It’s not that I’m not a fan of anthology films, with most tending to circle the drain of low budget horror flicks, which might be a good starting point for many newcomers, it’s just that they aren’t my wheelhouse. So it was that when it came time to give writer Jon Dabach‘s newest anthology a look, I wasn’t exactly fired up. However, Immortal is not what it first appears to be, and quite honestly, had me pretty hooked all the way through, the collection a darkly clever combination of life and death stories doing more right than wrong.
While there’s nothing that rightly connects the four chapters of Immortal, aside from the basic theme of survival, each have potency in their own way, with the first chapter – called ‘Chelsea’ – starring the always effective Dylan Baker as high school teacher Mr. Shagis, beginning his class witnessing the track coach inappropriately touching the school’s star runner Chelsea (Lindsay Mushett), then offering to help her handle what to do next, though a hard left turn takes this into whole other spectrum, setting the tone for what follows. I love the final frame of this bit and Dylan’s double-edged turn.
Chapter Two, ‘Gary & Vanessa’ plays it a little more obvious, with married and pregnant couple Gary (Brett Edwards) and Vanessa (Agnes Bruckner) needing a cable repair person to come by. The suspense here is why, with some transparent imagery that stacks the plot against expectation when the cable guy (Mario Van Peebles) shows up and things get rather graphically gruesome with a scheme that naturally goes afoul. And bloody.
Then comes Chapter Three, ‘Ted & Mary’ starring horror icon Tony Todd as Ted and Robin Bartlett as Mary, an older couple looking to end her life and sitting through a recorded interview with host Alex (Vanessa Lengies) as to why. During their time on camera as Alex probs, we learn about their past and the choices they’ve made as an unsettling situation impacted them years before. It’s a heartbreaking sequence that ties itself well to the core of the anthology yet distances itself quite effectively, too. Yes, you might see where it’s going, especially since it’s the third in the series, but it’s what brings us there that works best.
Chapter Four’s ‘Warren’ has the unfortunate role of following up and closing out the film, not nearly able to match what Ted & Mary do, though manages to find some blunt edges. Warren (Samm Levine) suffers a terrible accident that gives him new and surprising powers (the first being surviving the incident), which sets him off on a mix of investigation and revenge. It’s the least creative of the lot (and relies on the most over-used cliché in film concerning car accidents) but remains a solid watch that understands what it’s doing and does it competently.
I can’t stress how much better Immortal is than what it feels it should be, with a collection of mostly very well-acted moments with Baker wonderfully chewing up his chapter with galvanizing attention and both Bartlett and especially Todd elevating the whole project with intense, personal performances. While ‘Chelsea’ and ‘Ted & Mary’ are the highlight and feel like they could be expanded, the complete package is a sturdy entry in the subgenre. Worth a look.