CRADLE OF FEAR (2001)

This rather unpleasant but sometimes interesting, low-budget horror anthology is a bit too scummy-looking (copious vomiting for starters) for my tastes, but there are moments. Dani Filth, apparently of the band Cradle of Filth (not a fan, I'm sorry) stars as a hulking dude who looks like a cross between Eric Draven and someone from Slipknot (not a fan of them, either. Bring back 80s metal!...er...sorry, having Bruce Dickinson flashbacks there, my apologies) and is being controlled (don't ask) by an incarcerated child murderer using him to carry out revenge on those who put him there, unfolding in several grisly tales. Dehn turns up as a horribly scenery-chewing cop investigating in a dull wrap-around story.
Firstly we have a very weird story, with club girls Forte and Bouffante running into Filth, with the latter going home with him. After some seriously freaky sex, she wakes up the next morning all trippy (in the film's best scene), and later has severe abdominal pain. And the rest of this segment you'll have to see for yourself. Just don't say you weren't warned, folks, it's pretty sick. Secondly we have perhaps the easiest story to stomach, and easily the funniest in a pretty humourless film. Low-life burglars Eden and Rice are having a jolly-well hard time escaping with the loot when the decrepit owner catches them and seemingly just won't die. The third story is a "Hands of Orlac" variant with Eileen Daly and her one-legged hubby spending time with their kinky sex habits (and there is one very funny but sick bit involving an artificial limb you won't soon forget) before coming up with a plan to steal a leg for the husband. Lastly we see a pretty good performance from Laing as a guy paid to view hardcore, dangerous websites for a living, stumbling upon the 'Sick Room' and the severe effects it has on him.
If you can get past the blood (sadly not of the cheesy "Re-Animator" variety I so enjoy) and unpleasantness, this pretty extreme Brit horror anthology has its merits, even if it isn't a patch on the old Amicus anthologies. Personally I found it overlong, lacking in any likeable characters, the wrap-around story was awful, and some of the segments were a bit mediocre. The last story is the most popular but I found it obvious, and the third story isn't even as much fun as "Body Parts". But hey, it has some nice tits in it...shame about all the grottiness surrounding it. Reasonably well-made, but I don't generally like unpleasantness with my gore and T&A.

Score

5 / 10