FILM GUTTER REVIEWS: ​WATCH IF YOU DARE (2018)

Dirs. Jill Gevargizian, Christopher G Moore, Andy Stewart, USA, 71 mins

A lot of extreme horror viewers, like myself, are very much drawn to or susceptible to being 'dared'. Many times I've gone out of my way to find the most disturbing and most extreme movies I can, and many of them in their language imply that 'you shouldn't watch it', or 'you can't handle i't. To which many will invariably say 'bring it on' and tune in not despite of it, but because of it. So when you float a title like Watch if You Dare there's no doubt that you're trying to attract those kind of viewers. And attract me it did, with not only the title but its promise of being one of the most disturbing films of the year. That's certainly fighting talk – but does this one deliver?

Watch if You Dare is constructed of four short horror films. I hesitate to call it a portmanteau because there's very little to actually tie the films together – the segues are fairly generic horror shots, and we don't have any sort of host or framing device to make it feel coherent. With that said, this one isn't terrible, it just isn't awesome either.

We kick off with The Stylist, which funnily enough we have previously reviewed here and rather enjoyed (you can check out the original piece here if you'd like to take a look). It remains a fine short film, and if anything I feel as though I enjoyed it more this second time around – the ending felt as though it had more impact, and while there remains not a huge amount of substance it's got style and ambition, both of which are things I like. I was really pleased to see that director Jill Gevargizian has just conducted a successful Kickstarter for a feature film of this one, so it'll be fascinating to see how this one plays out in the extended format. I feel as though it'll give some more scope to explore the background and character, which should add plenty.

Following that is Ink, a dark and bleak little British piece following a serial killer who targets people with tattoos, determined to take the ink of their skin and stitch it onto his own. There are some grim scenes, and something to like about the idea, but it doesn't really feel very conclusive. There's simply not enough character motivation here – why can the character not just get a tattoo done himself? – and in the end it's just a bit slight despite the good gore effects on display.

Then comes The Foodies, which follows a chef and a restaurateur who are invited to a special evening called Kitchen X. At this event they're joined by wine connoisseurs, food bloggers, specialist butchers and more besides. Of course it's not long before things go distinctly south, and I'd love to tell you it's startling original but it's really not. It has a few funny moments, but ultimately it looks pretty cheaply made – there's some terrible ADR as well – and with this running the longest of the four pieces it does feel like it holds things down a little.

The final piece of the quarter – Knob Goblins – is the shortest of the four, and it's hard to say a huge amount about it really. The title probably tells you most of what is going to happen, and even as a gag that doesn't run for that long it still misses the mark.

RATING: 4/10. Rating this sort of movie is not always easy, because it's sort of a matter of rating each individually and then coming up with something that seems to epitomise it as an overall experience. I think it's held back somewhat by the lack of a linking device, making it feel more like a random short film showcase than a complete entity. I think one of the other problems is the ordering – it feels like you start off with the strongest piece, then it's all gradually downhill towards the end, leaving a slightly unsatisfying feeling. Maybe with a different running order it could have been a 5, but as it stands 4/10 feels about right.