A Horror Anthology
Running time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

“Your program is crap!”

As a self-proclaimed “radio guy”, it was a no-brainer that I was going to watch A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio. 

Upon starting my own podcast, Cinematic Crypt (in which I travel six feet under and pry open a coffin of one of my favorite Hollywood corpses to perform a post-watch examination of one of their forgotten films) I discovered the sheer power of the airwaves. Much of the inspiration for my own pod comes from radio dramas of the past, specifically within the horror, supernatural or suspense genre. The soothing voices of Orson Welles, Arch Oboler and Boris Karloff have all served as wonderful examples and aspirations for my own show. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted Nightmare Radio to provide inspiration, I was, instead, left with fatigue.

I think it is important to note that radio dramas found popularity in the 1920s when they were first introduced to homes across the United States. Despite talkies (i.e. films with synchronized dialogue) making an appearance in 1927, the power of radio storytelling stayed strong throughout the 1940s. In fact, the method of radio storytelling did not find a decline until around the 1950s, as this marked the introduction of a visual medium that did not require one to attend the cinema: television. I say all this, as I feel the main issue with Nightmare Radio was that utilizing an angle such as a radio deejay to hook all your stories together does not work when none of the narratives would make for good radio. (Also, total side note here… you want to see good radio portrayed on the silver screen- watch Vast of Night)

Radio is obviously extremely dependent on sound, as the listener utilizes the noises, voice modulation and effects to paint a picture in their head and “see” the story. I realize that Nightmare Radio is a film anthology with MOVING PICTURES (said in the voice of the mother from Better Off Dead), but I think that the dependence on visuals and actions happening on screen raises the question of the effectiveness of a radio horror host when they clearly lack imagination. 

With eight supposed tales of horror there is not one that particularly stands out to me or, frankly, scares me in the slightest. From mermaids being hunted and small children being terrorized to a dystopian look on capital punishment, none of the stories within Nightmare Radio really made any sort of cohesive connection with the radio host. On top of this, the short flicks rely on weak computer generated graphics or jump scares to induce fright. If they took a cue from radio, the filmmakers would have found the power that sound can have especially in terms of scare factor. 

The shorts themselves looked stylized in terms of production design, costumes and cinematography, but the stories were nothing to write home about (or here, for that matter). Typically when it comes to an anthology, in particular of the horror genre, what I look for is to be taken on a roller coaster of sorts, to have my inner fright meter go from five to ten back to six to ten again. Of course there is always going to be a stand out tale amongst the bunch, but what inevitably keeps me engaged is when there is a good mix between polished flicks and mediocre ones. Unfortunately, Nightmare Radio did not have any that caught my eye. However, one thing is for sure, apparently lots of people are fans of the Slender Man. 

Available on Amazon and Google December 21 and iTunes, December 30.