From Spain, directors Víctor Matellano, Isaac Berrocal, Manuel Martínez Velasco, Erika Elizalde and Piter Moreira bring us an anthology of horror stories with a touch of black comedy in Vampus Horror Tales. But are they worth watching?

Mr. Fettes (Saturnino García), better known as Vampus, is in charge of taking care of the local cemetery. He buries the dead by day and digs them up at night to feed his pet– or so he says. This character leads us throughout the film narrating the different stories of terrifying romance which lead with the messages “love sucks” and eating hot dogs in street stalls may be the last thing you do.

Vampus Horror Tales takes place on Halloween night with four stories about failed romances. The first story takes place during a wedding reception– two friends are locked in a basement. The second one tells the story of a first date gone wrong at an amusement park. The third story takes advantage of online dating. The fourth one shows the will of a husband to save his wife during a pandemic. If the choice for the development of the story was up to this writer, I probably would have chosen Valentine’s day to give coherence and motive to the stories, considering all four stories, excluding the own story of Vampus, which makes it the fifth overall, entail the horrors of romance affected by characters without good intentions who seek to take advantage of others in vulnerable conditions.

The main issue with Vampus Horror Tales is not the day the plots take place or the character development of each short, but how predictable each story is from the moment we see the first interaction between each couple. The shock value is suppressed by the lack of mystery and the opportunity to blindside the viewer with an unexpected twist. In its favor, the personification of Vampus is creepily good thanks to Saturnino García, the actor who gives life to the character. Gestures and voice modulation help when it exposes the cynical thoughts of the character and the criticism he has towards something he sees as absurd while the rest of the world might translate as a kind gesture before revealing its true colors. There is no mistake in his way of seeing things when the script is almost based on the phrase “think wrong and you will be right.”

Vampus Horror Tales, despite having good performances due to a pronounced cast, is left unspiced for a better idea of what a cult anthology could be. Although this is the result of a previously released short film, there is no doubt there are ideas that can be favorable in small quantities instead of expanding them to a plane without adding value– like warm hot dog flavored water for a cup of coffee.

4 OUT OF 10 HOT DOGS