Chad

IBJoel

Watched for the first time in late September and dug it enough. I think Creepshow is the better of the anthologies and this couldn't help but feel like a made-for-Cinemax cash in on Tales from the Crypt.

Gobear

Yup. Body Bags is the pilot for a proposed horror anthology series on Showtime which never happened. John Carpenter isn't half bad as the horror host/ The Coroner. My favorite of the three stories is the middle one about humans being assimilated by intelligent alien hair. It strikes the right tone of humor and horror.

Undeadcow

Body Bags is a fun anthology and it's interesting to catch some of the cameos, a lot of star power here. It sometimes veers towards being too hammy and could use some edits for pacing so while it's serviceable fare I would have expected more from the usually great John Carpenter and even the inconsistent Tobe Hooper. Carpenter is an excellent director and seems to give it his all as The Coroner but IBJoel is right that it's a bit too similar to The Cryptkeeper. I agree with Gobear that The Hair segment is one of the more amusing and interesting ones once it finally gets to the hook.

The Eye segment is a very familiar tale (there's an unrelated but similar Eye franchise that followed this, V/H/S has a similar segment, and feel like elsewhere too) so much so that it makes me curious about the origins of eyeball and organ transplant horror (I suppose Frankenstein). The Eye segment seems potentially ripe with conflict that goes understated - an all star baseball player must chose between his career/success in having an eye or saving his family in losing the possessing eye. Mark Hamill is excellent here but played more for thrills to a point it overlooks the ripe potential for more; but maybe it's good it doesn't beat us over the head with theme.

story

I remember this one, but the one I remember the most was the eyeball story with Mark Hamill. It really creeped me out!

Could be a fun rental. I have to admit, I don't think I've ever done one of these movie challenges that appear to be so well-run around here. I should try it next year.

numbercrunch

I think this is a solid anthology with three equally good stories and good wrap around.

Toddarino

I like the Gas Station segment the best, but this whole thing is enjoyable. Good example of middle tier Carpenter. It would have been really interesting to see where that series would have ended up.

wishbone

Stacy Keach with a nice bookend for this challenge! I liked his segment and the others were not bad either along with John Carpenter's wraparound.

MysterioMan007

I liked the gas station segment. Somehow, this is a first-time watch for me. It's one I've been meaning to watch for years, but never quite got around to it. I did enjoy the eye segment as well, but the hair one was a little too goofy for me.

jholmes

This was fun. What a cast. Loved the Mark Hamill one. The hair one was stupid, but god bless Stacy Keach anyway. The gas station one was solid horror. The first time I saw this in 2017 I gave it a 5. Now I'd say 7/10 . Maybe I was just more in the mood for vintage cheese.

Spiderbite

I for some reason had never seen this and I guess I will be the dissenting voice here but I thought the whole thing pretty much sucked. The cameos were fun and John Carpenter was a good host but each story was totally weak sauce.

The first one was by the numbers and brought nothing interesting to the table though it was the best of the bunch. I thought the lead girl was good but the tale itself was pretty bland.
Stacey Keach was great as always but his story was just plain out stupid and unfunny.
I didn't expect to see Mark Hamill's ass tonight but that was basically the surprise (highlight?) of this extremely predictable, boring and overlong third tale.

I can see why this wasn't picked up if this really was supposed to be a Tales From The Crypt type pilot. Just extremely bland and disappointing all around. And I am usually a little more lenient on anthologies because I typically love even the bad ones. There was not much to love here except the cameos and atmosphere. It really wanted to be fun and creepy but came off more staged and dull.

My rating: *1/2 out of *****

clckworang

I somehow had not seen this before either. It was OK but don't see me revisiting it. Carpenter seemed to be having a lot of fun playing host, even if the lines were pretty cheesy. I also liked the second segment best. I got a kick out of the goofy humor, and it probably melded the best with the tone set up by the morgue segments. The eye segment just seemed like so many that we had seen before. I sort of liked the first one, but Carradine seemed to ruin the mood for me. His performance seemed to grind things to a halt for me.

rbrown498

I don't have anything to add here except that I agree 100% with Spiderbite's comments above. I will admit to being surprised to see Sheena Easton in an acting role, however.

My subset film rankings for the Challenge thus far:

1. Battle Royale
2. Carrie (1976)
3. Curse of the Demon
4. Freaky
5. Slither
6. Possessor Uncut
7. The Ninth Gate
8. Tower of Evil
9. Witchfinder General
10. A Bay of Blood / The Spiral Staircase (averaged together)
11. Planet Terror
12. Silent Madness
13. Slumber Party Massacre II (based purely on its out-of-left-field aesthetic)
14. In Search of Darkness
15. The Gate
16. Road Games
17. Daughters of Darkness
18. Triangle
19. The Untold Story
20. The Collector
21. Cure
22. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
23. Grave Robbers (Ladrones de Tumbas)
24. Body Bags
25. The Severed Arm
26. Fade to Black
27. The Empty Man
28. The Mortuary Collection
29. Cutting Class

Spiderbite

She made a small stab at acting here and there around that time. The biggest thing I remember her from is playing Sonny's girlfriend/wife near the end of Miami Vice's run. She played...wait for it...a famous pop singer!