10 Amazing Horror Anthology Films You Have To See

One of the strangest of these flicks, in Tales from the Darkside, based on the TV series of the same name, a witch is preparing for a dinner party where she's serving up a young boy. In an attempt to stall her and prevent himself from being cooked alive, the boy tells the witch three stories from a book called Tales from the Darkside.

Yes, that's actually the setup. It's as weird as it gets. The film contains only three segments, and while the whole thing is directed by John Harrison, the segments were written by Michael McDowell and George A. Romero. It takes some inspiration from literature, too, as one tale is adapted from an Arthur Conan Doyle story, while another is inspired by Stephen King. For the first segment, a student is framed for theft, so as revenge, he decides he'll murder them by reanimating a mummy. Sure, why not? That one features Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore, by the way, so it gets off to a good start. In the second, an old man hires a hitman to kill a cat who he is convinced is evil, and in the third, an artist witnesses a murder from a gargoyle monster.

The movie's about as baffling as it sounds, and if not really that scary, it's so goofy that it's hard to resist, even if the frame narrative is kind of a waste.