Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan: Volume 3 Part 1 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

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

Review: After taking a step down in volume 2, the slack is, thankfully, picked back up this time around. I would say these stories are as good as the first volume, but they have a few added advantages. For one, the quality feels higher with better cameras or something. It's not to say the budget isn't low still, but an overall look of better production values can go a long way. The other thing I liked about this volume was the great variety to the tales. The first two volumes mostly had ghosts and random bullshit, but this volume has a little more oomph to it with tales of monsters, aliens, ghosts, demons, etc. So, if you were worried it was all down hill after a couple opening tales, you will be happy to know things get better. I still don't know why they marketed this as two parts of the same volume though? Even if it aired in Japan this way, why not make the English release as volume 3 and 4? Eh, whatever. Okay, let's take a look at what volume 3 (part 1) has for us.

The Red Eyes: A woman, sleeping in her bed, is suddenly awakened by a creature that has appeared under her blanket and is strangling her. The creature would appear to be some kind of demon in the form of a child with glowing red eyes. A ghostly man appears and tells the demon that the woman he's strangling is not his mother but he relentlessly tries to choke the life out of the woman. The woman, in typical idiotic fashion, puts up no struggle instead of kicking this kid's ass--demon or not. The ghostly man finally convinces the kid that the woman is not his mother by pointing to the fact that she has no scars on her face. Realizing this, the demon kid tries to give a scary glare and disappears back under the blankets and the man vanishes. Thinking her ordeal is over, the woman now notices a larger being emerging under her blankets. It is a scarred and demonic-looking woman also with red eyes--the audience realizes this is the mother and the woman screams as she is presumably choked to death. This was random as hell, but it was imaginative and the demon woman did look creepy. Not too bad of a way to kick things off this time.

Tell Me: Three friends are, I guess, breaking into some abandoned house or shrine to make their lives interesting or something. The main girl doesn't want to go into the house and waits in the car while her loverboy and friend go in. Moments later, the friend and loverboy come running out and are too startled to explain to the main girl what they saw. As the group drives off, the radio starts to play the conversation the loverboy and friend had while in the abandoned home. The friend was apparently trying to flirt with loverboy, but this doesn't bother the main girl all that much since they quickly realize they've driven in a circle and ended up right in front of the house again. On the radio, they hear a pounding noise as we see a flashback to what the loverboy and friend saw inside the house: when the two went upstairs in the house, they saw themselves beating a sack that was filled with the main girl's bloody body. The story ends with the main girl begging the two to tell her what they saw...perhaps this will lead to the events foreseen to come true. Kind of a lame ending, but the atmosphere and buildup were solid.

Another One: Once more we have a guy staying at a hotel when shenanigans happen. This series really has a thing for hotels and haunted apartments! Anyway, this is supposed to be a somewhat comical tale as the guy notices a ghost lurking around him as he tries to go about his business. It was admittedly funny when the ghost was trying to get his attention and he was pretending to try and sleep and even announced it. The ghost starts to clap his hands accompanied by a motivational chant, but the ghost also wants the man to participate in this little game. Eventually the man humors the situation and plays along for a little while before trying to use some kind of sutra that banishes the spirit away. Later on, we get a narration explaining that the ghost was a school coach that killed himself. Amusing enough I suppose.

The Men in Black: Compared to the last story, I found this one to be a lot funnier as it was a parody, of sorts, of "Men in Black." Two boys, with a fascination for aliens, are trying to capture a genuine photo of a UFO when one of them brags about having hard evidence. The kids are dorky, and this greatly adds to the charm as one of the kids' mom says strange men had come to the house looking for him. The said kid's room has been trashed, and, while he questions his mom regarding this, the other kid takes the film roll he had that was supposed to be hard evidence of a UFO. At the same time, the kid gets a phone call from a magazine wanting to feature his UFO photos and he runs off like an idiot to meet the magazine's reps. The boy is then seemingly abducted by the men in black while the other kid, with the stolen film roll, runs into the men in black who are two goofballs. The men in black chase the kid around and they make the sequence out to be all intense; the music builds up to some epic moment but then the men in black disappear when the kid throws the film away and a cop shows up. At the end, the abducted boy is returned, but when he's questioned by the friend, he simply points and hisses at the kid like it's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." This was a pretty funny story, and it was great to see something other than ghosts.

