Macabre…ish Horror Review: Oats Studios

Oats Studios, 2021/ Season 1

This first episode in this anthology is a world wide event, the landscape obliterated and the air poisoned by the output of the hive. The aliens read the humans minds and they’re adapted with inter cranial implants but obviously everyone can’t get one. The aliens capture and tear the humans apart, learning about their bodies. They also add alien technology to human bodies and those who survive are used to lure out other humans. Time is short, the few people left know they are on borrowed time.

In 1970, the war in Vietnam was not quite what was advertised. Known as The River God a raging skeleton that summoned an armor of flesh. He is fueled by rage and conjures alternate realities, projecting his own hell. Soldiers were somehow teleported to the jungle, from a South Carolina base and they struggle with visions and have no idea if they are real. Their base officially no longer exists. The cover up is actively in progress, while the effort to stop the River God, continues on.

Cooking with Bill is a show that is mostly an infomercial and they introduce new products, first up is a multi bladed chainsaw called the Damasu. To test it, Bill is going to cut up a block of cheese and a turkey but as expected, it doesn’t go quite as planned. After a commercial break, they return with a Prestoveg, that does the opposite of what what it should. One after another product is unveiled that goes dramatically wrong and the hosts have to carry on as scripted.

That’s not all, these are just a few of the episodes in this volume and not all of the best ones.

“Oats Studios is an independent film studio started in 2017 by Oscar-nominated South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp. The studio was created with the goal of distributing experimental short films via YouTube and Steamin order to gauge the community for interest and feedback as to which of them are viable for expansion into feature films.” -Wikipedia

This is a horror anthology and it is good! Many of the episodes are big budget for anthologies, recognizable actors like Sigourney Weaver and Dakota Fanning. Crazy monster effects, physical and CG is very good. Many of these could easily be a feature on their own. Well done!