Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
... View MoreBest movie ever!
... View MoreBlending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
... View MoreThis is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
... View MoreWould be a cult classic if the Series version didn't overshadowed the film. It's a hidden GEM. It has 8 different stories with different directors. It's terrifying enough for you to not watch it alone. It also gave me nightmares for a week 'cause some of the settings resembled the environment I'm living on.
... View MoreThe other two reviews are WRONG, because they are referring to the show as opposed to the actual MOVIE, which this IMDb site is dedicated to.The movie, is a jewel of a film and very enjoyable to say the least. It's no JU-ON or Ringu but it's still fun to watch, as a guilty pleasure, not only because of the foray into Japanese culture, but also because it mixes horror with some comedy and suspense as well. For people that enjoyed this I would also recommend you watching the show which is available on ama zon in it's entirety in a single collection. I would also recommend "Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground" and "Dark Tales of Japan" So the first tale, The Nightwatchmen, is not only interesting but it also starts off by adding some comedy into the mix which was a great addition to the movie. Probably the best or second best story, along with "The Promise"The second story, Wisps of Smoke, was alright, nothing very memorable. It seems like an analogy for how people die suddenly from smoking cigarettes ? "Gloves" was interesting and creepy, one of the better stories, I would say 3rd best after "The Nightwatchmen" and "The Promise" Unlike many of these stories, in the end, it actually makes sense and there's nice music in the background at the last moments. "The weight" seemed like pure filler and it also seemed incomplete actually. The ghost was not horrifying at all and it didn't make ANY sense. Probably the worse story."Full length mirror" was well done but a little short and leaves much to be desired. No real back story about mirror. For fans of THE GRUDGE. This was directed by the same guy that directed "The Grudge: White Ghost" and it includes the same old lady ghost with the basketball, except in this case she's holding the basketball because she's in a high school gym and she doesn't croak like in "The Grudge" Probably the 4th best ? "Line of Sight" was well done and it includes the same nurse from the end of "The Nightwatchmen" when the Chief was being surrounded. Maybe a tie for 3rd or 4th best ? "The Promise" Now this one, I thoroughly enjoyed. The creepy lady in the end was classic. It could be a movie franchise but like many of these stories it leaves something to be desired, with no explanation of why the ghost is there... 1st or 2nd best tied with "The Nightwatchmen""Hisao" A bitter sweet, sad story about a bullied boy who was killed, whose mother speaks to his ghost. It worked in some ways, but also felt like filler, no suspense really no climax...Overall yea it was a descent movie. I would recommend it to any horror fan but especially to fans of J horror. Check it out and enjoy.
... View MoreI always tend to prefer quality over quantity but TALES OF TERROR, a lengthy anthology movie condensed from a Japanese television series, goes all out in the opposite direction. It offers no less than 33 separate ghost stories in five minute segments, told one after the other with barely time to draw breath in between each movie. Inevitably, with the sheer quantity of movies on offer, many of them are instantly forgettable and a lot of the others kind of roll into one, featuring very similar plot elements that have a tendency to merge together.Things kick off with The Elevator, a brief skit about a haunted lift that's not bad, but not particularly great either. It then picks up and reaches an immediate high with The Visitor, a rather good story about a little girl visited by her zombified auntie. The ghost is left unseen which makes the chills all the more unsettling. Kengo Nishioka features a woman haunted in her apartment by the ghost of a head and is bizarre rather than terrifying, while Cassette Tape is entirely predictable; RING gave us a haunted VHS tape, so this had to come along sooner or later.The Backward Suit is a weirdo comedy that feels like it was directed by Takashi Miike (it wasn't), while other efforts like Off the Shelf, Spilt Water and My Sister's Room are entirely unmemorable, despite the best efforts of the not-bad actors participating. School Excursion is your garden-variety GRUDGE rip-off, featuring a creaky door and not much else, while Enlightenment is the pretty boring story of a young woman acting scared. Waiting Room features a supposedly creepy kid while the overblown Exam Room 1 & 2 are silly and involve a naked ghost girl, although neither are as entertaining as they sound.Forgotten Item, a more subtle effort involving ghostly girls, works well and has virtually no clichés, and it's a shame more of the shorts aren't like this. The Train has a good idea but poor execution let down by lack of money, while Drop of Blood is dull and Stones is different but has a silly ending. The Lover features some hilarious CGI effects and Covering the 100 Tales is different but unengaging. There's a trilogy of sorts with Please Don't, No More Please and Come if You Dare!, a kind-of found footage effort told from the point of view of a young man with a video camera, featuring poltergeist-style shenanigans and some Uri Geller spoon-bending.The quality continues to vary as the anthology continues. Take a Good Care of Him is funny, quirky and decent, but its successor, Fox & a Bath, is silly (and doesn't have a fox in it!). An Interrogation features some creepy imagery and Family Crest has a ghost samurai, but then we're back to the GRUDGE rip-offs with Getting Closer and its licking ghost. Don't Ever Open It has a bratty ghost kid, The Garden has awful direction (think Jess Franco on speed) and a weird caged guy, and A Motel has a creepy voice. Let's Play and Handprints, the final two stories, are spoilt by some excruciating dull narration from some boring, office worker-type guy sitting in a chair and telling the stories instead of showing them. The latter has a nice final image, but that's about it.
... View MoreTales of Terror (Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro: gekijô-ban) is a collection of 33 short horror films from different Japanese directors. Among these horror films there are few more light hearted one's with bits of black comedy. All of them are made with very low budget so it can be seen in the quality (especially in the quality of special effects).The word suspense would, in my opinion, describe better the contents of these stories. There's not much (as in: not at all) gore, blood, violence; only a couple of them hold enough horrific elements to actually be called horror. Mainly the stories are at most just thrilling or plain bizarre. Horror fans won't probably get too much out of these, but if one likes suspense, mysteries and Japanese oddities - this might be worth seeing.
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