Dead Time Tales ( Things 3: Old Things) a.k.a. Deadly Tales
Executive produced by David Sterling
Written, produced, and directed by Ron Ford
Dead Time Tales / Things 3: Old Things is a 1998 shot on video anthology horror film featuring three tales based off short stories by H. G. Wells, Mary Shelly, and Rudyard Kipling, that are tied together by various items from an antique shop.
'Crystal Gazing' ( based on 'The Crystal Egg' by H.G. Wells) is the first story, and wraparound segment of the film. Winston Kale ( Greg Cannone ) an antique shop owner, whose nagging wife Alice ( Oriana Tavoularis )berates and belittles him, has dreams of one day becoming a science fiction writer. One day, delivery man ( Vinnie Bilancio ) drops off a box of items that Winston's wife bought from an estate. An estate of the Rooney family, who were, as Winston states, "the family torn apart by who know's what?". Inside the box are a variety of objects, ranging from an old 1890's postcard with a dominatrix on it, a 'wolf'' ring, and a large egg shaped crystal. The crystal becomes the object that Winston becomes obsessed with, after it allows him to see " an alien landscape, or another world, perhaps.", and it 'eats' a sandwich, that he prepared for his wife, by emitting a green ray. This encounter with the crystal becomes a science fiction story idea, that Winston runs by his writer friend Phil Canyon ( Tim Sullivan ) over the phone.
This conversation is cut short by the arrival of Eric ( Michael Labarbera ), who is looking for a gift
to 'make up' with his fiancée Virginia ( Michelle Galles ). After he shows interest in purchasing the crystal, Winston tries to persuade him with several other items to, to no avail, until he is handed an old post card with the picture of a masked dominatrix ( Veronica Carothers ). Eric is instantly taken by the mysterious masked woman, and wants to buy it at any cost. He also purchases a ceramic bust of a clown for Virginia. The second story 'Cold Feet' ( based on the story 'The Transformation by Mary Shelly ) begins with Eric heading to meet Virgina at a motel. He gives her the clown bust as a gift, and then the two begin to become intimate. Their love making is cut short, when Eric ( having visions of his masked fantasy girl ) becomes aggressive. After his bride to be tells him to remember the lunch on saturday to talk to her parents about the wedding rehearsal, she exits the motel room. Feeling unsatisfied, Eric heads to a strip club, paying for a private dance session with Crystal ( also Veronica Carothers ), his favorite stripper. Offering her money for more than just dancing, Krystal gently refuses Eric, and advises him to go back home to Virginia. While leaving the strip club, he is spotted outside in the parking lot by Virginia's father Wendel ( Joe Haggerty ), who is none too pleased to see his soon to be son in law at such an establishment.
At the lunch date with Virginia's parents, Eric is distracted by intruding thoughts of the woman from the post card, and blurts out some inappropriate sexual comments that both confuse and shock Virginia and her mother Doris ( Jan Tiehen ). Wendel asks to speak with Eric privately in the other room, a conversation where he is told that he better follow through on the marriage, leading to the revelation that his soon to be wife's father saw him exiting the strip joint. During a heated exchange, with Eric telling his soon to be father in law to butt out, Wendel grabs Eric's suit jacket, and inadvertently swipes the masked dominatrix post card, prompting a " Fuck You" to hiss from Eric's lips. Retrieving the card from Wendel's hand, Eric looks at it, and sees a vision of Wendel viciously murdered. He freaks out and leaves the room. Similar images flood his mind, when he passes Virginia, and Doris on his way out of their home. Taking off in his vehicle, Eric drives to a multi level parking lot to his place of employment. While waiting to take the elevator to an upper level of the building, he looks down at the mysterious woman in his treasured post card, and sees a vision of a creepy feline creature. The elevator door open with that very same creature, who proceeds to chase Eric through the multi level parking lot, cornering him with his back to a the railing, and a long fall down. With a growl the cat creature causes Eric to tumble over the railing, and fall four stories down to the ground.
Unconsious, splayed out on the ground, Eric has a dream ( is it really a dream? ) about the masked dominatrix, who will have sex with him for a price. The payment is that she wants to switch bodies, to borrow his body for 24 hours in order to experience what being alive is like again. He agrees, and she indulges his desires. Upon awakening, Eric realizes that the switch took place, and revels at the sensuality of his new body. Noticing he is still wearing the mask, he removes it, and is shocked to find it is the face of the creature that persued him earlier. After 24 hours, Eric and the mysterious masked woman swap, regaining their original bodies. Eric awakens in the 'real' world, lying on the ground, seeming that it was all just a nightmare. Heading back to Virginia's parents house, he begins to realize that something sinister is going on.
