• Straight to Video
• Director: Dave Castiglione, Dawn Murphy, Joel D. Wynkoop
• Written by: Joel D. Wynkoop, Phil Herman, Dave Castiglione, Dawn Murphy
• Running Time: 90 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: UNRATED
• Cast: Brock Richards, Nancy Feliciano, Joel D. Wynkoop, Dawn Murphy, David Lee, M. Catherine Holseybrook, Gusto Perez, Kevin Bangos

Looking to match the success of his first novel, and with a deadline looming, a thirty-something writer, Phil Herman (1993’s "Burglar from Hell"), finds himself hard pressed for ideas. His creative impediment is momentarily haled when he catches glimpses of his muse, a cocky girlfriend who, while on her way to take a bath, jokingly decrees, “Don’t kill me off this time.” Herman’s ideas, brought to life in the form of three short stories, are uneven at best, held together by his incessant rambling into the computer monitor. Shot on video, on low-grade equipment, this is clearly a collection of three short unconnected films, hitched together by a flimsy, quickly devised, wraparound segment. A ploy for maximum distribution? Probably. As we all know, most distributors won’t even look at a director’s individual short films on their own, but bundle those same short films together using the old wraparound device, and they quickly become something marketable. For that reason, I’m able to forgive this gossamer strand that binds.

The first story 'Time for Desert'  finds Cathy Holseybrook (2004’s "Twisted Illusions 2") as a predator-like female stalking the streets in search of men -- all types of men -- to bring back to her apartment. Initial glimpses suggest Holseybrook a nympho-like beast of prey, but later, after a voyeuristic tour of her apartment, revealing mirrors covered with sheets, we get the sense that something other than a need for sexual gratification may be at work here. Cathy might just be a whole other kind of beast. Overshadowing the whole affair is Gusto Perez, who plays a man completely and utterly obsessed with Holseybrook after he runs into her in a plaza. Dragging the piece down with his stupifyingly bad, tragically awkward performance, Perez is utterly laughable in everything he does. Lapses in logic and at least one major continuity error also push this into the realm of the so bad it’s… well, bad, category. On the other side of the coin, Holseybrook is great as the lusty vampiress, who, with a swagger in her step, draws man after man back to her pad. I enjoyed her performance. Joel D. Wynkoop, who directed this short, pulls a Hitchcock, appearing momentarily in a short but memorable scene.

“So damn good that it could probably work as a feature length movie’, is what I told a friend of the next short film, ‘Last Resort’. I have to say, I was greatly impressed by this piece which is produced and directed by Dave Castiglione (1993’s "Bloody Creek") and Dawn Murphy (1997’s "Curse of the Swamp Creature 2"). Making great use of its shooting location and budget, Murphy and Castiglione weave quite a spooky little tale that helps elevate this short-film collection. After getting booked into the Mount Eerie Garden Lodge by a flu-ridden tour operator, a young newlywed couple (Murphy and David Lee) head off to the isolated mountainous location. Upon arriving they are quick to notice that they seem to be the only people in very spacious resort. A room key and a bizarre note begs more questions than answers. Further inspection reveals no patrons or staff. They apparently have the entire resort to themselves, and despite thinking it’s just a little strange, they decide to take advantage of their lavish locale. It isn’t long before some very strange things start happening to the young couple in the form of weird noises and bizarre images. At first they brush it off as just the wind or their crazy imagination, but as the week draws on, it becomes obvious that they aren’t as alone in the Lodge as they first thought.

Taking their cues from Kubrick’s The Shining, Castiglione and Murphy make great use of location (The Poconos, apparently), the cinematography and the sound, to create the sense of disconnection, not only from the world, but from their reality as they know it. From the echo of their voices in empty rooms to the constant strange hissing noise, we get the feeling of that the ironically titled Mount Eerie Garden Lodge might be more than just some out-of-the-way resort. Regarding the cinematography; it’s interesting to note how much of the early part of the film involves close-ups and two-shots, while the latter half is comprised almost entirely of long-shots. By doing this, the cinematographer has deliberately and brilliantly allowed the audience to share in the couple’s early intimacy, and, later, in their increasing sense of aloneness and isolation. This is great stuff, for sure. There is even a nice twist to wrap up the affair. As far as I’m concerned, this is a top notch short film.

The third story, 'Someone is Sleeping in my Bed' is forgettable filler, not even clever enough to make proper use of its quick-witted title. This is a straight ahead slasher flick that barely gets up to speed before it careens into its sloppy conclusion. Designed strictly as a showcase for the beautiful and big-busted Nancy Feliciano (1993’s "Jacker"), this piece is ugly and misogynistic, and very much in keeping with many of the other films put out by the folks at Wave Video. A red filter is used early on to help achieve a certain surreal look as a serial killer, Brock Richards (1991’s "The Willies"), dispatches a group of children on Halloween. Later he winds up outside the window of Feliciano, where he methodically spies on her, among other things. Peeping Toms in the audience will surely delight at this slice of bottom-rung cinema. Moments later, our killer is inside doing what killers do, and it isn’t pretty. Gore fans will enjoy this detour into violent excess. Personally, I could have done without. On a side note; this short does help ramp up to the film’s surprising conclusion.

Our formerly blocked writer, Herman, who found inspiration in his girlfriend, played by the busty Nancy Feliciano (of the third short), finds himself standing in the doorway of his bathroom. His girlfriend’s lifeless body lay at the bottom of the tub. “Don’t kill me off this time,” Herman whispers to himself, remembering what she had said. This ending, which seems clear cut, is, upon further inspection, open for interpretation. Have we glimpsed a brutal murder, or have we simply escaped further into the fertile nihilistic mind of our writer? Claude M. Bristol once wrote, “Undoubtedly, we become what we envisage." In the case of writer Herman, it’s possible but I’m not so sure. Interesting climax to the mostly inferior wraparound.

Overall, a mediocre to good shot-on-video production. Currently released as part of Pendulum Pictures “Mental Maniacs” boxset.