15 Best Anthology Horror Film Segments
4. Bobby (Dead Of Night, 1977)
“Bobby hates you, mommy. So he sent me instead!”
A mother grieving over her drowned young son, Bobby, is given the chance to be reunited with him through black magic. The little boy that returns, however, is not the same boy she lost.
Bobby is a minimal yet effective retelling of the classic W. W. Jacobs short story, The Monkey’s Paw. This short is frustratingly little-known considering how genuinely terrifying it is, largely because the rest of the anthology is, frankly, rather bland and forgettable. Had the story featured in a stronger collection, it might have received the praise it deserves. Dead of Night (not to be confused with the far superior 1945 portmanteau of the same name) was written by legend Richard Matheson and directed by Dan Curtis.
Curtis created another cult classic horror anthology movie, Trilogy of Terror (1975), a film that is, rather like this film, remembered solely for its concluding segment, Amelia. As notorious and iconic as Amelia is among horror fans (we all recognise the African Zuni fetish doll even if we don't know the story by name), it doesn't come close to topping the suspense of this lesser known tale. The closing shot, annoyingly spoiled in most versions of the poster, is nightmare-inducing.