PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The hilarious and delicious horror anthology Scare Package is coming to Shudder on June 18th, however, it had a special live premiere last night via the Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. It was directed by Mali Elfman, Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar, Anthony Cousins, Emily Hagins, Aaron B. Koontz, Chris McInroy, Noah Segan, and Baron Vaughn.
It comes as no surprise that this anthology won Best Horror Comedy Feature at NFF 2019. Each segment cleverly highlights a horror trope with love and adoration as opposed to parody or sarcasm. Also unlike most anthologies, every segment including the wraparound story is consistently amusing and entertaining. It is
“Cold Opening,” tells of the frustration of a horror character who always plays the opening of movies without ever even giving his name. When he receives the chance to be the villain in a film, he is elated but soon finds out that being the leading man might not be as great as he thought. This amusing meta segment leads into our wraparound of “Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium,” a video store where cinephile Sam desperately wants to work. Throughout the film, he is determined to sabotage new employee Hawn’s first day with his knowledge of horror films while propelling the rest of the segments.
Next up is “One Time in the Woods,” a cautionary tale about the dangers of combining camping, drinking, and sex in the style of Friday the 13th combined with Evil Dead. Despite the extreme comedy, the body horror and kills displayed in this one is quite glorious.
“M.I.S.T.E.R.” follows a man accused by his wife about not making enough sacrifices for the family and finds his way through a macho self-help group. On the flip side, “Girls’ Night Out of Body” shows just how crazy an all-female slumber party can be with the right friends and the right piece of candy.
Tired of her supernatural stalker killing every friend she’s ever had and ruining her chances of ever having sex, Daisy takes control of her destiny with a new group of friends in the teen slasher throwback “The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill.” Meanwhile, at Rad Chad’s, Hawn is discovering something sinister in the forbidden room and watches the strangely marked tape with the segment “So Much To Do.” When a man is forced into a woman’s body by a satanic rite, the two fight for control of the most important thing to both of them: control of the streaming queue.
The last half hour of the movie brings the wraparound story and the world of the segments together in a finale called “Horror Hypothesis.” Chad and the segment characters must defeat a secret underground world with the help of one Joe Bob Briggs. The amount of time spent in the wraparound and the incorporation of the segments make this last part incredibly satisfying. Add in some bantering about Game of Thrones and John Hughes, this anthology is sure to entertain the target audience.
