Stories of Apparitions Seen in Photos Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: An anthology tale of five stories related to the ghost photo phenomenon.

Review: With a ridiculous name for a movie like that, I'm sure there has to be an alternate title out there somewhere or was this a direct translation? They didn't even spell the title right on the cover for god's sake! I can't find a lot of information on this film or even on the actors involved which pretty much sucks. But it's on Amazon, which is how I watched it, so you'd think there would be more to draw on than this! Anyway, this is an anthology film, and the theme is ghost photos with each story's plot being driven by the introduction of these photos. This movie probably would have benefitted from some form of a wraparound even if it were something as simple as a cold hand turning pages of a photo album in between segments. I mean, if you're going to have a major theme like this, it helps to have something driving the setups for each entry. Okay, on with the show!

Segment 1 Pictures With No Object: Three kids go mountain climbing when they stumble upon a guy who seemingly committed suicide but is clutching a photo that has "help me" written on it. This one was probably the best of the five because it offers just what you would want and expect from a horror short. There is decent intrigue from the beginning as well as a general sense of wonder to what is actually going on since the audience just jumps into the action. The ghost photo in this one looked particularly eerie even if I couldn't even tell what I was looking at--at first. This story was aiming for genuine scares, that I think it pulled off successfully, and even offered up an original idea I hadn't seen before. There is a part where two girls are sitting in a car with the hazard lights on which left the opportunity for a ghost to suddenly appear in between a flash of light and darkness. This built the tension nicely, unfortunately, they kind of wasted this scare with some CGI effect, but it was creative nonetheless; it would be awesome to see the scene executed properly. Overall, it was short, sweet, and, with some interesting scares and effective atmosphere, it left me wanting more! Definitely a good way to start an anthology tale off.

Segment 2 Watching You: A schoolgirl discovers that a photo of her choir instead shows everyone is disturbingly staring at her. The premise for this one wasn't too bad although I still felt something more should have went into the photo. My idea of a ghost photo only makes sense if there were an actual ghost in the damn photo or if everyone in the photo but the main girl died right afterward (which they don't); if anything, it would be classified merely as supernatural more than ghostly. I think this segment tried to tackle too much as it throws in some guy trying to explain the situation and how people who took the photo are dead while he is supposedly a ghost himself? I don't know. There was a cool part where someone was trying to get in the girl's window from like 25 ft. in the air. But in the end, it just didn't make sense and leaves you more annoyed than frightened.

Segment 3 Memorable Polaroid: A group of friends are having a Christmas party when they hear on the news that their last friend expected to arrive was murdered not far from them. They soon realize perhaps one of them may be the killer after the murdered girl shows up in a polaroid photo of the group. This was another one that had a lot of potential that was not entirely realized. I loved the use of the polaroid, and the reason that was given to use said camera, by the main girl, Yui, played by the cute Narumi Konno. I think I have yet another little crush! She has all my favorite traits: nice, funny, clever, petite, and a raven-haired beauty, but why are they always just a character in a show or movie! Ugh! Okay, back on track. A lot of the banter between the friends felt natural and kind of funny at times. When the group realizes the one girl is dead, they immediately blame the guy who had a crush on her, and, for some reason he goes completely nuts and confesses to it. Well that would be fine except the twist is he wasn't the killer. I get that they wanted to emphasize the twist, but it comes off stupid when a character goes that much off the deep end needlessly. The ghost photo looked pretty good, and I liked the use of the girl's ghost appearing in the TV even if it demonstrated how low the budget must have been; it did look kind of scary even if it was a photoshop job. Eh, a moderate story with moderate thrills enhanced by a likable lead and a good premise.

Ms. Konno in my own ghost photo. I tried to do a regular screen capture but Amazon uses low graphics.

Segment 4 Peeping Tom: A shy, stalker-ish guy follows the woman he loves during her day to day activities while snapping the occasional photo. When he begins to capture ghostly images, he is faced with the dilemma of how to tell the woman as antics ensue. I would say this is the worst of the bunch which was highly disappointing given how funny this might have potentially turned out. As creepy as the main guy can be, he did have a certain charm to him with his goofball approach since he was painted more as a secret admirer than a hardcore stalker. I can see a story like this becoming an awkward romance flick if done a different way. It sucked, the two don't even end up together as you'd think considering this was supposed to be a comedy/horror. I guess I'll applaud them for not giving in to cliches, but come on! And the ghost that is haunting the girl is supposed to be him or something? It made no sense at all. How the hell can he be a ghost if he's taking photos and chilling out with his little turtle buddy?! Plus, he talks to people damn it! The girl he's stalking is cute but nothing to write home about; hell, I would have rather had her friend! I'm starting to think I get too invested in these movies sometimes. So, yeah, the ghost photos were just okay, the scares were nonexistent, the comedy was funny up until the end, and, once again, this segment was hindered by wasted potential.

