Trapped Ashes

Trapped Ashes is a somewhat inconsistent horror anthology, gathering a couple of great names of the genre. However, Dennis Bartok’s run-of-the-mill script is just a motley bunch of episodes, most of which have mediocre endings and end before they even start going anywhere. I will try to give you a feel of the individual parts: Wraparound (Joe Dante): A story framing the whole anthology about a group of people who go for a trip to Hollywood movie studios and stay locked in a haunted house. In order to find their way out, each of them has to tell a scary anecdote from their lives. Unfortunately, this part only serves as cement between the other segments and doesn’t give Dante much space for artistic expression, so his only strong asset in this tale is the casting of Henry Gibson and Dick Miller – 50%. The Girl With Golden Breasts (Ken Russell): An unsuccessful actress undergoes plastic surgery, after which her breasts turn into bloodthirsty monsters. This is definitely the most ‘B-film’ of all episodes and, even though it’s just incredibly silly, it’s also a lot of fun. Ken Russell himself appears in an awkward role – 60%. Jibaku (Sean S. Cunningham): A coquettish American lady is seduced by the spirit of a Buddhist monk in Japan… This says it all. In this story, Cunningham uses anime-style passages to save money on special effects – 30%. Stanley’s Girlfriend (Monte Hellman): An ageing actor/screenwriter recalls how he once got involved with the witchy girlfriend of his friend/director – which strikingly brings Stanley Kubrick to mind. This one is, along with the previous one, the weakest part of the anthology. It’s more of a mystically tainted film noir than a horror one – 40%. My Twin, The Worm (John Gaeta): A pregnant woman figures out that, in addition to her child, there’s a parasitic worm growing in her womb. Since this tale is the only film ever directed by special effects creator John Gaeta (e.g. The Matrix), it was expected to be the most interesting, visually speaking. What I didn’t expect, though, was that it would also be the best and the most horrific chunk of all. A surprisingly pleasant ending and a story that I wouldn’t mind seeing developed into a feature-length flick – 70%. To conclude, it’s weak as such. But as a B film interlude, it works quite well. (18/09/2018)