Not sure the film can be easily summarized, but suffice it to say a young Japanese girl takes a job in the Japanese version of a convenience store, like a 7-11. This is far from your usual quick mart, though, as the couple who own it are really creepy and then there's the repeat customer who always wears a parka and never shows their face. From there the movie is more akin to the Japanese film Tampopo (but this is definitely horror and not comedy) in showing seemingly unrelated stories of other people who start to encounter peculiar and horrific events. Around the middle three of these stories are shown in a masterful split-screen shot. It pays homage to many of the classic J-horror films that preceded it, with a bit of sly humor behind a lot of it. It's unique, like Uzumaki, and also cheaply shot on video, so a bit rough around the edges. But for something completely different, you could certainly do worse. The first time I saw it I didn't think it was very scary, but on second viewing with some family they were absolutely terrified. Highly recommended.
Review of 'Chô' kowai hanashi A: yami no karasu