My Wife's Coming: Oh...is she? Don't even tell me I'm the only one that reads the title in that way?! A nephew is visiting his uncle, that is an old man, after the aunt appears to have recently passed away. The uncle wants the nephew to stay by his side and keep an eye on him, because he believes he's being haunted by his dead wife. While taking a bath, the uncle fears he's being drowned and calls for the nephew to help him. He also brushes by the fact that he abused the wife in life and thinks she is out for revenge from the afterlife. Oh yeah, just casually mention how you beat your wife with no reaction whatsoever. When the two are sleeping, the uncle starts screaming and the nephew hears a smacking noise as he starts to see the hand of the wife slapping the uncle. The nephew runs into the bathroom and washes his face in the tub--eww, please don't tell me that's the same water the uncle was bathing in?! Then the nephew gets hit and notices the aunt taking a little bath in the tub herself. Well bitch, if you're just going to hit some dude for doing nothing, now I don't care you got beat. I felt like the story was half comical, but were they trying to be more serious with this subject matter?

The Bloodiest Armor: A girl, with a love for film, has recently landed a job at, what I'm guessing is, a prop shop, but it isn't quite what she expected. What is this, a girl after my own heart? Pretty cute too. When a bitchy co-worker is roughly handling one of the props, the owner gets angry and scolds the woman with a hit to the head. Amazing, no lawsuit--must be nice to be in a country not full of babies. The owner explains to the main girl the importance of props in enhancing a scene or performance and that the props can develop a soul of their own. When the girl is cleaning a samurai's helmet, the bitchy co-worker implies that something is unsettling about that prop. That night, when putting things away, the girl hears a noise and notices an apparition dressed as a samurai and wearing that particular helmet. The owner explains that while working on a film that turned into a disaster during production, an actor was killed wearing the armor and I suppose the owner was the prop guy for the movie. He further explains that he's tried to destroy the helmet and have it purified but nothing works. The girl says she will stay on regardless, because she loves film-making too much, but then the owner is found dead some time later. Kind of a lackluster ending. This felt a lot like "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction," but with that show you could get away with stories that went nowhere, because you were meant to guess whether they were based on a true story or not.

Overtime: A group of office workers have a rumor that anyone who works overtime on the 20th of the month will disappear at the hands of a woman who burned herself to death. Not initially believing this, the main guy becomes worried when he is the one chosen to work overtime. To make matters worse, the main guy's girlfriend has her birthday party that night. Complicating things further, the main guy doesn't know how to react to one of his co-worker's flirtation and the accompanied ridicule from other office friends; the friends joke that perhaps the flirty co-worker is the ghostly woman. That night, the main guy is acting like a little bitch trying to reassure himself the rumors aren't real when he gets a text from his girlfriend who seemingly breaks up with him. For what, working? Typical woman logic. All hell starts to break loose with phones ringing, the guy's computer turning off and on and loading up the email with the rumor written out, and then the lights go out. It's amusing to note that a voice on the phone sounds orgasmic yet again; I'm starting to wonder whether they know the difference between the sound of pain and the throes of ecstasy. The main guy sees his flirty co-worker who starts to choke him and chases him to the elevator--but then the guy wakes up. Deciding it's time to leave, the main guy heads toward the elevator only to be confronted with the flirty co-worker anyway. Oh shit, what will happen next?!

Overtime 2: The flirty co-worker explains she came back to the office to pick up some files she will need for a meeting the next day, but that sounds super shady. The woman also addresses the fact that she knows people say the rumors imply she's the ghost and she's okay with it. Uh, am I the only one that finds it fucking retarded to think your co-worker is a ghost? Besides the fact that everyone interacting with this individual would cancel that theory out, but what ungodly creature would want to continue working a menial job even in death?! While riding the elevator to leave, it keeps stopping randomly on different floors which scares the main guy. The flirty woman discusses how she once dated a younger guy and it was great, and, in turn, starts to kick it hardcore to the main guy. This is when things stop making sense as there's something about other people being on the elevator and this ride is like the longest in history. The flirty co-worker starts to act ghost-like and chokes the guy as in the dream. The guy tries to get out of the elevator but she catches his tie and chokes him some more before ripping his head off with the pull of the elevator. Uh...the end? I know this was kind of comical and lighthearted, but did it have to be overly stupid too?

