Scary True Stories

Video Sewer has a long way to go before staff maxes out on Asian horror. Even though we no longer grab pillows to cover our little faces when ‘rapunzel’ commences a-traipsing, we still feel that thrill, and wonder if we really want to be watching.

We know that backwards walking Sadako isn’t the first of her kind (cinematically and otherwise) and thus sprung out at the chance to scope Scary True Stories, a three video series from 1991 that arguably layed the groundwork for Ringu to be such a success.

Scary True Stories depicts ghost stories purported to be true by regular Japanese folks (names changed to protect the innocent, doncha know). Over the course of 3 cassettes compiled on DVD we hear 15 tales of regular folks who are basically followed around by ghosts for a little while. Cheesy shot-on-video aesthetics, and a dire-voiced intro featuring ‘ghost photographs’ place this series between In Search Of and Tales From The Darkside - a fact which should warm the hearts of Stateside viewers.

Straight off the bat, these stories (save one or two) aren’t very scary, and if they’re true, they’re boring. Less discriminating fans may get a few scares, but both the glancing horror fan and the J-horror afficionado will enjoy them in an entirely different way. Scary True Stories looks pretty much like the Cliff’s Notes Shimizu, Nakata, and Kurosawa used to cheat on their finals.

Each and every trick used (to better effect of course) by today’s reigning J-horror kings is on display here, and most of the aformentined would likely have to list this series as part of the reason they got into directing horror in the first place. Cinephiles will catch many of what are actually pre-facto references to Juon, Ringu, Kairo, even A Frightful School Horror, for crying out loud. It’s an historical text, and for that reason alone is worth at least a rent.

From the ominous and poetically titled The Gymnasium At Midnight to XXXThe LastXXX you’ll see it all, creepy pale hands around the corner and scary long-black-haired dead gals, protracted scenes of kids creeping around in the dark and grim suburban homes full of spectres, and some of these scenes really work, despite their low-rent vibe and familiiarity. On the other hand, most of the stories boil down to someone intermittantly seeing a mysterious phantom, and after a while learning that it is someone’s ghost. That’s about it.

Nonetheless Scary True Stories’ significance as a horror artifact by a godfather of J-horror directors makes it a thouroughly delightful time-killer on a cold winter night or two.