After four years away from a theatrical released film ("They Live"), with the exception of the lacklustre: "Memoirs of an Invisibile Man", John Carpenter moved to television to direct and produce, alongside his companion Sandy King, "Body Bags", a horror comedy anthology film which was a proposed pilot for a future Showtime's television series similar to the HBO's "Tales from the Crypt".John Carpenter, who cast himself in the prologue and the epilogue, delivers an excellent morbid, but tongue-in-cheek performance as a creepy-looking coroner, talking directly to the audience (à la Ferris Bueller) and introducing three different horror stories involving cadavers, who died in an unnatural ways, placed in body bags.The first segment, "The Gas Station" is a classic vintage Carpenter, a slasher short film full of references to his own works (a serial killer from Haddonfield) with peculiar camera angles to enhance suspense and providing an eerie & claustrophobic feeling to the whole, despite being a laid-back homage to his earlier masterpiece "Halloween" and his criminally underrated 'made-for-television' film, "Someone's Watching Me!". Carpenter's 'usual suspects' were present for the ride: Peter Jason; George 'Buck' Flower, playing his usual wino / bum character; Robert Carradine in a nerd / deranged mode that he can act in his sleep, plus unexpected cameos from two other "Masters of Horror": Sam Raimi & Wes Craven and David Naughton, the star of the lycanthropy cult-classic: "An American Werewolf in London".The second segment, "Hair" is a dark humored social commentary in the vein of "They Live", with Carpenter this time picking on vanity as one of the greatest weaknesses in the human being. It's the larger segment in length, well acted by Stacy Keach and featuring cameos of singers Sheena Easton (even she can't act) and Debbie Harry and a scene-stealer performance of David Warner as the flamboyant Dr. Lock.The third segment, "The Eye", the only directed by Tobe Hooper, it's the more serious in tone of the Anthology, but also its weakest entry. Mark Hamill stars as a promising baseball player that loses an eye after a car accident and got an ocular transplantation from a former serial killer who died in the electric chair. After leave the hospital, "Luke Skywalker" starts to have morbid visions of someone committing heinous crimes... The story borrows too much from Oliver Stone's "The Hand" and even from Eric Red's "Body Parts" which was released only 2 years before and besides being too predictable, introduces nothing new to the genre. "B-Movie" legends John Agar & Roger Corman play the doctors and the once upon a time a supermodel, Twiggy provides eye-candy for the viewer as Hamill's devoted wife."Body Bags" may had failed becoming a television series, but as 'stand- alone, made for TV anthology movie', it works for fans of John Carpenter and witty self-aware horror / comedy flicks, even if it relied too much on humour and farce and kind of lost its edge on the creativity and thrills' aspects. The sets may be cheap looking, but the gore is present (check out for the UNCUT DVD) and even if it wasn't a work on the caliber of Amicus' Anthology films; the "Creepshow" movies; "Cat's Eye" or "Tales from the Darkside - The Movie" (which also featured "Blondie" lead singer, Debbie Harry) it surely worth a watch.

Even though this anthology is comprised of three short stories, it's really John Carpenter as the undead corpse that steals the show. Carpenter is flawless in his crypt keeper role while being actually quite humorous pulling off multiple moments that can offer a good laugh. The stories themselves were all pretty cheesy and mindlessly entertaining. The first story of a young lady's first day of work with a serial killer on the loose is by far the best, being somewhat suspenseful and cool. The second story was a bit too over-the-top and third story had potential but fell flat at times. One aspect of Body Bags that is surprising is how many big name actors the anthology managed to pull in. Mark Hamill, Stacey Keach and Robert Carradine all had major roles in their respected story. Also, there were some amusing little cameo's thrown into the stories as well. Body Bags isn't spectacular by any means, but it is a fun movie to throw on and laugh along with.

Robert Carradine, Mark Hamill, Alex Datcher and Stacy Keach star in John Carpenter & Tobe Hooper's 1993 horror anthology film featuring 3 chilling tales. "The Gas Station" features a young woman (Datcher) who becomes hunted by a serial killer (Carradine) on her first night working at a gas station. "Hair" features a self-conscious man (Keach) who wants more hair, but must pay the price. "The Eye" features a baseball player (Hamill) who loses an eye and gets one from a dead killer effecting him mentally. Carpenter (Halloween) appears as a morgue coroner who presents the tales and directs the first 2. Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) appears as a morgue surgeon and directs the last one. Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Deborah Harry (Blondie), Tom Arnold (True Lies), David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London), David Warner (In the Mouth of Madness), Peter Jason (Prince of Darkness), the late, George 'Buck' Flower (They Live), Twiggy (America's Next Top Model), Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) and Roger Corman (The Silence of the Lambs) also appear. This follows in the footsteps of "Tales from the Crypt," it's not bad and features a good cast & gruesome make-up effects. I recommend this for Carpenter or horror fans.

'Body Bags' (aka 'John Carpenter's Body Bags') appears to be many things; it's one of those fun, bad movies you can't help watch, force yourself to finish and then ask yourself why you did the first two. It is not only one of the many anthology movies of the 1990's cashing in on the genre: those poorly written, darkly filmed stories with no true catch-you-off-your-guard endings, but it is also a who's who of horror movies. It is only when you realize this, that you'll enjoy the movie so much more and even (gasp!) watch it a second time.Take for example, of course, John Carpenter (who not only lends his name to the title, but also directs a segment and scores the film) but also legendary horror movie makers like Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven putting in cameos. This film, although clearly nothing more than just three schlock horror stories, becomes an almost "Where's Waldo" of people who have cemented the horror genre as it is today.The structure of the film, like many other horror anthologies of the time ("Tales from the Crypt" television series comes quickly to mind), is "hosted" by a silly, seedy (and rarely scary) character with clichéd lines and no reservation for gore, hedonism or the bizarre. Beware! Your stomach may turn from the host's sickening dialogue than from all the gruesome special effects.This movie may stick in your head for all the wrong reasons; whether it is the fun and memorable parts like Stacy Keach's giggling, Mark Hammill doing his best Jeff Foxworthy imitation, or Tom Arnold doing, well, whatever Tom Arnold does that makes him so funny, this isn't award-winning storytelling, folks. Don't expect anything more than to be entertained for cheap entertainment sake. The overall B-flavor of the film fits perfectly like a crude, blood-soaked glove.