Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan: Volume 1 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: An anthology series showcasing all manner of random horror tales from Japan.

Review: At first I considered simply reviewing this collection under one review, but I suppose that would be one gigantic wall of text considering there are like 60+ entries. Even though I have the complete collection, I'm sure there are those who only have certain volumes, or have seen the stories individually, so I'd like to accommodate those individuals. Anyway, I don't know too much about this franchise other than that these little tales appear to have aired on TV; the manner to which they aired I am unsure of--like, did a bunch show at once or one a night or were they added to a different show? Each entry is only about 5 minutes long which makes things tricky. Any Japanese person want to help me out? There also appears to be 3 movies related to this series, two of which I've watched, but the third seems impossible to find with subtitles; and all 3 cost way too much! I will try to cover everything the best I can, so let's get right into it with volume 1.

Elevator: A girl comes back to her apartment after hanging with her boyfriend, but I think they were snorting a line of coke or something because they looked shady as hell. The girl tries to ride an elevator when she finds it's full of strange individuals who encourage her to get on. After deciding not to get on, she notices that no one is on the elevator in a convenient surveillance camera. The girl eventually rides the elevator and that's that. It's obvious the group are ghosts, but I don't get their plan. I swear I've seen this same exact story before! Maybe it's a Japanese urban legend or something, because in the version I saw the person boards the elevator and falls since it's an illusion by the ghosts.

The School Excursion: Some girls are staying at an old hotel, because, I'm assuming, they are trapped by a winter storm. When getting ready for bed, one of the girls notices the door to one of the bathroom stalls opens on its own. Later, the girl forgets an item and returns to the bathroom, encountering the same phenomenon of the door opening. The girl investigates and discovers no one is in the stall, but when she goes to leave the door opens once more. Idiotically, the girl investigates once more, but the door will not shut as there has appeared a ghostly hand holding the door open. A creepy ghost emerges from the stall and toys with the girl a bit before seemingly killing her. This was, by far, the best entry in this volume and one of the best in the series. It's straightforward with a good setup accompanied by decent scares.

Kengo Nishioka: A woman is awakened and haunted by a ghost looking for her husband. For some reason the two appear to be having a casual conversation until the woman angers the ghost and it tries to break through a door. Don't ask me why the ghost couldn't get through that flimsy door. The woman says she couldn't remember all that happened or how she lived, but apparently the ghost was a man who died while working for her husband and believed the husband responsible. The ghost looked kind of scary for the split second we see him, but, other than that, nothing else really happened.

The Visitor: Three females are doing what they do best, complaining about trivial matters, when the little girl of the bunch hears a knock at the door. The individual at the door claims to be their aunt, but, noticing her strange voice, the little girl peers through the mailbox slot to see a ghostly image. The girl tries to alert the others to this problem, but they seem incapable of hearing the ghost (or whatever the hell it is) or see its attempts to enter the home. The bratty sister opens the door and lets the ghost in as the little girl hides in the bathroom. The segment ends with the ghost getting to the little girl. This wasn't too bad. Moderate scares and a mystery left open to interpretation.

Covering the 100 Tales: The hundred tales, or Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, was a game, of sorts, invented in feudal Japan to great popularity. In essence, a group of people would sit around telling scary stories, I guess, in a competition to tell the scariest one. With that said, this entry involves a milfy-looking reporter trying to get the scoop on a local group participating in this game at a small shrine. Oddly enough, the group begins to tell tales regarding their own deaths, but the reporter notices wounds appearing on the storyteller reflecting the circumstances of the death. It doesn't take long to realize these people are dead, and the entry ends with the ghosts claiming the reporter is also dead and they want to hear her story. This was a cool setup, albeit cliched, and the hundred tales makes for a nice backdrop.

Cassette Tape: After hearing a scratching noise in his apartment, a guy finds old music recordings on a cassette from his apparent days in a band. Reminiscing over the glory days, the guy receives a strange call at this exact moment from one of the band members. Thinking this must surely be some twist of fate, the one calling informs the guy that the girl in their group has committed suicide. The cassette then plays weird conversations from the suicide girl resulting in the guy destroying the cassette. The entry ends with a panned out shot showing the guy's clothesline suddenly bending. I thought this entry would be a little more lighthearted, but they decided to give it a twisted ending nonetheless.