Back at the antique shop, Winston begins to see an alien being in the landscape inside the crystal. He tries to photgraph it, communicate with the alien being without any success, and also learns he can make the crystal shoot the green ray to pick up food by snapping his fingers. So, once again, he calls up his writer friend Phil to tell him this, in the form of a sci fi story idea. He wonders, he tells his friend under the guise of a fictional story, why the alien takes food in the first place. After hanging up the phone, Winston's wife Alice enters, and informs him that she ran into her friend Brenda Devane ( Denice Stradling ), and recieved $300 from her for the crystal, which she will come by the shop in the afternoon to pick up. Brenda arrives to claim her purchase, but Winston refuses to give it to her. An argument ensues. And Brenda ends up a meal for the being in the crystal, courtesy of Winston's finger snap.
Realizing what he has just done, Winston is startled by the entrance of mobster Harry Green ( Randal Malone ), and his sidekicks Frankie ( writer-director Ron Ford), and John O ( Larry Richards ). The three foul mouthed and bigoted hoodlums have come to the shop to collect the 'monthly payment' from Winston. While the criminals wait for the money they feel they are owed, a shaman ( Craig Johnson ) enters the shop, and begins inquiring about a gold ring with a beast's / wolf head that is very valuable, in a spiritual sense, to his people. Harry develops a sudden interest in the ring, due to it's worth as an expensive piece of gold, so he bullies Winston into selling it to him instead for only $50. The shaman warns them all of the danger that the piece can bring, if in the wrong hands. Attempting to retrieve the wolf ring from Harry, the shaman backs off due to the criminals pulling out their guns, and telling him to, "Get the fuck out of here." Telling them that, " Your regrets in this matter will be great.", the shaman leaves. Moments later, the wolf ring, which is on Harry's hand, begins burning him. He panics, causing both Frankie and John O to panic. Suddenly, the burning sensation disappears, as quickly as it came about. After recovering from the pain, Harry tries to remove it from his finger, but it won't budge. The two henchmen try to pull the ring off of Harry's hand, but fail to do so. Harry, ultimately, tells them to forget it, and decides that they need to go get some lunch.
As they head to their car, talking back and forth in a small minded, bigoted fashion about the shaman, so begins the next tale entitled 'Bestiality' ( based on 'The Mark Of The Beast' by Rudyard Kipling ). Inside the restaurant, Harry demands raw steak to eat, even though as Frankie says, "Boss, I thought you always liked your steak medium rare." The two lackeys are perplexed at their leader's bizarre choice of cuisine, as they discuss a job, a drop to Di Caprio, an older mob boss. Arriving at Mr. Di Caprio's house, Harry goes inside, while Frankie and John O stay outside in the car. Entering the elder criminal's residence, he encounters three wiseguys, who work for the aging mob boss. They tell him, that the boss is expecting him. Di Caprio is watching television, when Harry enters, and hands him a package. Meanwhile, right outside the window the shaman cuts his his finger, and draws a symbol in blood on the glass. Moments later, still sitting in the car, Frankie and John O spot the medicine man walking away from the house. The two gun toting hoods get out of the car, and approach him, and begin roughing him up. Back inside Di Caprio's house, while the two discuss entrance into the Di Caprio 'family', Harry begins feeling strange, after being rejected by the senior criminal for not being the right 'blood'. The word blood triggers Harry's unconsious mind, like a suggestion, and he begins transforming into a werewolf. Now, fully altered into a beast, he attacks a screaming Mr. Di Caprio, ripping his head from his shoulders. The three men waiting in the other room are alerted by their boss's screams. They enter the room, where Harry and Di Caprio were doing business, and find their leader decapitated with a big werewolf standing over him. They begin firing there guns, emptying them into the beast, but this has little effect on it. So, the wolfman proceeds to massacre the three gunmen, slashing the first two with it's huge claws, and ripping the arm off the third.
