Review: Theatre of the Deranged (2012)

First I´d like to thank James Cullen Bressack for contacting me and providing me with a screener.
Theatre of the Deranged  is a horror anthology containing five short films. Andy the Arsonist (Cory Jacob) invites us to his private theatre of the macabre, where he tells us five tales of terror. They are LUST FOR BLOOD: A fortune teller tells her young customer (Shawn C. Phillips) that he will turn into a homicidal monster before too long ... not knowing of course that he will turn into this homicidal monster right then and there ... BAD DENNIS: Four teens go on a camping trip to the country - but their trip just happens to coincide with a local legend coming to life.  SPEAK EASY: Two friends are having a conversation. DOLL PARTS: Rebecca  thinks it's a good idea to give abode to Travis, a suspected but never convicted serialkiller, mainly because this way she can make him do her bidding. To keep him from killing her, she has her boyfriend Jacob  for protection. CANNIBAL BLOOD GIRL: A gang of rapists think it's a brilliant idea to bring a couple of girls to a back alley where only a year ago, a pornstar was brutally raped and murdered. LUST FOR BLOOD is written and directed by M. Kelly and Shawn C. Phillips. It looks like it was made on a Zero-budget and is badly shot and edited. The acting is so awful that I kinda hope that it´s intentional and tounge in cheek.  There is a prolonged dance scene that is hilarious. There is some amatuerish gore fx. No T & A in this, it has a very awkward sexscene where the characters simulate sex while wearing clothes (perhaps they´re just dry humping). One guy who is just about to be killed gives a big smile in the same moment as he´s about to be killed. Yup this is bad, dumb and silly. BAD DENNIS is written and directed by Liz Gilbert, we get more bad acting. The camerawork and editing is decent. I do like the concept but it´s very unoriginal. There is some gore, there is no T & A in it. It´s has a pretty bad twist ending. SPEAK EASY directed by James Cullen Bressack is a very minimalistic short film, featuring two actors sitting on a couch talking. The acting is good,  nicely shot and edited. It has a twist. It has some gore. No T & A in this. It´s without a doubt one of the best short films in this anthology. DOLL PARTS directed by Brian Dorton, the acting is decent, The camerawork and editing is decent. It´s pretty nasty and sleazy. It also has a twist. It features the best gore fx of all the short films included in Theatre of the Deranged. There is female topless nudity and full frontal male nudity. And implied necrophilia and incest. I thought this was pretty good. CANNIBAL BLOOD GIRL is written directed by Creep Creepersin. The acting is pretty bad, the camerawork and editing is decent. The whole short film is very over the top with a "demonic avenger" from hell squirting some magic/corrosive mist from her mouth, nipples, vagina and ass.
There is plenty of T & A in this including full frontal female nudity. There is some amateurish gore, the fx is pretty bad, the melting fx lacks any punch.
This review is based upon a passwordprotected online screener provided by James Cullen Bressack.
Rating: 1½ out of 7. Theatre of the Deranged was shot on a shoestring budget, the stories are very uneven, a couple are good and some are pretty bad. My favorites are SPEAK EASY and DOLL PARTS which in my opinion could serve as a basis for further development into a feature flick.

/JL