Lovesusti
The Worst Film Ever
TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
moonmonday
Out of all the anthology films I've seen, I've never really seen one that I can recall at the moment where I enjoyed the connecting story more than any of the individual segments. That was the case here, where Eliza Swenson's Penny Dreadful really stole the show, with her two fun friends and magnificent theatre.These three truly make the viewer want to get through it just to see more of them and their antics. They're legitimately charismatic and likable, legitimately fun, and I cannot applaud them and their performances enough; they're superb.Unfortunately, all of the segments are varying degrees of disappointing, and all in pretty much inexcusable ways. The first is barely existent, and it's disappointing even then. The second has an appealing aesthetic, but it has no reason to adopt such a look, and it ultimately doesn't add anything to the story. The third is just painful and a real chore to get through.It's a real shame that none of the segments were any good, despite acting that was at least acceptable, interesting direction and aesthetic composition, and solid cinematography. Honestly, the only acceptable part of this film was the connecting story, which is usually nothing but a perfunctory excuse for the segments in almost any other anthology film.The second segment was the closest it got to being good, but even it really fell apart and took far too long to go nowhere. The aesthetic was breathtaking and the performances good, but ultimately it wasn't enjoyable.Really, the film itself just wasn't enjoyable overall. Penny and her friends are worth watching, but I'd advise you to just skip through the film and watch them instead of the segments. Especially that last one. Whew.It would also have been nice to have the segments take a similar amount of time, rather than one barely a few minutes long, a significantly longer second one, and then a third that felt as long as Berlin Alexanderplatz.I can't really recommend this to anyone unfortunately, but I do hope that we see Penny and her friends again. If she manages to get some better segments to host, that would be a real joy. I wanted very much to like this movie, but the plain truth of the matter is that, well...I didn't.
mayhem2080
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.
avenuesf
I love independent horror and I own a number of Rob Zombie's films, but this audaciously inept piece of crap was an incredible waste of two hours of my life. Whoever wrote the script to this rambling, confused mess should have ended up as one of the movie's victims. Now that video has become affordable for anyone, there are so many incredibly bad straight-to-DVD films to have to wade through to find anything worth watching; this is yet another one of those to skip. The most frustrating thing I encountered while viewing this - along with the rambling, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plots - was the atrocious audio. This is another film that was mixed to continually drown out the dialog in favor of the film's music and sound effects. Half of the feature was unintelligible. Eliza Swenson, who plays Penny Dreadful, the "hostess" of the film's banal two features, is a good actress. She's way too good to be wasting her time on drivel like this. Horrible. The massive amount of straight-to-video productions are churned out as quickly as possible, show very little talent, and will do anything they can to pull in another buck. IMDb user's reviews on these films are full of "outstanding" reviews that were written by the directors' friends and family.
true-lady
I love Penny she makes ever transition into the next movie, with a twist...love! She is the new Elvira which the world has been missing, Tales from the crypt and Tim Burton would fall in love with her, as i did... The film anthology is what I have been missing... Great Halloween Tale for those who love great tales...... Eliza Swenson, Leigh Scott, Al Snow, Brandon Stacy, John Wells, Joshua Hammond, Kristina Paige, Collin Gaylean, Barry Ratcliffe, Jeffery Combs, and Sid Haig are amazing!I was amazed to see how each film transitions into the next with Penny and quest for true love. Its the classic transition from the past of Elvira and the Crypt keeper, Penny is lovable with a lust for blood, death, well its something awesome I love her!