Outside, Frankie and John O have the shaman in the car with his hands tied. Harry, the werewolf walks outside, and runs in their direction, causing the two hoods to flee the car, leaving their bound captive behind. The beast reaches the vehicle, only to be momentarily frozen, when the quick thinking sorcerer turns the ring on Harry's hand. Exiting the car, the shaman is seen by Frankie and John O, who, once again, chase him down with guns in their hands, and demand he take the cursed ring off their boss's finger. With the request refused the two criminals cut off one of the medicine man's fingers. Ultimately, the tribesman removes the ring, and Harry turns physically back to normal, but mentally becomes apathetic and apologetic about all of his evil deeds. Another blood symbol is painted on the trunk of the hood's car, while they are distracted with their boss's sudden change of heart. With this newfound perspective, Harry turns to the shaman, and apologizes; telling him to keep the ring. Sending Frankie and John O away, the former werewolf, and now changed man is shot down with the arrival of the rest of Di Caprio's gang, after confessing that he killed their leader. The other two, Harry's two sidekicks are ultimately dispatched, when the shaman spots them in the car with the blood symbol on the trunk, and casts a spell turning the duo into werewolves that end up attacking each other.
Returning, once again to the antique shop Winston and Alice begin arguing about the crystal. In the heat of the moment, Winston kills Alice by hitting her in the head with a metal candleholder. Recovering from the shock of what he has done, the shop owner is startled by a phone call from his writer friend, Phil. They begin discussing the 'fictional' story of the crystal. During the discussion, Winston snaps his fingers, and the crystal zaps Alice's corpse, causing it to disappear. A bloody skeleton ( Alice's remains after the being in the crystal ate her ) are beamed back onto the shop floor. While discussing with Phil the story of the being in the crystal, and it's need to eat, Winston begins realizing the gruesome truth of the intention of the alien being inside the crystal.
The film was written, produced, and directed by Ron Ford, who wrote the excellent films, The Fear ( 1995 ), and Vampire Resurrection a.k.a. Song Of The Vampire ( 2003 ). He also write and directed the amazing microbudget films, Hollywood Mortuary ( 1998 ), V- World Matrix ( 1999 ), Deadly Scavengers ( 2001 ), Witchcraft XI: Sisters In Blood ( 2000 ), and many other microbudget classics. As a big fan of Mr. Ford this is one of my favorite films that he has directed.
Dead Time Tales / Things 3: Old Things implements some really atmospheric lighting, that was very Argento / Bava-esque. The use of colored lighting was utilized throughout, and added to the eerie feel of the picture. Some notable examples include red lighting in the 'Cold Feet' segment, where every scene with the masked dominatrix from the 'fantasy flashes', to the strip club scene, and the sex / transformation scene are filled with a wash of red lighting, signaling passion, blood, and danger. Basically the allure that has come forth from the character Eric's unconsious mind. Green lighting is very dominant, particularly in the wraparound segment 'Crystal Gazing', with the antique shop owner Winston, and the crystal he becomes obsessed with. This green lighting coupled with chiaroscuro is used to good effect in a throat slash murder scene in the "Cold Feet' segment ( see above pic ). Blue lighting is used in an almost expressionistic way in the scene in 'The Mark Of The Beast' segment, where Harry has a meeting with the big mob boss Di Caprio. The blue light giving a cold feeling in a conversation between two cold hearted criminals. Also alot of scenes where light illuminates characters faces, and the set pieces ( walls, tables, and even a plant) from below creating various shades of light and shadow in interesting ways The creepy score by fellow filmmaker Jay Woelfel is stunning, as well.
Dead Time Tales is very much a film about the unconsious mind, and the power of suggestion. Each stories main character has dormant unconsious feelings, and / or desires that are brought forth by suggestion. In the case of Winston from 'The Crystal Gazing wraparound segment, the crystal brings out all his feelings of inadequacy he has pushed away in order to get along with his wife Alice. The 'Cold Feet' portion of the film sees the character Eric's unfilled sexual desires triggered by the mysterious masked dominatrix on the post card. While in 'The Mark Of The Beast' story, criminal Harry Green changes after the wolf ring brings out the full extent of his rage. This is expressed explicitly when the character states, "I have faced my own self rage. And it ain't pretty", right after he is transformed back into human form.
The other theme of the film is the idea of a transforming. Both physical and psychological in the case of Eric from 'Cold Feet', and Harry Green from 'The Mark Of The Beast'. But, the transformation in Winston from wraparound segment 'Crystal Gazing was only of the mind. Each character comes to the realization that they have two identities. The idea of the consious mind / unconsious mind. The dual nature of the human psyche. That's my opinion, yours may differ.
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