To the nine of you who actually recognize the title Deadtime Stories, I'll go ahead and disappoint you right now. This news story has nothing to do with the cheeseball 1986 anthology flick of the same name. Actually, that's a good thing. So let's move on.

According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, zombie lord George Romero will be "presenting" the new Deadtime Stories, but the writer/director is actually a guy named Jeff Monahan. (He's an actor turned director who appeared in Romero's Two Evil Eyes, The Dark Half and Bruiser, actually.) Apparently two of the three mini-movies are already finished, and the third one is set to shoot in February. BD.com tells us that one is a college-set ghost story called On Sabbath Hill and the other is a story about dangerous Mars soil called Dust. Obviously as a big fan of both anthology films and (almost) anything with George Romero's name on it, I'll be keeping an eye on this project.

I've always had a fondness for this little horror comedy anthology from 1986, which has just been released by Cinevision International and Image Entertainment. Dead Time Stories was obviously made to emulate Creepshow, substituting fairy tales for the comic book style horrors of Romero's film, but it has a style that is very much its own. Even the opening credits are fun to watch, as a series of increasingly monstrous hands turn the pages of an ancient book, with an 80s style pop song playing on the soundtrack. The framing device that links the three stories together -- an uncle telling bedtime stories to his whiny nephew -- anticipates The Princess Bride which came out the following year.

Uncle Mike spins a trio of yarns designed to both scare and amuse little Brian. The first of the three tells the tale of a young man named Peter (top-billed Scott Valentine, who presumably made this flick before becoming a recurring character on Family Ties) who lived during medieval times. As a result of his financial hardships, Peter is sold as a slave to a pair of witches who are planning to bring their sister back from the dead. Part of the plan involves murdering a priest which is not to Peter's liking, and when he is asked to entice a beautiful young maiden into a similar fate, his loyalties are put to the test. This is the strongest of the three tales, providing more genuine horror than the other two combined, but still having plenty of tongue-in-cheek elements as well. The effects are the strongest in this segment as well, particularly during the reanimation of the dead witch.