Segment 5 Strange Delivery: After receiving a mysterious photo in the mail of a family surrounded by dozens of ghostly hands, a woman becomes haunted. I think you already know what I'm going to say here, right? So much wasted potential! Actually, only this story and the first segment could have been full length films if they divided out the material. The premise is so cool, but the mystery of the photo and resolution are so unbelievably lame. Apparently, for some unknown reason, a guy mails the photo to people, they become haunted, try to make it go away by tracing its origin to some house only to be consumed by the spirits within. We don't know how or why this is happening, what's the goal of the man other than something to do with his mother, where the photo came from or is the man one of the people in the photo, and, finally, it leaves you further frustrated because this is the last story! I would have loved to see these ideas fleshed out better and expanded upon. A lot of the scares are things we've seen a thousand times before, but with better effects they still could have left an impression. But more so, this could have had an elaborate and interesting mystery to unravel. So disappointing.

There were most certainly a lot of good ideas incorporated in the film as a whole, but most of it was not executed to it's maximum ability for various reasons. I hate to see this much potential go to waste given how many shitty movies are out there overshadowing a film like this. But it is reassuring to know there are still new ideas being created or at least new outlooks on existing stories. I would hope this movie maybe gets more support at some point; it doesn't even have a wikipedia page! I wanted to rate this film higher, but it just didn't deliver enough for me to go any higher and most of its rating comes from creativity more than quality. With that being said, I would still highly recommend this as a decent film well worth your time.

Notable Moment: In the first segment when the camera angle is situated perfectly for something to appear in the hazard lights of the car. Grr, if only we had a little grudgey action right then!

Final Rating: 6/10

Waxwork II: Lost in Time Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Mark and Sarah must travel through time in order to find evidence of the supernatural to clear Sarah of the charge of murdering her father.

Review: This film pretty much mirrors the formula of the first one right down to the ending being the only good part while the rest is boring and stupid. However, this movie is even longer, more torturously boring, scattered funny moments, and the ending is nowhere near as entertaining. The production value is also significantly lower than the previous movie with cheap looking settings and less special effects. The story was already farfetched, but becomes even more ridiculous which takes away a bit of the fun from the first movie. The film picks up immediately where part one ended with the waxwork burning down, the zombie hand escaping, and Mark and Sarah outside. Annoyingly, the actress playing Sarah has been replaced, which I hate, although I can't blame her for not wanting to return. They conveniently get in a taxi that happens to be strolling by a burning house at like two in the morning. The hand tags along and eventually follows Sarah home where it kills her dad followed by her destroying the hand. Sarah is then charged with the murder, but she chooses to idiotically blame the killing on the zombie hand and blabs about the whole waxwork fiasco as if any sane person would believe such a claim! For some inexplicable reason, Mark believes they need to find proof of the supernatural to prove Sarah's innocence so they go to Sir Wilfred's house hoping he has some artifact or whatever. Through the magic of contrivances, Sir Wilfred has left a recording explaining how Mark can travel through time using some compass-esque device all the while there is some lame "Alice in Wonderland" allusion that doesn't quite fit the themes established. Mark and Sarah throw caution to the wind and begin this pointless time traveling journey. As with the first film, they become characters within the timelines they jump into that pays homage to famous horror movies. The difference with this entry is that they retread things already mentioned while not really having a focus as the first did with iconic villains. For example: they deal with Frankenstein again while also going into a wannabe "Alien" universe which would make no sense considering the context. I thought they spent far too much time on certain villains the first time, but this movie spends even more time in each of the universes to the point I kept debating to turn this shit off. I'm not exaggerating how boring it can get watching these cheap ass sets and effects. Well, at least they had sense enough to include Bruce Campbell in a small role! Almost none of the gags are even close to being funny either. At some point Mark and Sarah end up in the worst interpretation of medieval times I could imagine where we learn Mark is destined to be a "time warrior," or some stupid shit like that, chosen by God. Apparently, history was full of these battles and time can still be altered by the forces of evil. Meaning, even though we know evil did not consume the world during medieval times (hah that's debatable), if Mark fails to stop some sorcerer, time could potentially be altered allowing evil to win. Supposedly Mark's grandfather and Sir Wilfred were time warriors and presumably the band of heroes at the end of the first film were as well. The sorcerer plans to turn himself into the King of England or whatever, but Mark manages to unravel his plan which leads to a final battle almost as great as the first film. As Mark and the sorcerer fight, they keep jumping from horror movie to horror movie which is awesome considering they include the likes of "Godzilla," "Dawn of the Dead," and "Nosferatu." Once more, why couldn't this concept be the focus of the film rather than the boring shit we get?! Well, these scenes are fun, but it isn't as extravagant as the first film and nowhere near as creative. Once everything is resolved, there is only enough energy to send Sarah back to the present with yet another zombie hand they managed to get ahold of. Of course this clears Sarah of the murder charges because this is a stupid movie. It then ends with Sarah getting a letter from Mark 800 or so years later giving her the compass device telling her to come back to him. Uh, so what was the point in clearing her name if she's just going to spend time in the past anyway?! God this movie tests my patience. I think the main reason why this film fails is because it was trying to relive the glory of an '80s movie but it was made during the early '90s which is probably the worst era for horror films. Dear lord this movie blows, and I cannot stress enough how boring it is! You'd think they'd improve over the first one but hell no. I usually like cheesy horror movies, but you have to hold my interest. This was not interesting and it reminded me of the thousands of direct to video fuckers that flooded local rental stores in those days. Bad acting, worse effects,  bad direction, not funny, and wasted its potential to satirize the many great films it touched on. If you liked the first one, perhaps you will like this, but if you disliked the first one, as I did, you will hate this.

