WFG RATING: B+

A Ruthless Studios production. Directed by Evan Tramel, Kays Al-Atrakchi, Patrick Kennelly, Sumire Takamatsu, Jorge Lucas, Christianne Cruz, and John Ferrer. Produced by Steve Barton, Evan Tramel, and Various. Written by Lidia Lee and Various. Cinematography by Various. Edited by Russ Wu and Various.

Stars Marcos Esteves, Larry Cedar, Bethany Orr, Joe Lando, Claudia Fabella, Shio Miramatsu, Daisuke Suzuki, Isabelle Hahn, Jarrid Messe, Corinna Brown, Graham O’Connor, and Heather Langenkamp.

The latest installment of the anthology that helped launch the new icon of horror features some great stories from a global perspective.

The core story, which sets up the stories, involves a young woman on her way home on All Hallows’ Eve who gets into a major car accident. Stuck in the hospital, she suffered major injuries and is stuck in a full body cast. With the ability to open only her eyes, she becomes forced to watch five stories as she experiences a demented doctor and goes on a ride to Hell…literally!

The first story, In Lucidity, revolves around Eric, a young man suffering from constant nightmares. He becomes advised to meet with a pharmaceutical company led by executive Will and scientist Dr. Eeden, who has developed a new drug that can be the cure for his nightmares. The drug, Trypto, allows the user to go into a lucid state to help confront their nightmares. At first reluctant, Eric ultimately decides to become the first human to experiment with the new drug.

This one is a pretty good story with legendary actor Larry Cedar in the role of Dr. Eeden while Marcos Esteves is great in the role of Eric, whose constant nightmares begin to blue the lines between dream and reality. There are some pretty cool effects during the dream sequences.

The second story, Hammurabi, involved a deaf woman who has kidnapped a man and drives off into the desert. Upon calling a ASL translator, the identity of the kidnappee is one the woman has been wanting to confront for many years.

This one is a very short and sweet story written by and starring Bethany Orr as a the kidnapper who holds a grudge against her target, played by Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’s Joe Lando.The identity is quite a surprise with a shocker of an ending. 

The third story, Bakumono, is my favorite of the stories. On Setsubun, the day before the Spring Festival, beans are thrown to ward off evil spirits. Little Ayumi Sakamoto decides not to throw the beans, but instead invite a spirit known as the Bakumono and feed it. Of course, this is bound not end well. Kudos to Claudia Fabella in the role of Ayumi, who gives off a creepy and funny from the aftermath of her actions. 

The fourth story, Aftertaste, revolves around Kai, a young woman working for a Gordon Ramsey-like chef at a restaurant. She is the latest in a line of Chinese women who during the seventh Lunar moon, must help feed evil spirits to prevent them from causing chaos. When they start to affect her job, she learns her destiny and will have to do what she can to prevent the spirits from wreaking havoc. Isabelle Hahn is excellent in the role of Kai as she not only narrates the tale, but gives the viewer little nuances of the Chinese mythology depicted in the story.

The final story, Trial 22, is a bit action packed as it involves four people stuck in an area where they literally must fight to stay alive. That is, until they come across a mysterious creature who uses sound as its weapon. This leads to dissention between the four and also is the most bloody of the stories. 

Producers Steve Barton and Evan Tramel, the latter who also directed the core story elements, do a great job of meshing the story of the accident victim in the hospital with the stories. Even the core story gets more intense after each story, a trademark of the franchise that introduced worldwide audiences in 2013 to the new icon of horror, Art the Clown of the Terrifier franchise.

All Hallows’ Eve: Inferno continues the tradition of meshing a core story along with showing us great horror shorts from up-and-coming filmmakers. As mentioned, Sumire Takamatsu and Jorge Lucas’ Bakumono is my favorite of the stories, but all of them are quite good and definitely worth checking out!

The film is now available on Tubi and Fandango