Trailer for the omnibus horror movie TALES OF TERROR (KAIDAN SHIN MIMIBUKURO: GEKIJÔ-BAN)

The omnibus horror movie Tales of Terror (Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro: gekijô-ban) was a compilation of eight of the best stories from the BS-i satellite TV series Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro. The stories in that TV series were originally told to Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichirô Nakayama by people throughout Japan, and published in their Shin Mimibukuro series of books - which derived its name from, and was loosely patterned after (lacking the topical diversity of), the multi-volume book Mimibukuro by Yasumori Negishi (1737-1815).

The official website for the Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro series is here. There's an official webpage for Tales of Terror here, a trailer for it here (Windows Media) and there (RealMedia) on that page, and a review of it by Mark Schilling here in The Japan Times. Tales of Terror was released theatrically in Japan on August 21st of last year by Slow Learner Y.K. (Y.K. Surô Rânâ).

The eight stories that comprised Tales of Terror were as follows (synopses and English titles are from the official webpage):

"The Night Watchman" ("Yakei no hôkokusho"): directed by Akio Yoshida; starring Naoto Takenaka, Yasufumi Hayashi, and Daisuke Shima. Synopsis: "All in order... but there was a woman." What did the night watchmen in an abandoned building see? A crowd of the dead... numberless hands clutching at them from out of the dark....

"Wisps of Smoke" ("Zan'en"): directed by Kôsuke Suzuki; starring Maki Sakai, Kaori Sakagami, and Yasue Satô. Synopsis: A strange sound comes from deep in the mountains. Three women on a company trip to a hot spring vanish, leaving only wisps of smoke from a burning cigarette.

"Gloves" ("Tebukuro"): directed by Hirohisa Sasaki; starring Saki Takaoka and Mikio Ôsawa. Synopsis: "Every night when I sleep, a pair of gloved hands starts to strangle me. They are the hands of a woman in love."

"The Weight" ("Omoi!"): directed by Kôsuke Suzuki; starring Harumi Inoue and Kazuki Kitamura. Synopsis: "In the middle of the night, a man I've never seen sits on my chest. His head rotates on its spine as he mocks me. Then he moves on to my little son...."

"Full-Length Mirror" ("Sugatami"): directed by Ryûta Miyake; starring Makoto Kamijô and Kenta Uchino. Synopsis: Paying a farewell visit to their high school, two boys soon to graduate remember there is one thing they have yet to do: look into the full-length mirror in the gym's equipment room.

"Line of Sight" ("Shisen"): directed by Keisuke Toyoshima; starring Maki Horikita and Ryôsuke Nogi. Synopsis: A long-dead nurse appears in a high-school culture-festival video which should never have been shown, her crazed eyes watching the girl who captured her image.

"The Promise" ("Yakusoku"): directed by Keita Amemiya; starring Hideki Sone and Akira Onodera. Synopsis: "When you're called, answer." Apartment-sitting for his uncle, Hiroyuki forgets to answer when he is called, and finds himself face-to-face with a very tall woman.

"Hisao" ("Hisao"): directed by Toshikazu Hirano (a.k.a. Shun'ichi Hirano); starring Setsuko Karasuma. Synopsis: "Mommy will always be with you." A teenaged son bullied to suicide. Dripping water. A hanged corpse swinging on a veranda.