Trapped Ashes (2006)

Seven strangers on a Hollywood movie studio tour are trapped inside an infamous House of Horror and forced to tell their most terrifying stories to get out alive.

Directors:

Sean S. Cunningham, Joe Dante

Writer:

Dennis Bartok

Stars:

Jayce Bartok, Henry Gibson, Lara Harris

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jayce Bartok	...	Andy (story segments "Wraparound")
Henry Gibson	...	Tour Guide (story segments "Wraparound")
Lara Harris	...	Julia (story segments "Wraparound")
Scott Lowell	...	Henry (story segments "Wraparound")
Dick Miller	...	Max (story segments "Wraparound")
Michèle-Barbara Pelletier	...	Nathalie (story segments "Wraparound") / Martine (segment "My Twin, The Worm") (as Michele-Barbara Pelletier)
John Saxon	...	Leo (story segments "Stanley's Girlfriend")
Rachel Veltri	...	Phoebe (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Richard Ian Cox	...	Doug (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Glynis Davies	...	Nurse (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Scott Heindl	...	Zack (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Rob deLeeuw	...	Ben (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts") (as Rob De Leeuw)
Mina E. Mina	...	Dr. Judith (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Winston Rekert	...	Dr. Larry (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")
Ken Russell	...	Dr. Lucy (segment "The Girl with Golden Breasts")

Storyline

The actress Phoebe Kane and her boyfriend Andy, the architect Henry and his wife Julia, the former director Leo and Nathalie receive an invitation for a VIP Tour in the Ultra Studios. When they see the spooky house where the missing director Desmond Hacker filmed "Hysteria", they ask their tour guide to stop the car to visit the infamous house. In a moment, they find that they are trapped in a room without any exit and the guide suggests them to tell the scariest experience of each one like in "Hysteria". Each one tells a spooky tale until they finally discover the end of their stories.

---

Plot Keywords:

nipples | female nudity | breast implant | anthology | hollywood | 

---

Taglines:

5 Tales of Terror from the Biggest Names in Horror

---

Genres:

Horror

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 July 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Armadilha do Terror

Filming Locations:

The Suisyoin Temple, Izu City, Shizuoka, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Independent Film Fund, Cinema Investment, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Monte Hellman was the first person to sign on to direct a segment for this film.

---

Goofs

(at around 15 mins) In the first sequence, where the girl is about to have surgery, they hold the gas mask several inches from her face and never place it against her face.

---

Connections

References Black Sunday (1960)

---

Soundtracks

Man With A Horn
Performed by John Hardee
Written by Robert Ellen (as R. Ellen)
Published by Molique (BMI)
©2006

User Reviews

A rocky road

Anthology films rarely work for me. Most of them are as uneven as twenty miles of bad road. TRAPPED ASHES was yet another bumpy ride.

Six people are trapped in a room and must relate terrible things that they've had happen to them to their host (Henry Gibson). What follows are four segments directed by auteurs not necessarily known for their horror chops (with the possible exception of Sean S. Cunningham). Each segment prominently features the ties between sex and death so prevalent in horror films. One features a woman with vampiric breasts whose lamprey mouthed nipples sucks the blood of her lovers. Another woman falls for a corpse who whisks her away to hell while on Japanese holiday. A succubus falls for Stanley Kubrick. And the last, poor woman shares the insatiable hunger of her fraternal twin, a tapeworm.

The first segment sets up expectations that TRAPPED ASHES will be a much more lighthearted film. Surprisingly, this segment was directed by Ken Russell though it felt like something from Joe Dante or Paul Bartel (it was especially reminiscent of Irvin Kershner's "Hell Toupee" episode of "Amazing Stories"). The Sean S. Cunningham sequence felt like a pail gaijin aping of Hideo Nakata (THE RING) and John Gaeta's just didn't work at all. I enjoyed the Kubrick bit, courtesy of Monte Hellman - a perennial Cashiers du Cinemart fave - except that the horror element seemed like an afterthought.

Surprised that this wasn't called TALES FROM THE CRYPT: TRAPPED ASHES, this is one that can be missed by all except die hard John Saxon fans.