Southbound (2015)

Running Time: 1hr 29min

Release Date: February 5, 2016

Review by: Stacey

Anthology films have been a thing in horror for many years now (Creepshow (1982), Black Sabbath (1963), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)) and seem to have had a bit of a popular resurgence in the last decade with films like Trick 'r Treat (2007), VHS (2012) (review here), and The ABCs of Death (2012).  The most recent to be added to the list is 2015's Southbound, which has made a lot of us genre fans feel like we were treated to a modern Twilight Zone.

Five interlocking tales that follow a group of people all traveling on the same desert highway one night, each who will be forced to confront their own demons and to atone for their sins.

 "The Way Out"- Directed by Radio Silence (VHS, Devil's Due), this segment throws you right in at the tail end of what we can only assume was something fucked up.  Mitch (Chad Villella) and Jack (Matt Bettinelli-Opin) are bloody and clearly on the run from something terrible.  Heading into a small town, Mitch keeps seeing floating specters in the desert distance, when the pair quickly realize that their actions from the night before are coming back to haunt them in a way they never expected- and the small desert town they stumbled into won't let them leave.
A solid starting off point for the film, this segment doesn't give you any answers as to why these men are in the predicament they're in, which immediately intrigued me.  You're not haunted by floating skeletons for giving money to charity...  Speaking of the skeletons, there was a little bit of hokey CGI and they sounded like AOL connecting to the internet (now THAT'S scary), but there was still a sense of uneasiness that I got in the scenes of them ominously floating in the distance.  To be honest, that short gave me a touch of anxiety throughout.  The lack of knowing exactly what was going on, coupled with the score (composed by The Gifted) lent a seriously eerie feeling to the tale; and by the time you hit the final scene in "The Way Out", you know you want more.

"Siren"- Girl group, "The White Tights", are on tour when their van breaks down in the middle of the desert.  A seemingly normal older couple stops and picks them up to take them back to their home while they wait for help.  Sadie (Fabianne Therese) seems to be the only one weirded out by the whole situation- especially when the couple invites some friends over and her bandmates start throwing up black sludge.
 Directed by Roxanne Benjamin (VHS), this was probably my least favorite of the tales, with fairly unlikable characters and a story that left me with more questions than answers, which didn't work in this segment's case.  There were so many damn red flags that these girls should have picked up on, that it became irritating.  We knew that a bandmate/friend of theirs had died and that Sadie had something to do with it, but we never found out in what capacity was she to blame.  And as far as the cult aspect, as I've said in previous reviews, I love a good cult, so I wish they had expanded more on that storyline because I need more Dana Gould worshipping whatever beast they were praying to over dinner.

"The Accident"- Seamlessly tying in with "Siren", this segment begins when Lucas (Mather Zickel), who is driving that familiar stretch of desert road alone, runs over Sadie, who is standing in the middle of the road trying to get help after having escaped the house.  Lucas calls rescue operators who attempt to guide him through methods to save her life- but when he takes her to a hospital that looks like it was abandoned in a hurry, it becomes obvious that nothing is as it seems.
Directed by David Bruckner (The Signal), and probably one of the best tales in the film, "The Accident" had a great concept and kept the tension at a solid 9 the whole time.  Mather as Lucas held up the film all on his own, with the viewer trying to figure out exactly what nefarious shit the 911 operators were up to (if they were even real dispatchers).  There was no shortage of blood and gross-outs in this segment, especially the intubation scene and the knee....ooh, the knee.  When you realize that Lucas's tale is unlike the others, you appreciate it that much more in a cautionary tale sort of way.  

"Jailbreak"- Directed by Patrick Horvath (The Pact 2), the segment follows Danny (David Yow) who ended up in the desert town in search of his sister, Jesse (Tipper Newton), who had been missing for over a decade.  After holding a bar up by shotgun and forcing the bartender, Al (Matt Peters), to show him where she is, only then does he realize that this isn't just any old desert town he's stumbled in.
This wasn't the best segment, but it was one I wouldn't mind seeing a full story for.  I realize that not telling us everything was probably what they were going for, and it wasn't too infuriating, but leaving us wondering about a lot of things that happened did leave me feeling pretty bummed out.  What exactly are those creatures?  If you can willingly get into that "town", is it Hell?  Like Danny's sister asked, how did he manage to get through there?  How did the creeps in the desert get to be there?  See?  SO MANY QUESTIONS.  There was a little bit of action, especially a nice shotgun blast to the head scene but I would have foregone that just to get some more backstory.

"The Way In"- Also directed by Radio Silence, the tale picks up right where "Jailbreak" leaves off and follows a husband and wife who are taking their daughter Jem (Hassie Harrison) on one last family vacation before she heads off to college.  What they don't realize is that three masked men are about to attack them.
If you go in already knowing the segment titles, it's fairly easy to figure things out to an extent.  Bringing you back to the events that happened prior to  segment "The Way Out", the pieces start to fall into place when you understand the motivations for the intruders' actions.  Kind of...  While you're given just enough to know what and why it's all going on, you aren't given many details.  What started out as a typical home invasion tale quickly turned into a revenge plot gone very wrong which proved that sometimes you just shouldn't take matters into your own hands.  The tension was great, the kills were violent, and the supernatural aspect was pretty damn cool- especially when you finally see where those floaty ghosts came from.

Unlike most anthology films, Southbound effortlessly blends each segment into the other, bringing it back full circle in the final scene.  Nothing felt forced and the tone of the film fairly faltered, which never took you out of your viewing experience.  And we can't forget the awesome Larry Fessenden as the D.J. whose voice you hear throughout the movie.  A clever take on Hell and what it takes to end up there, Southbound will make you second-guess all the bad shit you've done in your life.

4.5/5 even Hell has shitty drivers

Check out the trailer below!

For rent on Amazon and VOD now!