Now more than ever with the state of the world, whether it be the global pandemic or the current political climate, death is on the minds of many people right now. Obviously many of us have no intention of dying anytime soon, but it is hard to keep these factors from bringing up the conversation of death. Hand in hand in most conversations involving death there is the question posed, would you want to be immortal? Never have to worry about dying from a gunshot or a car accident, just be someone who is truly invulnerable. Immortal tells four different stories of people who have been imbued with this “gift” and what direction their lives take because of it.

Chelsea has been the star of her running team, the fastest girl in the whole school, what she thought would get her into a good college, is what got her on a hunter’s hit list. Gary and Vanessa are a struggling couple with a baby on the way and Gary plans to give them all a better life, through his life insurance policy. Ted and Mary are being interviewed by a couple of students on a less than joyous topic, doctor-assisted for terminal patients. After being nearly killed in a hit and run Warren finds that all is his wounds healed, he no longer has to eat or sleep, and he is very interested in finding out who left him for dead.

Anthology movies have a long history of being unpopular to big studios and more often misses than hits. There is something naturally complicated in making a film that has multiple good segments that don’t warrant them just being explored in a feature. Immortal does have a mixed bag quality but everything from acting to the plots used for this anthology about immortal persons is handled incredibly well. With stand out performances by Tony Todd and Dylan Baker and the writing being great, most of the time, there is a lot to enjoy.

Where the mixed bag quality comes from is the organization of the shorts. Going into this film knowing nothing the Chelsea segment hits so damn hard but with it being easily the best segment in the film it hurts the rest by starting so strong. The last segment Warren with the man discovering he is Immortal would have been a great starting point that is an above-average segment. From there the segments are in perfect order, the introduction, the tragedy, the heartwarming drama, and the big pay off.

If you ask anyone who knows me, they would tell you that I am a huge fan of anthologies so I can tell you I have seen plenty. Many are more often than not shallow stories with one or two glimmers of something special. Immortals was a very big surprise that not only are there glimmers, there is a lot of shine on this film. Tony Todd‘s segment is downright heartbreaking and the Chelsea segment could be a movie on its own, a great feature, well worth a watch.

8 out of 10