Allegoria is an anthology movie directed by Spider One which has a mix of short movies that each explore the inherent human conditions of death and art. These shared themes loosely tie together several shorts that are catalysts of one another’s stories, with some of the shorts sharing killers and victims. Allegoria has five main short movies — the first being about a seasoned actor, a mentally tortured artist, a physically tortured writer, a devilish sculptor, and an actress and a musician who are haunted by their aspirations.

In general, Allegoria gets better and better short after short; in the end, I was sad for the affair to end. One short towards the beginning seemed out of place and dropped the pacing just a bit; the film might have been yet stronger without it, though it would have also shortened the already relatively short 1-hour long runtime. Each passing short seemed to build more tension with heavy anticipation and foreshadowing — each short had me on the edge of my seat!

For me, the pièces de résistance from this set of films were the last two shorts and featured acting performances that saw some excellent characters bring their stories to life. My favorite short explores the horrors that can be experienced as a result of online dating and reinforces the fact that you never know just who you might be meeting. It is a tale as old as the last couple of decades, but this short subverts typical expectations and its protagonist is wholly relatable.

The final short takes up half an hour of the movie exploring the lives of its characters and seems to be the backbone of the set of short films. This short has an actress perform some impressive body contortions in a possession scene where the horror was further compounded by a melody of low piano notes that struck an eerie chord for her performance.

My only gripe about Allegoria is that it has an additional short after the credits that was funny but unnecessary. It was not about an artist, and since it did not share in the theme of the anthology and was only loosely connected to one other short within the set, it felt tacked on.

Overall, Allegoria is a great film that sees horror visit and makes playthings of actors, artists, and writers, turning their own talents against them in terrifying ways. Some shorts are more connected than others — some shorts shared killers and victims, while others did not — however, each story featured an artist of some kind experiencing terror as a result of their talent. Allegoria will be available to stream on Shudder beginning August 2nd.

7.75 out of 10