Anyone who knows more than one thing about UK-based American stand-up Dave Fulton may well know that he is obsessed with vintage motorbikes as well as comedy. He has combined his two passions in the darkly funny film Bad Time5 which he has written and directed.

At the start Fulton meets up with Rufus Hound and they shoot the breeze in Fulton's garage while he tinkers with a motorbike. But there is more to this tinkering than meets the eye. The film takes the form of classic Hammer/Amicus portmanteau/anthology films such as Tales From The Crypt, with an all-star comedy cast appearing in five short films, each with a twist. 

In the first film a stressed out character played by Omid Djalili attempts to hold up a petrol station but he does it so badly the cashier he is holding up, played by the ever-watchable Michael Smiley, ends up giving him a lesson in armed robbery.

In the second short story, Tiffany Stevenson and Juliet Cowan consider bumping off Andrew Maxwell with a baseball bat. In the third film Josie Lawrence plays a paranoid suburban housewife convinced that Phill Jupitus has come to rob her rather than read the meter.

Elsewhere there is an air of Tales of the Unexpected to Roger Evans chatting to his dead wife (Jo Hartley) and a touch of the Twilight Zone with a comedic underbelly when Josie Walker and Steve Furst have an argument with their unusual new neighbours and they tell Furst to buzz off in no uncertain terms.

It's been something of a labour of love for Fulton who started on this project eight years ago. The short nature of each instalment has probably helped him when it came to availability of his cast and it has paid off. And talking of pay-offs there's also a bit of a tribute to the old anthology films in the way this is wrapped up back in the garage. I'm sure all the nods and homages are probably unintended of course. This does feel very original as well. 

Bad Time5 is available for £1.99 here.

Pictures: Rich Hardcastle.