Red Tricycle: Deciding to move out of her apartment, a woman realizes she has been holding on to an old tricycle since childhood that was a gift from her grandmother. Instead of maintaining her sentimentality toward the gift, she wants to get rid of it all because...it's dirty? Well, considering you left it outside for god knows how many years, I'm surprised it hasn't rusted into nothingness. Plus, you're telling me in all these years, this is the first she realized it was dirty? This chick is at least in her mid-twenties (I'd say thirties), how did it make it this far under that reasoning? The woman throws the tricycle in some random trash pile and is somewhat affected when it's gone later that night. But, when she comes home, the tricycle is back in her apartment almost greeting her. She throws it away once more and has a dream about when she first received the tricycle. When she wakes up, the tricycle is by her head leading her to call in the boyfriend to solve this problem. The boyfriend finds nothing and the perplexed woman goes about whatever she does when the tricycle appears and comes toward her. I guess maybe the tricycle actually belonged to Billy?

Shadows Sitting By Their Feet: A group of girls are staying at, what I'm guessing is, some kind of inn when one girl explains she is having trouble trying to sleep. Once they all settle in, the main girl tries to do some little trick to put her mind at ease...which is apparently just saying "please god, let me fall asleep." She then notices a shadowy figure beside one of her friends and is confused. The shadowy figure starts to rock back and forth in a lame attempt to be scary. I would have given them some leeway at first, but then they had to do some cheap fast motion effect that looks abysmal. Worse, the main girl sees more shadowy figures and they too are doing this fast motion rocking. Maybe there's a headbanger convention. Then, in what I can only classify as one of the most randomly hilarious moments I've seen in a while, the shadowy figures start to roll across the sleeping girls in slow motion. Weirder still, the shadowy figures start to eat uncooked rice while huddling over one of the sleeping girls. The main girl passes out due to either fear or the overwhelming stupidity of the scene. The next day the girls all have a nice laugh about it and that's it. What...the...hell?

Ghost House: This little tale stars Maki Horikita who you may recall me mentioning as the cute Ayano character in "The Locker" 1 and 2, and she's also kind of the villain in "One Missed Call: Final." The segment begins by stealing a page right out of "The Grudge" with three girls going to a Saeki-house wannabe. Ms. Horikita starts to film the house, looking for ghosts I guess, when one of the girls thinks she sees someone watching them from the second floor. As the three head inside and upstairs, Ms. Horikita's camera starts to die and she changes the battery outside. She gets a phone call from one of the other friends warning not to come upstairs and then stumbles upon the third friend screaming and rattling on about someone being upstairs. When Ms. Horikita and the friend do go upstairs, the friend informs them that the third girl, that Ms. Horikita believes came with them, did not come with them and died recently. They check the footage and see a ghostly image on the second floor and the other friend is not on the tape. Ms. Horikita questions why they were lured to the house (probably to change Toshio's diaper or something) as a nearby phone ominously begins to ring. The segment ends as Ms. Horikita picks it up. Kind of cliched, but not too bad. Could have been scarier, that's for sure.

The Breath of Mononoke: The story begins with a foreboding look at the parking garage that this segment takes place in, and this is followed by a news report discussing recently found bodies of mutilated women. We are then introduced to a woman dropped off in the garage who is trying to go down (or up) a floor to get to her car or to exit--hell if I know--but the door is locked. She aimlessly walks along while calling her boyfriend or husband until she hears a growl in the distance; I swear, there was a moment when she was walking that I thought she'd slam right into a pipe. The woman looks to see what is the noise, but finds nothing...except more growling. She picks up her pace a bit until she hears the growling behind her and much closer. She turns around, sees a monster emerge from behind a pillar, and takes off running until stereotypically tripping. When the woman looks back, the monster is gone, but then she hears the growling in front of her as she looks forward to see the beast right on top of her. Say bye bye hun! The monster slashes the woman and drags her off to feast. The story ends with another news report describing the woman's body being found and added to the list of victims. I liked this one a lot. The whole "mononoke" thing is a kind of demon, but I felt like this thing was more werewolf-esque; I suppose they could be the same myth but different cultures. They don't really show the monster, but they use tried and true techniques to mask this effectively.