Notable Moment: Once again, at the end when Mark is fighting through different famous movies. This was probably the premise they wrote the second movie's script around!

Final Rating: 3.5/10

Waxwork Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A madman needs victims to bring his wax creations to life.

Review: This is one of those movies that could only come into existence during the '80s. The plot is farfetched and borderlines on stupid more often than not, but it has an awesome conclusion that almost makes it worth the effort to sit through. I know this is supposed to be comical, but the jokes come off as moronic while never accomplishing a full parody. Actually, had they straightened up the script, made the first hour watchable, this could have been legendary. The film does pay tribute to iconic and famous movie villains from the black and white era of cinema but is nowhere near an homage as the likes of, say, "The Monster Squad." We see the usuals like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, etc. while also throwing in the likes of Romero zombies, B-movie aliens, the Invisible Man, etc. that work to expand the tribute. But because only a handful get screen time, it's not on the level or scale I think they were hoping for; likewise, the villains look cheap as hell and weren't given the attention needed to make them stand out. The story is that some guy has stolen 18 artifacts connected to 18 of the most evil beings in the world and is using them to open pathways of time to lure in unsuspecting victims. Essentially, each wax display represents a villain and the main bad guy, Lincoln, played by the great David Warner, needs to kill someone in each display's little time portal in order to bring the villain back to life. For some reason they won't come to life unless all 18 victims are assembled simultaneously though. The main character, Mark's, played by Zach Galligan of "Gremlins" fame, grandfather collected the artifacts first, but Lincoln killed him and stole the artifacts to create the waxwork. I should note the waxwork is just some house in the neighborhood, which is pure shenanigans, but I suppose it's remotely plausible. Lincoln easily brings idiots to the waxwork by simply asking whoever passes by the house to come in. Once inside, everyone always has a reason to touch one of the displays which pulls them into said display where they become certain characters meant to be killed by the villains. Once the person is killed, they become a part of the display and one more piece of the puzzle is completed. Of course Mark notices this and through his grandfather's friend, Sir Wilfred, they uncover Lincoln's plan. Mark and his little love interest, Sarah (who has this whole '80s hot thing going on), try to burn down the waxwork, but they get pushed into the final displays. Mark realizes that if you don't believe in the magic, and pretty much don't act like the character you become, you are unharmed by the displays which allows him to escape his display. He then helps Sarah escape her display only to discover that two more of their stupid friends arrive and become the final two victims. This is the best part of the film when all the displays come to life including the resurrected victims of the villains. Oh yeah, somehow this whole process will unleash evil that will destroy the world or whatever. Luckily for Mark and Sarah, Sir Wilfred and a band of unnamed heroes arrive to do battle against the displays in one hell of a final battle! This is cool and what the whole film should have been about! I especially loved the part when Mark asks Lincoln why he wants to destroy the world and he casually says, "Somebody has to." Brilliant! Amidst the chaos the waxwork becomes ablaze in fire and everyone dies except Mark, Sarah, and the severed hand of one of the zombies as the film ends with a lame cliffhanger of sorts. Obviously I only rated this film as high as I did because of the great climax, but I would have gone much higher if the whole film could have been of that caliber. So many scenes drag on unnecessarily which makes it so boring at times. Characters are inconsistent in behavior, even Mark, when they bounce between wannabe rich kids and cliched slasher fodder. Certain films would have probably made better choices to be the highlighted displays that a victim gets pulled into. The comedy just wasn't funny, and I can appreciate a lot of the movies they are poking fun at; although, there were stray jokes that were genuinely funny like the kid thinking someone put acid in his drink again. If you're a big horror fan you will probably love this movie, but I can't recommend a movie simply for it's ending. If by chance you see it on TV or something, then just watch the last half hour or so. Now this is the kind of candidate worthy or a remake to fix the mistakes while still keeping what was best.

Notable Moment: At the end when all the displays come to life at the same time. It was probably the idea that the movie was written around which would explain why it was so cool and the rest of the movie sucked.

Final Rating: 5/10