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If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The legendary Vincent Price is the star attraction of this collection of fantastic tales, appearing as both an aged mailman and a host for this anthology. As the mailman, he delivers an unsolicited VHS tape to a young man named Matthew Wilson (Todd Fulton). Matthew figures "what the Hell" and sits down to watch the tape. Price appears in this movie- within-the-movie to provide an introduction, ruminating on the entire idea of how thin the line is that separates reality from fantasy.One. "Hobgoblin Bridge". Young boy Matt must navigate a covered bridge that is supposedly watched over by a tiny little demon.Two. "A Little Fishy". A fisherman (Jerry Grisham) learns what it's like to be on the other end of the fishing line.Three. "Coffee Break". The best segment in "Escapes" details what happens as an obnoxious young delivery driver (Michael Patton-Hall) finds himself trapped in the environs of a tiny town named Harmony.Four. "Who's There?" A jogger (Ken Thorley) is menaced by monsters that are supposed to be genetic experiments that escaped from a biological preserve.Five. "Jonah's Dream". Mary Tucker (the appealing Shirley O'Key), who's been panning for gold for years on her private mountain, receives a strange, otherworldly visit.Six. "Think Twice". A mugger (Rocky Capella) takes a mysterious crystal from a bum (Gil Reade).Writer, producer & director David Steensland creates some enjoyable atmosphere from the various California locations that he uses, and he's good at generating some suspense here and there. Overall, however, his stories are mostly uninspired, and not all of them have a very strong payoff. "Coffee Break" is a standout, offering a neat 'Twilight Zone' kind of tale. Steensland doesn't pace himself that well, either. "Jonah's Dream" especially takes too much time to get where it's going.Price is unfortunately rather wasted. It's sad that, in the final dozen or so years of his career & life, he couldn't have headlined some pictures more worthy of his screen presence. But at least he also did "From a Whisper to a Scream" during this time period, and that one is more worth your time.This obscurity / curiosity still merits a look if you're a die hard fan of Price and/or the horror and fantasy genres. Don't expect any real scares at all, though.Five out of 10.

Jerky yuppie Matthew Wilson (a nicely obnoxious portrayal by Todd Fulton) receives an unsolicited VHS tape in the mail. Wilson decides to watch said tape and soon finds himself caught up in a scary alternate world full of dread and danger.Writer/director David Steensland relates all the stories at a snappy pace, crafts a fun ooga-booga spooky atmosphere, brings an engaging earnest quality to the material, and tops everything off with an amusing sense of dark humor. The segments contained herein are: A hobgoblin stalking a little boy on a rundown bridge, a fisherman receives a fitting comeuppance, a rude delivery man stumbles across a remote rural café which exists in some kind of perpetual limbo, an overweight jogger is chased through the woods by a hairy monster (this one has an especially funny punchline), a stubborn old widow prospector (a touching performance by Shirley O'Key) refuses to leave her home, and a mugger gets his just desserts. Vincent Price handles his host duties with trademark plummy aplomb. John Mitchum likewise registers well as amiable yokel Mr. Olson. Gary Tomsic's polished cinematography boasts a few snazzy visual flourishes and makes neat occasional use of a crane. Todd Popple's shuddery synthesizer score hits the shivery spot. A nifty little fright flick.

A teenager receives a videotape in the mail he didn't order. He calls up friends looking for an active evening, but multiple attempts fail because most are busy. So he tears off the wrap to the tape and pops in the VCR. A hall with running human parts (upper torso, arms and head in motion) embedded in the walls leads to a room where Vincent Price awaits, ready to introduce the anthology of tales which make up about an hour. Price returns at the end to close it out. Clearly, Price was approached for a quick payday and couldn't resist."A Little Fishy" deals with a guy fishing at a lake, eyeing an apple that draws his appetite, taking some bites, finding, much to his alarm, a hook line which drags him by the throat (he swallowed it while chewing into the apple) into the water. What set this in motion is not known. The fisherman becoming the fish, with the apple tossed out in the hopes of luring another human to the lake. "Coffee Break" has this speeding delivery van driver lost in some backwoods rural community of Harmony, pulling up to an old timer's home for directions. Because his van blares loud rock music and temperament is rude and harried, the kid doesn't exactly ingratiate himself to the local who tells him he should slow down and have a nice cup of coffee up the road at Harmony Café. Undeterred, the kid takes varies roads in front of him with the same results: he returns to Harmony seemingly unable to escape this neck of the woods. If he'd just stop and have that cup of coffee… "Who's There?" follows a plump jogger taking the scenic route who walks upon a woody area with creatures having escaped from a wildlife preserve somewhere nearby. Is his life in danger or are they not as dangerous as it seems? "Jonah's Dream" features a prospecting widow toiling away in the hopes of that gold find on her mountain. While the locals in the nearby town think she's wasting her time, nonetheless, the widow continues on. Well, one night a noise from her barn sparks interest, and the widow finds a peculiar spaceship having crashlanded on her property, leaking fuel and steam, seemingly about to explode. But through this the widow just might find her gold… "Think Twice" has thief encountering baggage bum in urban squalor, stealing the man's diamond which glows at his breath, providing him what he so desires. The thief doesn't realize that the diamond isn't meant for him, paying a price for crossing the bum and taking what was his. Matthew, the teenager watching the video tape, is actually addressed by Price after the tales are over from the television screen. Matthew looks at the box and sees his name introduced under Price's, with a nightmare featuring several of the characters he just watched. Matthew can't just turn Price off…he won't allow it. Price, in postal uniform, giggles because another "customer" will be chosen for his "wall".The tales did little for me, I must admit. I didn't necessarily mind any of them. I was just rather underwhelmed. Price's involvement, especially at the end, is fun if slight. "Escapes" won't have me forgetting what Price done much better in "From a Whisper to a Scream" a year later. The 80s didn't offer Price anything of particular significance, but his appearances give those few films he was a part of some rub just because of the value of his name and association attached to them. He offers a sinister laugh at the end of "Escapes" but you see him for perhaps approximately seven or eight minutes, not enough to salvage uneventful stories with little in the way of thrills.

Actually, the only mystery that engages me is how I came to be credited as the actor playing "Large Creature"! I didn't have anything to do with this picture, and from the sound of it, I'm glad I wasn't. Very strange. Hmm, 1986? I was playing a singing King Mark in a dopey Equity-waiver musical production called "Knightly Pursuits", during which I met my wife-to-be, Emilie, to whom I've been happily married to for 18 years now. I asked her about my ever playing a Large Creature. She just smiled.Meanwhile, the other IMDb listing for me is correct: I do co-star in the Ralph Bakshi/Frank Frazetta 1983 production of "Fire & Ice" which has just been re-released on DVD. (Yay!) Included on the disc is a special feature in which I narrate from a personal diary I kept during filming. The producer of the special feature dug up production stills of me on the set that I had never seen before. That was a treat. Anyway, "Fire & Ice" is sort of my "I Was a Teen-Age Werewolf". Not a great film, but my own. Sean Hannon --- a.k.a. Nekron, the evil Ice Lord