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| From http://www.creepercast.com/wp-content/ uploads/2014/03/trappedashesposter.jpg?b76ae6 |
Directors: Joe Dante, Ken
Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, Monte Hellman, John Gaeta
Screenplay: Dennis Bartok
Cast: John Saxon (as Leo); Jayce Bartok (as Andy); Henry Gibson (as
Tour Guide); Lara Harris (as Julia); Scott Lowell (as Henry); Michèle-Barbara
Pelletier (as Natalie)
Another anthology but unlike The ABCs of Death (2012), there's only
five segments including a wraparound tale to tie it all up. This is closer to
the template of the anthology genre, closer to camp fire tales or a short story
collection in paperback form where short films are connected together by the
already mentioned wraparound, usually designed to both bookend the stories and have
a plot within it that splits off into each one. The anthology, if multiple
directors and/or writers are involved, can allow them to experiment or take a
shot at a high profile piece. If its from one set of creators only, it can
either be a way to use good ideas that may not necessarily work for a whole
ninety minutes or as productions which can bring in a variety of actors and
talents. You can go as far back to Waxworks
(1924) for an early example, but the heyday for these films were the
sixties and seventies, where there were even non-horror anthologies where
directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini were hired to create a
segment.
Trapped Ashes is an oddity though - shelved for a long time, it's a
Japanese co-production I suspect was as much for a Japanese audience
considering the amount of Japanese producers and technical crew on the project,
including music from Kenji Kawai,
most well known in the West for his acclaimed scores for anime like Ghost In The Shell (1995). Three of the
directors are cult figures, Sean S.
Cunningham a smaller cult figure with immense importance for what he
produced as well as that he directed, and John
Gaeta was known for the visual effects for films like The Matrix (1999), making his filmic debut here. The film was
co-produced and had its stories written by Dennis
Bartok, former Head of Programming for the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles
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| From http://www.deadchannels.com/images/Trapped-Ashes-Wraparound_-_.jpg |
"Wraparound" (Dir. Joe Dante)
Trapped Ashes is set up by a group of visitors to a film studio
being trapped in a haunted house stage set from an old horror movie. Their
guide (Gibson) recommends they
replicate the story of the film by recounting their real life horror stories to
each other, each playing themselves or having a representative in the tales. Dante's segment in all its pieces is
really just set up, which is disappointing considering his reputation. I've
still not watched a lot of his work - though Gremlin 2: The New Batch (1990) is a magnificent thing to behold -
so all I can say is that he was stuck with a perfunctory and practical aspect
of the anthology only lifted up by the impressive set design and John Saxon being amongst the cast.
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The Girl With Golden Breasts (Dir. Ken Russell)
Actress (Rachel Veltri) recounts how, desiring more roles in films, she got
breast implant surgery only to find that the innovative and natural implants
she opted for had a vampiric tendency to them. Russell is an unsung gem in himself, his excesses as rewarding and
at least as entertaining as his best work like The Devils (1971). That many of his films are mishandled still
today or are unavailable makes my passion for his work more stronger. That said,
I realise that after the late eighties is an unchartered territory I may be
baffled by, reminded of my experience with The
Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002), one of his last films, shot in his
garage, which only the most hardcore Russell fans would like. I'll be honest in
saying The Girl With Golden Breasts,
one of Russell's last ever works, is cheesy
and for the sake of tastelessness than anything substantial. Vampiric breasts,
a plastic surgeon's building that's a shrine to the mammary gland, and photos
of botched implants, all of which amongst the many things meant to be crass on
purpose. That the short ends with Russell
himself in a cameo wearing a wig and having a pair of falsies pretty much
states what to expect. The short exposes a problem with the entirety of Trapped Ashes in that the
cinematography is very bland, and while I hate blaming a single person, I
cannot help but wonder what the decisions of cinematographer Zoran Popovic were as all the directors
involved, including one making his debut, would have had very different styles.
Because of this, the short suffers further in being merely an exceptionally
silly story.
