The second volume of Series Two contains the final six episodes. Once again, there may be a difference in running order between the R1 and R2 editions. I'm using the UK R2 editions. NA also got a full season box that included both volumes.
To start, Tom Holland directs a tale of a group of aged friends who did something morally wicked in their younger days and are now paying the price. It has a creepy ice cream van driven by a clown, for extra clichéd woefulness. — 1½ out of 5 —
The second is by Brad Anderson; it raises the bar of quality, It's about a supervisor at a tech support call centre (Chris Bauer) who, due to a personal tragedy, has an acute sense of hearing that turns everyday sounds into a kind of nails-on-blackboard agony. Anderson's taught style translates the pains of grief and pressure of life into elevated minutiae to a troubled mind; and like in Poe's Tell-tale Heart, the device functions as a fully engaging driving force. — 3 out of 5 —
The third is by Peter Medek. It's a story that relies on a clear subversion of expectations, both in its opening scene and its main underlying contrivance that suggests a treasured American historical figure was less perfect than public records claim. The 'creepy old-timer' shtick served more than one purpose, but was so overplayed that it failed to elevate the narrative much. Scholars of US history might get some jollies from the notion, I suppose. — 2 out of 5 —
The fourth is by Dir. Tobe Hooper. Tobe is undeniably skilled at establishing unease, but, for me personally, the intentionally messy camerawork works against it, blurring the nuance and pulling me out of the moment. If you feel the reverse is true, however, then TDT might register high on your list because an impressive level of foreboding tension exists beneath that stylistic choice. — 3 out of 5 —
The fifth is Dir. Norio Tsuruta's Dream Cruise, based on a short story by Kôji Suzuki, who's best known in filmic circles as the author of the works that Hideo Nakata's Dark Water (2002) and Ring (1998) films were based on. Dream Cruise, as you've probably guessed, also involves water. The weak framing, stupid plotting, overplayed sound effects, shit acting, lack of music, and reliance on Japanese horror clichés make it an utter washout. — 1 out of 5 —
And finally, Dir. Ernest Roscoe Dickerson's entry sees two thrill-seeking late-teens visit a funeral home to see a dead body, late at night, naturally, when it's at its most creep-some. The location is used well and the black humour is fun for a time, but I did lose interest before the ending rolled around. (It's perhaps worth noting that I had an audio dropout around the 33 mins mark, during the pizza scene; I don't know if it's unique to my disc or the UK collection, in general.) — 1½ out of 5 —
I wanted a change from the horror genre after watching all of those, so I didn't bother with any of the extras on the second volume. The blurb states there are more than 10 hours of them.
6 episodes approx 55 minutes each (345 minutes total), split over 6 discs.
2 pizza slices out of 5
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