The Bride: Well, the last two volumes ended weakly, how will this one fare? A single dad is home alone after his daughter leaves to help relatives and is just trying to enjoy his dinner when shenanigans interrupt it. After the TV malfunctions, the man appears to pass out at the dinner table and is unable to move once he awakens. He notices a ghostly woman sewing in the shadows who flashes him a sadistic grin when she becomes alerted to his presence. The ghostly woman comes close to the frozen man and starts speaking nonsense until the man regains mobility and she vanishes. The man hears a noise coming from his daughter's room and sees a trembling form under blankets. Gee, I wonder if it's really the daughter? Underneath is some guy in a uniform begging for water, and this sight causes the man to pass out. The man comes to later when the daughter (who is pretty cute) comes home and asks him what he's doing in her room. After kicking him out, he hears a scream but is unable to move as the ghostly woman from earlier has appeared behind him with that crazy smile. Not much of an ending with absolutely no explanation especially considering the story's title. Eh, at least it made for a better ending than the last two volumes.

Overall, I was quite pleased with this volume. Even though the first volume had slightly better stories, this volume offered up more variety and increased visual quality. Also, like the second volume, you have more recognizable actors from other horror films so I like that. You do get less stories than the previous two volumes, but I think this one more than holds its own regardless. The only real downside is that there's basically only one really scary story, and that's from the first volume. The stories here had some potential to be scarier, but, at the same time, you do only get 5 minutes to make the magic happen.

Notable Moment: I would say this entry's standout moment was with the "Men in Black" segment. It was funny, entertaining, and managed to pull off quite a bit in its short time. It even had its own special title card.

Final Rating: 6/10

Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan: Volume 2 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

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

Review: Onto the second volume in this set. I should probably mention that there are technically four volumes total, but, for some reason, they break up the third volume into two parts. Anyway, this volume feels like a step down from the first in terms of quality, scares, and creativity. It's not to say these tales are bad necessarily, but they border more on the mediocre side of the road; and there is not a single scare to be had which is a shame. However, there are more recognizable actors involved this time around, which is always fun to pick up on, and there are more stories to compensate for the drop in quality (but I always prefer quality over quantity). Now let's have a look at what volume 2 has to offer us, shall we!

Off the Shelf: To kick things off we have a man coming home from work and talking complete nonsense on the phone and off the phone. He's talking to himself insanely and even remarks about this. We get the inference that he's probably divorced or kicked out of his home, or something along these lines, as he rambles on incoherently. There's something about a neighbor knocking on the wall and some ghost-ish looking person hanging from the ceiling, but this could mean anything. The story ends with the man screaming that some guy, I'm presuming the neighbor, is insane and that's it. This is not exactly how you want to begin an anthology with a story basically involving a guy screaming to himself accompanied by sheer shenanigans.

Stones: While fishing, a man mocks another man's inquiry from a distance only to find himself face to face with said man. A narration explains the typical bullshit you can expect from Japanese mythology regarding animal spirits being tricksters and taking delight in fucking with unsuspecting douchebags. When the man is done fishing he discovers his fish is missing after seeing a little fishy flopping on a bike path. Realizing something is up, the man rides off but is hit with stones. Realistically, considering the size, speed, and distance that these stones are hitting the guy, he should be dead but okay. After taking a few hits, the man tries to act tough further provoking the trickster spirit. When the man finally tries to escape he is confronted by a large pile of rocks that more than likely pummeled the poor bastard to death. Moral of the story, don't talk shit under your breath? I guess. I'm assuming this tale was meant to be funny, but it felt stupid to me.

My Sister's Room: Something about that title makes me laugh. Back on track...a girl believes she is being haunted by an old lady each night at the same time which we see. Her parents don't believe it and seem to imply she's masturbating or something...which I guess makes sense considering the orgasmic moaning she makes. Later on, when getting a midnight snack, the girl's brother explains that he has been overhearing the strange events coming from the sister's room each night at the same time. When he's done telling his version of the events he bursts out laughing to the sister's dismay. However, the brother can't stop laughing and shows signs of distress as his laugh becomes more feminine and similar to his description of the ghost. We then realize it's the same time of night that the girl has been haunted. Eh, this could have been kind of scary if they spent more time with the Kayako-wannabe. Oh well.

