Deadtime Stories: Volume 1 is 2009 anthology horror film directed by Michael Fischa, Jeff Monahan, and Tom Savini.
An anthology of three horror stories presented by George Romero. In "Valley of the Shadow," a woman searches for her missing husband in the jungles of South America, only to be in great danger herself. In "Wet," a lonely man finds an empty box on the beach and opens it, with disastrous results. In "House Call," in poor and lonely farm country, a woman calls a doctor out to make a house call on her strangely-ailing son. And what the old doctor finds when he gets there isn't listed in any medical books...
Tropes:
- As Himself: George A. Romero
- Bathtub Mermaid: In "Wet", when Swann visits Jack's home, he finds that Jack has been transformed into an inhuman merman by the mermaid, and is trapped in his bathtub.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: In "House Call", when the two missing hikers are discussed, a cut shows their naked bodies lying in the snow. One of them lying on the edge of a small waterfall, and the water in the stream is flowing through the body and spraying out red on the other side.
- Dead Guy on Display: In "Valley of the Shadow", the tribesmen plant human heads on pointed sticks along the river bank as a warning to outsiders to not enter their territory.
- Disconnected by Death: In "Valley of the Shadow", the first two expedition members are to die are trying to send a send a radio message to the rest of the group when they are killed by the natives.
- Disposable Pilot: In "Valley of the Shadow", the boat pilot is killed by the first volley of arrows fired by the hostile natives.
- Dwindling Party: In "Valley of the Shadow", members of Angela's expedition are picked off one by one by the headhunters until Angela is the only one left.
- Gun Struggle: In "Valley of the Shadow", Miguel points the shotgun at Angela and prepares to shoot her for getting them into this mess. Alan tackles him and wrests the gun away from him.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: He didn't write it, but the full title is George A. Romero Presents Deadtime Stories: Volume 1. Romero appears As Himself and acts as the host.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In "Valley of the Shadow", the obnoxious money man who is funding the expedition insists that they return down river after two members vanish following an ominously cut off radio message. Angela ignores him and insists they head upriver to search for them. If she had listened to him, everyone would have survived.
- Jungle Drums: When Angela and her expedition are being pursued through The Amazon Rainforest in "Valley of the Shadow", one of the natives is shown playing a strange drum like instrument whose beat fills the soundtrack.
- Kiss of the Vampire: Implied in "House Call". Mrs Norman tells Dr. Marsten that one of the neighbour girls has been meeting Jimmy in the orchard and allowing him to suck her blood. The cut shows her seeming to enjoy this process immensely.
- Off With The Head: In ''Valley of the Shadow", the entire expedition winds up beheaded with their heads mounted on sticks as a warning to other intruders.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: In "Wet", mermaids are evil creatures with a taste for men's flesh. They can only be destroyed by hacking them apart and burying the pieces separately sealed inside special jade boxes called 'mori tombs'.
- Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: In "House Call", the mother phones the doctor and tells there is something wrong with her son. However, when she she says "He thinks he is turning into a...", the final word is obscured by a crash of thunder.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: In "Wet", a beachcomber finds a jade box containing a mermaid's hand. On learning there are other boxes containing the rest of the mermaid, he seeks to find the rest of them, despite being told that mermaids are buried like that to prevent them coming back. He some learns why to his regret.
- *Twang* Hello: In "Valley of the Shadow", several poison darts bury themselves into tree trunks close to the protagonists' heads as they flee from the tribesman through the jungle.
- Wooden Stake: The doctor drives a wooden stake through the heart of the vampire at the end of "House Call".
