Review of The Penny Dreadful Picture Show

The penny dreadful picture show I am not a fan of anthology films I barely remember the Creepshow films(82/87/06) and I could barely stand Trick or Treat (07) and the one I loved was a Tales from the Crypt anthology which seemingly was presented as a movie in which a magician had nine lives due to a cat barely seen on HBO as far as I can remember. At first the origins of Penny Dreadful and her cohorts are mysterious and vague but later on in the movie they kind of grow more engulfed but never are fully laid out which is probably a good thing. The first story is a short having to do with a jack in o box and is short of stature but full in effect as it takes a seeming less toy from childhood and make it monstrous but doesn't fully give away where the story may go. The Second Story is of something we see quite often in our pop culture but it takes it back in time to the 70's and tries to present it in a whole new light. It's not revolutionary but a decent premise on how to go about such a topic. The Third story is the gem of the ball and it takes the classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Meets The Strangers and A House of 1,000 Corpses and turns it all on it's head. You think you know about all these stories but you don't know for sure. In the end I found myself pretty delighted for watching such a film but still not absolutely in love. It was something good and decent to watch but it didn't reinvent the genre but it was still fun and worth a watch. I commend these films cause they take actors like Sid Haig (House of 1,000 Corpses/The Devils Rejects/Halloween) and Jefferey Combs (Re-Animator 1&2/The Frighteners)and Barry Ratcliffe (Dorothy and the Witches of OZ and other films) A platform to keep performing their craft where as other productions companies would not have them. In the beginning of watching this film I was prematurely sure it was going to be a colossal waste of time but by the end I was delighted and thought it as a throwback to 70's/80's early horror at least and worth at least a view if any one was so inclined. Eliza Swenson's makeup is fantastic and if you'd like more of her she's fantastic in the mini-series The Witches of Oz which was shortened to the feature film Dorothy and the Witches of Oz and IMDb her and the other actors for more titles.