The Train: Three whiny women are having, what appears to be, a sleepover at the one girl's apartment when they become distracted by a noisy train passing by. I don't know what it is, but one of the girls I found really attractive. Maybe it was her hairstyle or, more likely, the fact that she was unintentionally humping a pillow; I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that wasn't in the script. The women discuss dating drama while remarking how unusual that a train would be running this late at night. When the girl that own's the apartment comes back from grabbing late night snacks she explains that they are far from any stations and is perplexed by their claim to have heard a train. The women look out the window and see that it's quiet and that there couldn't possibly be a train nearby, but they hear the train once more as a bright light comes at them and they disappear. I probably would have liked this entry more had it made any sense, but it's not too bad for a short.

The Lover: A selfish bitch is mad that her boyfriend has grown depressed from working his job to support her candy ass. Later, the man commits suicide while the little chickadee sleeps in another room...huh? What kind of living arrangements were going on in this place? Not knowing what had happened, the girl sees the boyfriend and tries to reconcile with the guy. The boyfriend responds by demonstrating utterly horrendous CGI neck stretches, I guess, implying he hanged himself. Honestly, the effect is so terrible I am embarrassed to even behold it. And that's all that happens too--a lame argument followed by an even worse effect! The end.

Take Good Care of Him: Stuck as the one to represent a company, a man must deliver a condolence gift to a co-worker at a hospital...despite the fact that the co-worker is not the one dying and it's his mother. Hey, I don't know. Kanji Tsuda is the guy, and even though he's overacting like crazy, it's always a treat watching him pop up in J-horror. His character is kind of amusing though--checking out nurses and laughing when the co-worker is saying stupid things to the dying mother. For some reason a nurse and doctor overseeing the mother are acting oddly suspicious. When the mother does finally bite the dust, only Mr. Tsuda sees her speak the title of this story. Then when the shifty-eyed nurse and doctor leave, the nurse turns into the mother. Uhh okay. Am I missing something here?

Let's Play: A little girl, playing with her friends outside an apartment complex, notices a lonely girl watching them from a high up apartment and implores the girl to join them. The lonely girl appears, but runs away when the main girl asks her to come play. The main girl is led to the other girl's apartment as time jumps and we are given the indication that the two have been playing together often. The parents doubt the lonely girl's existence and try to get to the bottom of the situation since no one supposedly lives at that apartment. When the landlord helps them go inside, they find the girl's notes to the lonely girl, but the door locks the parents out. Then we see the notes pulled into a whirlwind with the main girl looking confused...and so was I. More time passes and the main girl is gone from the group of friends as another girl notices the lonely girl watching, but now she looks a little creepier. It is obviously implied this cycle will continue as the lonely girl is some kind of malevolent being. This wasn't too bad, but the constant shots of the camera spinning were making me dizzy.

A Motel: Two actresses find themselves stuck at an old motel after a day of shooting for a horror film. The innkeeper appears to be going out of his way to come off as creepy as the two try to settle in. Later that night, one of the actresses hears noises and a voice coming from the other side of their door, but the other actress won't awake no matter how much prodding. The voice keeps asking to be let inside, and, for some reason, the actress seems more than willing to oblige; I guess she's supposed to be curious or intrigued or whatever. A seemingly possessed version of the other actress advises not to open the door, but this dumbass can't take a hint and insists on seeing what's on the other side. The story ends with the actress opening the door and the audience is, quite literally, left in the dark. If this didn't feel so much like one of the other stories from the first volume it would have been okay, but it comes off pointless and as a tease more than anything.

