Anthology
horror is a subgenre unto itself which will invariably replicate until the end
of cinematic time. Often an inexpensive
way to commission typically lower-budgeted filmmakers to whip up enough horror
shorts to comprise a feature film, they’re either connected by a singular
narrator, narrative link book-ending the film, a defining visual style or in the
case of Portals a kindred theme. Released independently by Screen Media, the
film brings together anthology horror veterans Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez,
Timo Tjahjanto as well as newcomer Liam O’Donnell for a unique piece of inexplicable
apocalyptic as well as psychedelic horror.
The
premise connecting the wild, gory and inspired shorts is a simple but no less effective
one: rectangular, monolithic shaped portals are appearing throughout the world
out of nowhere and begin wreaking havoc on the human beings within its
reach. Where do they lead? Why are they here? No one knows for sure except that people are
either being zombified as law and order begins to break down. Unlike, say, The ABCs of Death or the V/H/S
films which give free reign to the filmmakers to use whatever approach they
wanted, Portals is grounded in a
singular kindred visual style yet you can recognize the energies of each
filmmaker’s segment.
Timo
Tjahjanto, for instance, can be spotted from a mile away. His palpably manic and violent energy
channeled in the short films L is for
Libido and Safe Haven are
immediately recognizable. In his
mid-movie segment, Sarah, set in
Indonesia involving an underground garage overrun by zombified acolytes, the
film reaches a fever pitch intensity and level of extreme violence that is
unmistakably from the perverse and wicked mind of Tjahjanto. Though still relatively unknown in the horror
community, the vibe one gets watching any of his utterly over-the-top horror
shorts is that of a homicidal Tasmanian devil.
The
other segments book-ending it, Call Center
by the Blair Witch Project filmmakers
Hale and Sanchez, are no less engaging but never quite reach the intensity of
Tjahjanto’s segment. Newcomer O’Donnell’s
The Other Side, broken up into short
segments connecting the other filmmakers’ segments, manages to get some cringe-worthy
gore in that would make the likes of Fulci blush while trying to shed some vaguely
defined answers on what’s causing all of this mayhem.
Though
sharing three cinematographers and different editors per segment, Portals is among the few anthology
horror films by multiple directors that plays like an entire uninterrupted
feature by one director ala Creepshow. While seasoned horror fans will recognize
which director did the segment(s), Portals
takes the unique approach of maintaining a consistent audiovisual style so
the shift between segments isn’t as noticeable as the aforementioned V/H/S films or The ABCs of Death. As a
slice of low budget filmmaking quietly released on-demand and on 4K streaming
platforms, Portals is one of the
better and more sizable offerings of the anthological horror genre you’re
likely to stumble upon on accident.
--Andrew Kotwicki
