting experiment, and I'm glad to see some of these ideas.
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