The Garden: After becoming unnerved by strange phenomenon, a woman asks her milfy-looking friend to investigate since she's apparently some kind of psychic. The woman doesn't even give us a proper understanding of what is bothering her and the psychic friend says she feels nothing and that there's nothing to worry about as well. Oddly enough, when the psychic friend leaves, she appears to feel something, but I guess she was like "fuck you" and continues on her merry way. Later on the woman hears the vacuum running on its own and sees the feet of a ghost along the way. What is this, the Saeki house? Then the psychic friend calls all casually saying the woman needs to leave, because there's some "monster" in the garden. A narration explains the previous owners murdered people and fed them to this "monster" which we see briefly in a cage. How do you not notice a giant, human sized cage in your backyard until now?! The story simply ends with the woman looking at the cage as if something sinister is happening. Maybe the "monster" was Toshio all grown up, I don't know.

Don't Ever Open It: The story opens with a little girl playing with cucumbers or something. I mean, seriously? I know I have a twisted sense of humor, but come on! Get this kid some real toys. But maybe it makes sense, after all, as the grandfather comes off as a child molester and warns the little girl not to open some shrine, I'm assuming, that's dedicated to the grandma. Because that is the worst thing to say to a kid, the girl of course messes with the shrine and then all of a sudden there's a second little girl. Huh? The two are playing together nicely at first, but then the second, creepier girl, tries to drag the main one into the shrine. After failing, the creepy girl leaps inside and gives one final creepy stare as she disappears into the darkness and the shrine closes on its own. Then the molesting grandpa appears and goes to grab the little girl. My theory: there's no ghost, the grandma deal is a red herring, the little girl was his captive and he didn't want anyone to find her, the grandpa kills the mom because she catches on, and it ends with that molester getting the little girl. I guess you could say this is the scariest story of the bunch from that perspective. How else am I to interpret this shit?

Getting Closer: Okay, this is some next level "Inception" shit right here! A pretty cute girl is taking care of her aunt's dog when the TV begins to show P.O.V. of someone with a camera in the house; this kind of reminded me of an episode of "Beyond Belief: Fact of Fiction." When the camera perspective is right on top of the girl, she wakes up from a dream only to find herself deeper in another dream and then another and another! Fuck, she's going to end up in limbo at this rate. In the various dreams she sees a ghostly woman drawing closer to her until the ghost gets what she wants: the chance to lick the girl's face. Psh, okay. Is this like some kind of subtly erotic dream? It definitely doesn't help that the girl stepped in a puddle of jizz or something at one point. When the girl appears to be awake for good, and after trying too hard to throw in the kawaii factor, she notices jizz (or slobber if you prefer) on her cheek but brushes it off to the dog licking her face. The segment ends with her spinning a top on the table but the camera fading to black before it topples...oh wait, no, I meant, it ends with the TV in the background looking ominous thus implying she ended up in limbo after all. All lame "Inception" jokes aside, this was a decent story and amused me greatly.

Please, Don't: Hmm...that's exactly what my friend said when I discussed making a picture montage of his face. Go figure. This is actually the first of a three-parter segment, although, I don't think this story was anywhere near worthy of needing this much time to tell the tale. A young guy is filming his family and random bullshit around the house, because he's bored I suppose. Later that night, when the father comes home, they notice the doorknob to the home is jiggling as if someone is trying to get in but no one is there when they open the door. And that's it. Weak.

No More, Please: In the second act of this tale, the family learns the pattern of this ghostly occurrence with the knob jiggling at the same time each night. The family is unsettled by the phenomenon, but the father wants to ignore it. Then things change with the ghosts taking things up a notch and bending some spoons, knocking over the TV, shorting out the microwave, and being a general pain in the ass. The family brings over some kind of spiritualist who explains that the house is a gateway for the dead that die at a nearby intersection. We cut to the dad shooting the shit in an abandoned lot with a friend or colleague, or whatever, as they chug away on chocolate milk. Pssshhh what?! These are my kind of guys! The other guy explains that there are scientists who look into poltergeist hauntings and that's pretty much the end. Oh shit, don't leave me on the edge of my seat like this! I need more chocolate milk!

Come, If You Dare: In the final act, the family is now explaining the haunting as if they're being interviewed for a documentary. After encountering, what looks to be, the men in black (plus one woman), the family is convinced that the ghosts are not real but a manifestation of electromagnetic energy built up in the home. The men in black claim to release the energy from the home and then the hauntings stop for a month. Then one night all hell breaks loose with ghosts appearing in the home and causing a ruckus. "Don't start none, won't be none!" The family explains they moved out after fleeing the home that night. Then the segment ends with them pondering the possibility that someone else moved into the home. Besides being a blatant ripoff of "Poltergeist," was this story truly worthy of three segments to tell it? I am seriously disappointed with this lazy effort.

