The legendary Vincent Price is the star attraction of this collection of fantastic tales, appearing as both an aged mailman and a host for this anthology. As the mailman, he delivers an unsolicited VHS tape to a young man named Matthew Wilson (Todd Fulton). Matthew figures "what the Hell" and sits down to watch the tape. Price appears in this movie- within-the-movie to provide an introduction, ruminating on the entire idea of how thin the line is that separates reality from fantasy.One. "Hobgoblin Bridge". Young boy Matt must navigate a covered bridge that is supposedly watched over by a tiny little demon.Two. "A Little Fishy". A fisherman (Jerry Grisham) learns what it's like to be on the other end of the fishing line.Three. "Coffee Break". The best segment in "Escapes" details what happens as an obnoxious young delivery driver (Michael Patton-Hall) finds himself trapped in the environs of a tiny town named Harmony.Four. "Who's There?" A jogger (Ken Thorley) is menaced by monsters that are supposed to be genetic experiments that escaped from a biological preserve.Five. "Jonah's Dream". Mary Tucker (the appealing Shirley O'Key), who's been panning for gold for years on her private mountain, receives a strange, otherworldly visit.Six. "Think Twice". A mugger (Rocky Capella) takes a mysterious crystal from a bum (Gil Reade).Writer, producer & director David Steensland creates some enjoyable atmosphere from the various California locations that he uses, and he's good at generating some suspense here and there. Overall, however, his stories are mostly uninspired, and not all of them have a very strong payoff. "Coffee Break" is a standout, offering a neat 'Twilight Zone' kind of tale. Steensland doesn't pace himself that well, either. "Jonah's Dream" especially takes too much time to get where it's going.Price is unfortunately rather wasted. It's sad that, in the final dozen or so years of his career & life, he couldn't have headlined some pictures more worthy of his screen presence. But at least he also did "From a Whisper to a Scream" during this time period, and that one is more worth your time.This obscurity / curiosity still merits a look if you're a die hard fan of Price and/or the horror and fantasy genres. Don't expect any real scares at all, though.Five out of 10.

Escapes (1986) * 1/2 (out of 4) Vincent Price hosts six horror tales. 'A Little Fishy' has a man going fishing and when he tries to catch a bigger fish he becomes the target. 'Coffee Break' takes place in a small town where a man is trying to get directions to the interstate but the old man makes him promise to stop by the local diner for some coffee. 'Who's There' has a man going for a job only to realize that something is watching him. 'Jonah's Dream' deals with a poor woman who refuses to give up on her dead husband's gold mine even though it isn't paying off. 'Think Twice' has a thief stealing the wrong item. The sixth and final story is basically a wrap-around segment dealing with a man who is watching ESCAPES and gets to join in on the terror.David Streensland wrote, produced and directed this anthology film, which was clearly trying to capture the mood and spirit of recent films like CREEPSHOW and TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE. In fact, it's easy to see that The Twilight Zone was an influence on this because all six stories are different from one another in tone and for what they are trying to do. Obviously the director wanted to try and deliver something memorable but sadly the majority of the films range from really boring to just bland.If I had to pick a favorite then I'd probably go for 'A Little Fishy' but I will freely admit that the twist itself is quite stupid. 'Coffee Break' comes the closest to reaching a Twilight Zone like vibe but sadly it drags on too long and the ending just doesn't give much of a punch. 'Think Twice' was hands down the weakest in the film but 'Who's There' and 'Jonah's Dream' just didn't do much for me. All six episodes feature fair to poor acting and there's no question that everything was done on a very small budget.These direct-to-video films are interesting to watch but I'm going to guess that the behind-the-scenes stories would be a lot more interesting than what's actually on the screen. I'm not sure how Price got involved with this but he only appears in a couple minutes worth of footage but I will admit it was somewhat fun seeing him dressed as a mailman and delivering some packages. ESCAPES is a mildly interesting movie that thankfully only runs 70-minutes.

Hackneyed, shapeless anthology from the bargain basement. The six tales (that's six on my tape) are all shot outside, all dialogue-lite and all appalling. They were clearly made by people who'd only just found a video camera. Indeed, you actually see the camera twice reflected in surfaces. Vincent Price must have taped his contribution in a single morning and probably didn't remember it a week later. Waste not your time on this. The box says on the back 'in the tradition of The Twilight Zone' - in their dreams. How about saying 'In the tradition of a particularly bad, 80s, made for television scatty fantasy horror which are deeply tedious and insignificant'?

> Escapes is the textbook example of bad film-making. Whenever you've seen a > movie that you feel was horrible, see this one and realize what true garbage > is. One can only guess that Vincent Price was blackmailed into being > involved in this mess. Two bright spots about this film were that it has no > sequel, and that it has a "Mystery Science Theater" quality about it. To me > the most frightening thing about this movie was that I paid .99 to rent this > dog. >