Split Water: Ehh, I have no idea what the fuck this story is called. On the DVD it's listed as "Split Warer." I mean, who translates this shit? Spirit walker? Split wafer? I say spirit walker sounds appropriate since the story involves a young girl recalling that one of her last memories of her deceased father was staring at his shoes. The girl has become disconnected with her mom who spends a lot of time working. The two spend the day together on the anniversary of the father's death and decide to buy some melon that cost anywhere from (roughly) $40-90 since I couldn't tell if it was 4 or 9000 yen. What the fuck...is this an endangered species or something?! Worried that things aren't working out, the daughter suddenly sees someone walk past while she's staring at the ground and makes a remark regarding the melon. The shoes are the same as her father's, but the individual has disappeared. The mother also claims to have seen the apparition and this somehow makes the mother realize what's important in her life: the daughter. Well, there you go, an upbeat tale after all.

The Backward Suit: This is the first of the more comical tales in this series. A somewhat bitchy girl is annoyed by her father's drunken behavior, but apparently he's only getting drunk to put himself in a more pleasant state to talk with the daughter. It doesn't make much sense, but you get the idea that the dad is kind of a lovable goofball. One day the father comes home with his suit on backward and it is attributed to being drunk, but then it happens again when he claims to be sober. The father tries to explain himself that the one path he walks is haunted or something, but the daughter doesn't believe it; this backward suit, as you will, happens quite a few times in row. Then one day, the daughter walks the same path and she comes home with her outfit on backward and is startled to the father's delight. And basically that's all there is to this tale. You will either find it mildly amusing or really stupid.

Examination Room #3 part 1: Don't ask me why this tale was given a second segment over the better entries...I guess because it was more risque than the others. So, a guy brings his uptight girlfriend to an abandoned hospital to screw, because, if there's anything that will get a girl horny it's a creepy, abandoned hospital! Duh...that's like the first trick in the book. Amateur. The girl rightfully is annoyed with this proposition but idiotically runs off for no discernible reason instead of leaving. The guy finds the girl talking to no one in, you guessed it, examination room #3. The girl then passes out and the guy carries her out of the hospital, but the two do not talk for weeks until the girl calls him, talking dirty, from the abandoned hospital. That's how it ends--if you can call that a cliffhanger. Oh no, don't blue ball me here!

Examination Room #3 part 2: We pick up where we left off with the guy following the girl to the hospital. I don't know if he intends to save her or is hoping for sweet nookie. The guy notices her clothes strewn all over the hall and she had been wearing some kinky lingerie before some ghost got through with her; the dude is probably kicking himself. The guy then finds the girl getting banged hardcore by some ghost...either that, or this girl is fucking nuts. The girl has a sadistic look of satisfaction on her face and then flashes the guy before he runs away like a bitch. Not sure if he runs away at the sight of her body, there was supposed to be something scary under there, or both. We then skip ahead to an unnamed time as the two randomly cross paths on the street. The guy wonders if she's normal now, but apparently that ghost gives crazy good nookie and she says she still goes to the hospital as if this is creepy. Oh, if only the girl in this segment were hotter. Honestly, I think I'm going to have to label this under the comedy category, because it made me laugh a lot. Perverted ghosts or a repressed nympho...you be the judge.

Forgotten Item: Again with the nonsense! The DVD calls this one "Forgotten Iren." Forgotten Iron? It's about a ring so...Forgotten Ring? Well, the story is actually about a woman who moves into a new apartment after breaking up with her boyfriend and then receives a mysterious phone call at the same time each night with the caller saying, "Give it back." Kind of reminds me of the best episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" called "Laughing in the Dark" where the clown, Zeebo, called the kid saying the same thing...I make weird associations. Anyway...the girl is troubled because there is no way anyone should know her number, but, in all fairness, why do you have multiple phones and a cell phone, hun? And for that matter, what's with all the clocks? Do you really need 4 clocks in a little apartment?! I'm beginning to see why you and your boyfriend broke up...you're insane! One night she unplugs her phone but receives a call on her cell phone and someone or thing tries to get in through her door. The girl frantically looks around the apartment and stumbles upon a ring in the garbage disposal. She, for some reason, hangs the ring on a string outside her window which disappears on its own. She believes everything is over, but then receives one more phone call as the entry ends. Despite the girl appearing to be subtly crazy, this was a nice little tale and kept you on edge.

