• Wide Release
• Director: Mamoru Hosi, Masayuki Ochiai, Hisao Ogura, Masayuki Suzuki
• Written by: Tomoko Aizawa, Ryôichi Kimizuka, Motoki Nakamura, Masayuki Ochiai, Katsuhide Suzuki
• Running Time: 126 minutes
• Language: Japanese
• MPAA Rating:
• Cast: Kazuyuki Aijima, Izumi Inamori, Renji Ishibashi, Takashi Kashiwabara, Narumi Kayashima, Masahiro Komoto

A favourite of mine has always been the Horror Anthology Movie. Movies like CREEPSHOW and TALES FROM THE CRYPT or even as far back as DEAD OF NIGHT are in the first chapter of my Cool Book! I search out far and wide to watch them. I've seen clever ones, and I've seen hoaky ones, but the one I'm going to discuss here is an unusual one, aptly named TALES OF THE UNUSUAL.

If you are like me, and have watched tons of Asian Cinema, you know that over in Asia, and Japan especially, they are different in the movie business. They are not bound by the rules and conventions of us round-eyes, and have a whole different outlook on life. This is, of course, why I love their movies. So when I found a Japanese Horror Anthology, I knew I was in for a treat.

This flick has four stories to it, each of them having a different writer and director. The catalyst behind them being a group of people trapped at a bus station in a rain storm. To pass the time, a mysterious stranger type tells stories, much to the encouragement of the others.

The first story, a little diddy called 'One Snowy Night' is based on an urban legend you may have heard about a couple hikers with a videocamera caught in an avalanche. If not, you are filled in, as it is a story within the story, told by one of the survivors of a plane crash in the mountains. This certainly is the best story of the bunch in my opinion. This episode itself is worth the price of the movie. A definate classic!

The tone of the movie is lost though with the second story. Although the story is pretty cool, the abrupt switch from horrific ghost-type story to this somewhat light-hearted humorous story just doesn't seem to work. This one is aptly called 'Samuri Cellular' and is about a cowardly 17th century Samuri who, sure enough, finds a cellular telephone. On the other end of the line is someone from the future who claims to be trying to verify historical facts, but in actuality is influencing this rather laid back Samuri into action.

The third story is more of a thriller than horror called simply enough 'Chess'. This one involves a former chess champion who has undergone depression after being beaten by a super computer. The down and out chess player meets an old man who proposes one more chess game...a game of life and death. This is the story that gives the movie it's title, it is pretty Unusual.

The last story is that one story every anthology seems to have. Ya know, the one that it could have lived without. As great as the other three stories were, this one kinda sucked to me. Of course, being called 'The Marriage Simulator' and being a kind of sci-fi romantic comedy thing, it was bound to turn me off. Of course, not everyone is a jaded cynic like me. I'm sure many of you more wishy-washy types out there might actually get a kick out of this one. Basically, it's about a couple who hook themselves up to a machine that virtually predicts the events of the future if they got married.

Overall, this movie was excellent. The only fault I think is the order of the stories. I would have stuck the sucky story in the middle somewhere, and maybe ended with a stronger story like 'Chess'. Still, the title says 'Tales of the Unusual' and these were definately some unusual tales. It is quite a hard movie to find, but if you do, check it out. I got mine at HKFlix.com but even they don't always have it in stock.