Trapped Ashes (2006) dirs. Joe Dante, Ken Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, Monte Hellman, John Gaeta, Independent Film Fund/Cinema Investment/Tokyo Broadcast System/Asmik Ace Entertainment/Elephant Studio/Five Windows Productions/11:11 Mediaworks/Trapped Ashes
At this point, Joe Dante had been more or less banished to TV after the utter failure of his Looney Tunes reboot. Would this anthology be return to form?
The Wraparound (Dante)
Seven strangers are taking a tour of Hollywood. The guide (Henry Gibson) takes them near to the House of Horrors, where the infamous and missing director Desmond Hacker helmed the equally infamous Hysteria before he vanished. The seven enter the house...which promptly traps them inside. If they want to leave, the guide insists, they're going to have to tell a story and it had better be scary...
The Girl with Golden Breasts (Russell)
Phoebe (Rachel Veltri) is a gal trying to make it big and herself at the same time. Naturally she figures big breasts are the way to go but quality implants are a bit pricey. The budget ones she gets are all natural though. Yup, pure human tissue! Pity the docs didn't talk about the side effects...
Jibuku (Cunningham)
Henry (Scott Lowell) and Julia (Lara Harris) are tourists in Japan. Julia is developing a wandering eye though, but what she doesn't realize is her new object of affection (Yoshinori Hiruma) is actually a monk who committed suicide and is actually trying to lure her to Hell.
Stanley's Girlfriend (Hellman)
Leo (Tahmoh Penikett) is trying to make it in the movies. He's lucky to be working with his best friend Stanley (Tygh Runyan) and Stanley's Girlfriend Nina (Amelia Cooke). Yeah, he's so lucky and even more so when he and Nina start sleeping together.
But no relationship is perfect. He feels bad about Stanley. Also Nina is a witch who has to drink blood to stay immortal.
My Twin, the Worm (Gaeta)
Martine (Michele-Barbara Pelletier) is pregnant. She also has a tapeworm and the doctors make it clear if they do anything to the worm they'd harm the baby, so she'll have to eat for three at least until the baby is delivered. Sounds like she needs a better OBYGN but she agrees. But once her baby is born, she can get the worm removed right? No, she argues, she still has to feed her other baby...
Disappointing. The film is trying to be a blend of modern horror and old style 70's but it doesn't quite gel. Plus the fact that the strangers are also the leads in the stories should tell you how this whole thing ends.
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