So much average

Crappy film

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

With the 3 stories and the wrap around this horror anthology features a couple of familiar faces including CSI veteran Marg Helgenberger.Including an elaborate prank gone wrong, crazy homeless man and his attack dogs, a celebrity stalker and a jocks vengeance.None of the stories are great but are at least competently made.The wrap around though interesting all falls apart in the last act which damages the film.There are a lot of horror anthology's out there and though this one isn't bad it's shadowed by considerably better ones.The Good: The teacher was suitably hammy Intense opening The Bad:Rather clichéd Awful ending Things I learnt from this movie: This prank thing is really get out of hand If attacked by rabid dogs it makes more sense to be on foot than safe in a car Abandoned derelict buildings are logical places to seek a working phone

Perturbed by the teacher in their psychology class, eventually he's forced to change his curriculum, and when he offers a special after- hours seminar that contains his original plans, students join at his house to indulge in telling scary stories to experience fear.The Good Stor(ies): The Old Dark House-On their anniversary, a couple go for a midnight drive and get stranded on an abandoned road containing a house with a mysterious past. Eager for help, they ignore the warnings and go over, but when no one answers, they attempt to break in and get separated, forcing him to accept a deadly secret about the house's history. This here is a rather enjoyable entry, with a lot going for it. The atmosphere of the house, with the abandoned, sheet-covered furniture and shrubbery-lined walkways outside, give off a perfect Gothic atmospheric feel, combined with the back-story told to create a rather creepy setting. The mystery, with the bloodied necklace and off-screen call, works nicely with the key set-up scene, the collection of skulls covered in spiders and bugs as well as the flashlight-through-the- keyhole sequence, and then the final resolution is quite nice as it's a neat twist. If there was a flaw, it's not the fastest-moving story, but it's still enjoyable.A Night on the Town-Trying to find a club, a group of friends drive around the city, and when they're low on gas, stop off at a gas station. When they meet the proprietor and his vicious dogs, they find themselves in an escalating series of encounters that makes them wish they hadn't stumbled upon. This is a slightly uneven effort, hampered really by the fact that there isn't a real effort to develop this one early on and simply making it run on the situation. They're lost in a strange part of town, the man they run into is somewhat slimy and perverted, but it never really does anything really interesting with those areas. Once it shifts into action, though, it's a lot more interesting and exciting from the different ambush attacks of the dogs through the town, to the deranged owner's extreme attempts to break into the car while it's on the run, this one is a lot of fun with its action set-ups and is an extremely better entry in the second half. Throw in an explosive finale, and it's a really redeeming effort.Allison's Story-Arriving at their professor's house, the students proceed to tell their stories but one of them becomes concerned something is wrong. As the night continues, she begins to think those feelings are getting even stronger, and they eventually find the real reason why the events have been happening all night long. As the wrap- around, the main parts before the ending are just minor set-up pieces where the real fun is in the finale, which is a lot of fun. After the main stories, the ambush in the basement, complete with the flowing circle and eventual fire-filled room and slaughter, makes for a good time, and the interweaving with the stories told allows for a nightmarish feel in the manner done. It just takes a while to get there since that is the movie's logical end.The Bad Stor(ies): All Night Operator-Returning to her apartment, a phone-line operator wants to forget about the ski accident that injured her and goes to work at a phone-call answering service. After getting several harassing phone calls from a deranged lunatic, she starts to realize that the caller is a little more unhinged than he let on, and thinking he's coming after her, she tries to defend herself. This here is the lone weak-link among the stories, simply through the exploits of two factors built into the main plot. This here has a one-note story that never really gives it a chance to go anywhere without a twist that is extremely illogical and unneeded, so it lumbers on mainly hitting all the expected notes until it's expected climax, driving out much of the suspense out of the premise. The other factor is the trapped-in-one- location nature, never allowing for there to be any suspense built up over the killer gradually coming closer to here, which combines with the first factor to lower it heavily. The finale chase through the building, with some clever hiding tactics and a couple suspenseful moments with her injury, is rather good, but it's too little too late.Rated R: Violence and Language.

~Spoiler~ After Midnight is a collection of tales from the late 80's that seems to have been forgotten about. I'm a sucker for the anthology format, and I had never heard of this one prior to renting it. Needless to say I couldn't wait to see if this was a hidden gem. Let me just say there is a reason I have never heard of it. After Midnight is a pitiful effort and a waste of time. Not one of these stories, nor the wraparound, have anything going for them. The best story is a haunted house tale starring Marc McClure but you'll know the twist if you're paying attention. The other two boring yawns, I mean yarns, are about a group of girls attacked by dogs and an answering service girl (Marg Helgenberger) being stalked by a psycho. The only positive thing I can say it that it features lots of people who have worked in the genre before. So around every corner you will see someone that either Freddy killed, or Pumpkinhead tore apart, or Jason skewered through a raft.

Well...I liked this movie as a matter of fact, it was cool in its time and now a days its dated but its still spooky in some bits. Lets talk about the stories: The First one is about a couple who gets their car stalled in the road, in the middle of nowhere and they have to go and ask for the phone in an old house, did anyone say "cliche", now, everybody knows that its better to stay in the car, get something to use as a weapon in case of someone really attacking you and breaking the windows of the car and try to stay calm,sleep and wait till the next day when you can walk or wait for help, in this story they do the complete opposite and go to the house, Big mistake, but later you find out it was destined for them to go there and something horrible to happen. The second story talks about a problem that usually happens, women love to ask for directions, man doesn't, in this film 4 girls ask for directions in a place they don't know and to a guy so damn dirty that i wouldn't even give a dime to....of course they get in trouble..and big trouble...This story reminds me of that Emilio Estevez film about some guys getting lost on the bronx...man its creepy. The third one is a Twilight Zone must cause it has all the mood to a half hour show..about a girl that works at a call center and she gets harassed and someone starts to stalk her. The movie is O.K but its very surreal at th ending and then they show why it happened that way. ::::::::::::::SPOILER:::::::::::::::::: Its all about a LOOP HOLE IN TIME.......you can see it in Back to the future.