The Story
Five strange tales in five places, in the same vein as Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt and The Outer Limits.
Full of romance, comedy, magic, nostalgia and horror, they come as reminders to be careful what you wish for, to go back for what you came for, and to never stare too long into the abyss…
Hidden Level
Burnouts Ronnie Rhodes and Bruce Dixon blow their quarters on the arcade game Demon Blade and argue about Van Halen.
At the mall, a shop full of pipes and monster chess sets is run by an older woman with an ouroboros tattoo and a black cat named Onyx. She has a jade-eyed skull necklace for sale. “Legend has it some of these items can grant wishes.”
Bruce knows exactly what he’d wish for. So does Ronnie. “You should be careful what you wish for, boys.”
For My Next Trick
Math-ed major Cathy Daniels is sore from getting her wisdom teeth out, but she finishes her calc exam, and shy history major Gary Plummer finally asks her out: to the magic show in the campus center, starring The Great Zupinski.
Her roommate Stacy, an art major who draws Egyptian gods in pencil, thinks stage magic is fake. “Real magic exists.”
Then the magician asks for a volunteer for The Box.
Rougarou
Ray MacAfee, an ex-Marine sniper, works at an oil refinery and lives quietly with his German shepherd, Remy, until his old buddy Albert Lacroix comes to visit.
Across town, Catholic nursing student Elizabeth and her wild friend Vicky follow Felix, a dealer who mocks the old legend of the Rougarou, out to his house on the bayou for a party: Led Zeppelin, a Ouija board, and truth or dare.
Nobody at the party believes in the Rougarou.
Stellar Parlay
Commander Matt Foster, a submarine captain with a terminal diagnosis, has been parked at Area 51 doing oversight paperwork on its most absurd pet projects.
Then he’s assigned subject 4239: Amy Magellan, a telepathic, pink-skinned alien recovered as an infant at Roswell, who loves The A-Team, sports and painting apps.
Matt decides she deserves one weekend in Las Vegas.
Timeshare
Ted and Heather Galloway, a chiropractor and an Emory chemistry professor, are both cheating, and both back in their counselor’s office.
To water the tree of their marriage, Ted books a discounted stay at Casa de Coco in Jacksonville. The catch: they have to sit through a timeshare pitch.
“We’ve both got doctorates; they aren’t going to force us to do anything.”