Transparent in its efforts to be a Halloween viewing staple, The Penny Dreadful Picture Show pays homage to the horror anthology while attempting to revive it. Bearing a titular hostess who looks Raggedy Ann in rehab, the scrappy, all-hands-on-deck project exhibits a spirit as impressive as its production values.
In an old-fashioned movie theater — palatial and abandoned — the squeaky Penny Dreadful (Transmorphers’ Eliza Swenson, one of this Show’s writers, directors and producers, not to mention providing the Danny Elfman-esque score) invites a succession of Internet dates over to screen horror films (i.e. the three stories). Also in the sparse audience are Penny’s doll collection and her two co-hosts: a zombie named Ned (Collin Galyean, House of Bones) and a wolf boy named Wolfboy (Dillon Geyselaers).
Up first is “Slash in the Box,” woefully short, yet dead-on in recapturing that Tales from the Crypt feel. “The Morning After” finds Alice (Samantha Soule) unable to recall the previous night’s events, but certain that she’s not quite herself. Its Mad Men-retro look provides an interesting backdrop to a well-worn theme.
The final “feature” is “The Slaughter House,” which puts a twist on the ol’ plot of car trouble amid a cannibal family (albeit one addicted to Pepsi products). Lending star power are Sid Haig, in a character not too far removed from his in House of 1000 Corpses, and Re-Animator‘s Jeffrey Combs, at first unrecognizable in a party hat, cape and wheelchair. While hardly politically correct, his performance is an absolute riot.
A segment about Boy Scouts on a camping trip from hell was cut — and rightly so, as perusers of the DVD’s extras will find, because while its sense of humor is equal, its sense of pacing is not. Violent without being vile, The Penny Dreadful Picture Show ends before you want it to, but seems eager and open to sequelize itself, which I encourage. —Rod Lott