Movie Review: Body Bags (1993)

Body Bags is a cameo-filled horror comedy anthology more or less with the tone of Tales from the Crypt. This definitely feels like Showtime’s attempt to duplicate what HBO had at the time, and, employing John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper as the directors, they did a pretty good job.

John Carpenter’s sort of our host here, and it’s fun to see a guy responsible for terrifying so many people be so utterly goofy here. It reminds me a bit of Stephen King in Creepshow, though he’s not that over the top.

Our first real segment is “The Gas Station,” and it follows a college student (Alex Datcher) working at a gas station while a serial killer has escaped from a mental hospital.

She runs into a bunch of weirdos throughout the night, so she’s on edge basically the entire time, not sure who to trust.

This is probably the msot effective segment in terms of suspense, and though this movie really goes more for laughs, I probably would have had a much worse opinion of it if there wasn’t this segment to really get us started.

The second real segment, “Hair,” is probably the most comedic, aside from the John Carpenter bookends. It’s about a man who worries about his thinning hair, who undergoes an experimental procedure.

It’s pretty simple, but it’s good for a few laughs. Aside from the stuff with John Carpenter in the morgue, I think this is probably the funniest segment.

The last segment is basically the same damn thing, but with a different part of the body (and fewer laughs). Mark Hamill plays a baseball player who loses his eye in a car accident. He gets a new eye in an experimental procedure, and now he starts seeing things.

This movie is nothing special, but it has its moments. If nothing else, there’s all the cameos and the fact that this is directed by horror two horror legends in Carpenter and Hooper.

Rating: 6/10