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The horror anthology is a great way to showcase the skills of a variety of directors in a single film. 4bia and its sequel we’re favourites from previous years at Toronto After Dark, featuring a set of frightening tales from Thailand. This year’s collection is The Theatre Bizarre: seven stories of the supernatural and weird.

“Theatre Guignol” is the framing story that links all the otherwise unconnected tales. The title refers to the Grand Guignol in Paris, which specialized in “naturalistic”, or graphic, horror programs. A creepy, puppet version of Udo Kier hosts the show for a young woman who unknowingly wanders into the bizarre theatre.

“The Mother of Toads” is about a young couple (Shane Woodward and Victoria Maurette) who meet an old woman (Catriona MacColl) in a French market who claims to have an original Necronomicon. Being an anthropologist studying the occult, the young man cannot resist an invitation to view the book. However, his acceptance entangles him in a web of lust with a woman who is not what she appears to be from one moment to the next. The short creature-feature from director Richard Stanley is a strong start to the compilation with an adequate mix of mystery, witchcraft, trepidation and grossness. The endless sea of toads that surround the characters creates a tangible uneasiness on- and off-screen.

“I Love You” appears to be a standard, ugly break up. Mo (Suzan Anbeh) is leaving Axel (André Hennicke). He’s possessive and needy, and she’s found someone else. Axel is unwilling to just let Mo leave, probing her for information and then refusing to believe her answers. But how long can he drag this out? Director Buddy Giovinazzo’s anti-love story often feels like an intrusion on a painful and pathetic spectacle of the end of a relationship. It’s at the end that audiences learn they haven’t been privy to everything that’s occurred in the small apartment.

“Wet Dreams” is sort of the complementary chapter to the short that preceded it, as it deals with an abusive, adulterous husband (James Gill). Between his vivid Freudian dreams and his wife’s (Debbie Rochon) long-awaited revenge, he more than gets his just deserts. Director Tom Savini’s contribution is expectedly explicit and grisly, featuring a ruthless revenge that’s hard to swallow in more ways than one.

“The Accident” centres on a child’s first experience with death. When a mother (Lena Kleine) and daughter (Mélodie Simard) pass a fatal motorcycle accident on the road, the girl begins to ask questions about death, grief and what happens after. The film seamlessly moves back and forth between the child tucked in bed and the accident. Director Douglas Buck’s sincere exploration of innocence and childish emotion standouts from the rest of the works because it’s not a horror picture; but also because it’s the best display of filmmaking in the collection.

“Vision Stains” follows a woman (Kaniehtiio Horn) as she murders junkies, prostitutes and other abused and forgotten women. At the moment of their death, she removes the fluid from their eyeballs and injects it into her own, absorbing all of their memories and experiences which she then writes to record their legacies. However, her eventual downfall is a desire to gain too much knowledge. The concept of director Karim Hussain’s story is the most unique on the menu and the eye visuals are convincingly squishy.

“Sweets” is the final segment about Greg (Guilford Adams), who is desperately begging Estelle (Lindsay Goranson) not to leave him as he hopelessly devours everything in front of him, from the plate or the floor. Interspersed throughout this revolting scene are images of the Candyland romance their relationship used to inhabit. The baked conclusion is not unpredictable. Director David Gregory’s section is little more than an exercise in revulsion with vibrant costumes and sets.