Fox and a Bath: Here we go with another comedic tale and another "Grudge" alumni in the starring role. A business guy screwing with the housing market in a town finds himself passed out while driving and awakening in a bathtub in an unknown location. Is this "Saw?" I have to say, the shots of the guy driving are fucking HORRENDOUS! I mean, god fucking damn it! He's clearly sitting still and the car is not moving. I get that this is low budget, but this is pathetic. Change the setting to night or something--mask the flaws somehow. You have got to be shitting me here. Anyway, an old woman explains that travelers sometimes appear in this bathtub telling the same kind of confusing story. The guy finds his car parked outside and questions the insane nature of his circumstance. The woman explains that sometimes a fox spirit will curse those who wish to do harm to the town. The guy does not take too kindly to that comment and laughs at the thought of this concept, but this enrages the old woman who is seemingly the fox spirit. And that's that. These fucking fox spirits I tell you.

An Interrogation: An injured man is questioned by the police who are trying to figure out what led to his car accident. The man claims he was merely driving along when a phantom woman appeared out of nowhere and ran at his car. In an attempt to avoid the woman, he crashed into a wall. When he emerged from a momentary stupor, he noticed the woman was in the passenger seat and appeared to be hogtied. After closing his eyes from fright, the girl was gone when he opened them next. The one police officer is about to say something when he is stricken with a choking episode. Oddly, neither the main guy nor the other cop try to intervene even though we see them reacting to the choking. The choking cop recovers and explains he will make a report about the accident but leave out anything with a phantom woman. Something appears off with the cop now and then the main guy notices the ghostly woman is controlling the words spoken by the cop. It just ends with the guy shivering like a bitch. Ehh, this wasn't too bad and the ghost girl was kind of sexy. This plot would have made for a better multi-part story as we could learn what led to the girl ending up that way.

Family Crest: A woman has recently married into a "traditional" family, but the husband is not around much due to work. The mother in law lectures the woman on grandkid bullshit you'd expect until she falls asleep due to annoyance; also there's something with beads but okay. When the woman is sleeping she is awakened by a samurai haunting her and demanding she offer up her unborn child to him. The woman does not believe she is pregnant and thinks it's all a dream so she acts tough and scares away the samurai. The mother in law, hearing the commotion, tries to console the woman and definitely knows more than she lets on insisting that the woman hold onto those precious beads. Later, the woman does get pregnant and gives birth. The mother in law explains that the family has some kind of curse where they lose their first born children to miscarriage, and there is some weak connection to the samurai but we never get an explanation. The mother in law also claims when she gave birth to the woman's husband, she had the beads come out of her. Umm...okay...how do you even respond to that? Divorce.

Handprints: Alright, we ended things pathetically last time, do we close out strong this time around? Of course not! Some guy is staying at a hotel and appears to be having some kind of financial trouble that leads him to consider suicide. When trying to open a window to jump, it becomes stuck and he grows frustrated resulting in him thinking of his young daughter and changing his tune. Then he receives a mysterious knock at the door with no one there. This is followed by a strange phone call of the daughter crying out for him. Finally, there is a tapping at the window which is putting the man in a frenzy of confusion. The man opens the curtains and discovers numerous ghostly handprints forming on the window. And that's all that happens! Wow, way to go out with a bang.

As you've probably noticed, there's a distinct drop in the cool factor of the stories. The first volume simply felt better all around than this one. I mean, you have horror alum, better looking girls, and a few good stories, but overall this was a mediocre experience. As a part of a massive collection, this softens the blow, but if you're buying these volumes individually you should understand what you're getting. However, these are still amusing tales to watch and they still worked well enough on most stories with a small budget. But like I said, quality over quantity any day.

Notable Moment: During the "Getting Closer" segment with the ghost going to town on licking that girl's face; this was clearly the standout segment from this volume.

Final Rating: 5/10

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