Abstract Spectrum: Psychotronic
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None
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| From http://drunkenzombie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/ 2013/07/trapped-ashes-toon.jpg |
Jibaku (Dir. Sean S. Cunningham)
Cunningham, director of the first Friday the 13th (1980) and producer of Wes Craven's The Last House
On The Left (1972), gets the segment in this Japanese backed anthology set
in Japan itself. A married woman Julia (Harris)
recounts a vacation to the country where a student monk hangs himself in a
graveyard. He comes back from the bed, seducing her with the intention of
dragging her into the Jibaku, Buddhist hell which for anyone who's seen Jigoku (1960) should evoke many gristly
things. Sadly the flat visual look makes the segment feel like it's been filmed
in the US instead with Japanese actors brought in, but this does try quite hard
at something interesting in its story. It also manages to the most transgressive
segment of them all; I did not expect to speak about necrophilia again in this
season after Nekromatik (1987) but
it gets depicted in Jibaku with
suitably gristly eroticism. The short also uses animation, from a Japanese
studio, to depict things that might've been too expensive to attempt and to add
some additional luridness to the material. In fact, while no way near as
explicit, this animation does evokes Urotsukidoji:
The Legend of the Overfiend (1989) only with a gender swap. Because of this sort of content, trying to
stand out, this is one of the stronger shorts of the whole film.
Abstract Spectrum: Grotesque
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None
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| From http://www.festival-cannes.fr/thumb.php?sourceDirectory=/assets/ Image/Direct/&sourceFile=015469.jpg&predefinedSize=fiche_film_header |
Stanley's Girlfriend (Dir. Monte Hellman)
Hellman has his own cult by himself, more known for other types of
genre cinema, like Two Lane Blacktop (1971),
westerns and the infamous Cockfighter (1974).
Stanley's Girl itself, while again
blighted by the flatness of its look at times, is the strongest segment and the
least expected. Saxon's character Leo,
a film director, recounts how his younger self (Tahmoh Penikett) had a friendship with a fellow filmmaker Stanley
Kubrick (Tygh Runyan), Kubrick at
this point has made films like Killer's
Kiss (1955) and The Killing (1956),
and just before he would go into exile in England, he met and fell in love with
a young woman (Amelia Cook) who may
be more sinister that her confident, erotic personality may suggest. The idea
of a character drama based upon a legendary film director is a bold one. There's
a danger in films referencing films where it becomes trite and egotistical for
me, as it feels like in other parts of Trapped
Ashes, but Stanley's Girlfriend was
a pleasant surprise, something very different to find within a horror anthology
and rewarding for this reason.
Abstract Spectrum: None
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None
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| From http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/18800000/ Luke-in-Trapped-Ashes-luke-macfarlane-18831480-700-377.jpg |
My Twin, The Worm (Dir. John Gaeta)
The cocky, opinionated Natalie (Pelletier) tells of when she was conceived, a tapeworm growing in
her mother's body at the same time of the pregnancy that couldn't be removed
whilst the child was in the womb. As a result, Natalie grows up in her infancy
and childhood thinking of the parasite as a twin sibling, desiring to call upon
it when, after his father leaves her mother, she finds herself bullied by his
new girlfriend. It's an interesting, dark fairy tale which with a few tweaks
would've stood out further. It does suffer from lacksure CGI in depicting the
daughter growing in the womb as well, and the flatness of the cinematography is
a shame when, partially set in an American winery ran by French immigrants,
this story could've done even on a low budget with a more evocative and idyllic
sheen to it to mix with the grimness of its later content.
Abstract Spectrum: None
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None
Personal Opinion:
The finale of the wraparound and
the film itself turns into a twist from the page of a certain Amicus anthology movie I've seen, very
reminiscent and sudden which changes all the stories. Trapped Ashes however in general, like this twist, is a little disappointing in how it suffers from a lot of unused potential. Hellman's segment is a fascinating curiosity, and the others have
plenty of interest, but it does feel impoverished at points to a negative point.
Ending on an unexpectedly evocative and great end credit music by Kawai, this track suggests this could've
been even better rather than flawed ridden if entertaining feature it turned out to be.
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