Southbound

It’s a shame that the individual stories are not meaningfully interconnected (at least a bit!). Southbound would have worked fine as a sophisticated jigsaw puzzle. As it stands, the film comes across like a mish-mash of several unrelated shorts by filmmaker friends who – each according to their own taste – made “a scary story somewhere in the western American outback”. Southbound is consistently entertaining, but ultimately unsatisfying. (13.11.2021)

An anthology of short stories that is not an anthology of short stories. Rather, it’s a frantic ride through a western small town and its surroundings where strange things happen. This eliminates the problem of the short story anthology films, where mostly the “to each their own” rule applies. Southbound, in contrast, gives a rather holistic impression, with an atmosphere that stays within marked boundaries. And there’s always something happening. It’s a very gratifying film that doesn’t keep you waiting, and the authors try to please the viewer with a substantial number of horror properties and you almost don’t have time to catch your breath. I was reminded of In the Mouth of Madness, the atmosphere of that hellish small town is very similar. Even the main score is a bit “Carpenterish”. 8/10 (11.02.2016)

Southbound is quite an enjoyable short story film that is distinguished by being very well made in all respects. It has very good special effects, the picture quality is great, and the acting isn't bad either. It's enjoyable to watch, but none of the stories stood out enough for me to remember them more vividly. On the other hand, the floating monster is great and memorable. (08.07.2016)