Video: A woman, visiting her sister's new apartment for the first time, notices a strange man lurking about that walks directly into the sister's apartment. The woman then sees an extra pair of shoes at the apartment, but the sister assures her that no one else is there and the shoes have disappeared. The woman tries to explain the situation, but the sister essentially says to shut up and watch TV. Listening to this sound advice, and sitting no more than two feet from the TV, the woman notices individuals sitting next to her in the reflection from the TV. The woman sees no one next to her in reality, but they remain in the reflection and each time she looks away more appear; she goes to run away and finds the doorway full of shoes piled up. The sister emerges, creepily enough, but then the man from earlier walks closer as the entry ends with a shot of the TV's reflection. I don't know what they were going for here, but having two haunted apartment stories back to back only highlighted the inferiority of this one compared to the last.

A Drop of Blood: I'd like to say this entry was trying to hearken back to "The Twilight Zone," or a show like that, with the black and white, but sadly it appears to be for pretentious, artsy reasons. A young woman is applying for a job at a clothing boutique but finds the place completely empty. There's also something with the girl having missing time and running into a girl talking about it raining on a sunny day. Then the phone rings at the boutique with the woman, for some reason, answering it and not being all that shocked that it's allegedly one of the employees asking for her. After rambling on with no response from the caller, the woman simply leaves her resume at the front desk and leaves. Blood droplets then fall on the resume for no conceivable reason. We cut to the woman at a walkway, losing her mind, as she looks in a mirror and has a splash of blood on her cheek that's in color. This story even declares "The End." Oh for the love of fuck. Was this done for film school? Somebody involved in the making of this segment is in dire need of a roundhouse kick. Was she abducted by aliens? She wore a ring that kind of looked like the one from "Forgotten Iren" so maybe the "iren" is what makes the blood appear out of thin air. Maybe there's a level of connectivity that's going unnoticed and it's really cool...then again, it's probably just pretentious shit begging for no one to ask "what does it mean?!"

Enlightenment: This segment and the final tale are actually connected, but they don't make that too clear at first unless you have a keen eye or are watching these all back to back. A woman, soon to be married, is rummaging through her stuff when she comes across an old diary she had as a child. The woman's name is Rika, and that's just not working for me...there can be only one! Eh, she's kind of cute, I guess I will cut her a break...this time. After reading some typical bullshit you'd expect from a kid, she receives a call from her boyfriend and they change some plans; this isn't all that important in this segment, but has some significance in the last story. Getting back to reading the diary, there is a passage discussing whether she will spend Christmas with her boyfriend in the future, but then remarks, in giant writing covering two pages, "not with Fumihiko," which is the boyfriend's name. Rika realizes that she did not know any other Fumihiko and is unnerved by her childhood version's claim. And that's all there is to this one. Actually, if they didn't have a followup, this would be weak as hell as a standalone segment.

Waiting Time: The next segment picks up with Fumihiko hanging out at a hotel lobby or something like that; I honestly have no clue where he's at...wedding hall...place? It would appear he's a douchebag and cheating on Rika with her friend, Shoko, that was mentioned in the previous entry. He notices some creepy little girl--correction, little girl trying to be creepy (and failing)--and follows her for whatever reason. What, are you into little girls too, dude, or is this that much of a contrivance? Wandering around pointlessly in darkened halls, the guy is taunted by the little girl, luring him into a stairwell. I really don't get it, what is to be accomplished by all this other than an upskirt shot of a 12 year old who looks like a boy?! Whatever. So he hears a voice in his ear and then the girl stares down at him laughing...uhh, for some reason this scares him. Are they seriously trying to claim he recognizes that it's the little girl version of Rika? Oh come on. And so what...how the fuck is any of this possible? Needless to say, this segment makes no sense and, once again, ends an anthology on a sour note.

Well, there you have it, volume 1 in all its glory. For the most part, the entries are moderately entertaining with many being above average and there are a few really good ones. It's also worth noting that there are more good segments than bad which is rare. I'm not saying these are amazing or anything, but they're well made and pull off decent scares for the short amount of time they have to work with. The collection is really cheap as a whole so I'd recommend seeking that out if you're interested, but if you've already committed to buying individual volumes, it may cost you a bit more.

Notable Moment: During "The School Excursion" segment when the ghost emerges from the bathroom. This was probably the only scary entry of the bunch.

Final Rating: 6/10