''Tales from the Dead'' is a 2007 horror film, written and directed by
Jason Cuadrado
Jason Cuadrado is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, known for directing the first j-horror feature film in the United States, ''Tales from the Dead''. After directing television news in New York City, he transitioned to film ...
. The film is an
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
of four ghost stories as told by Tamika, a strange young girl with the ability to communicate with the dead. Each tale deals with loss, pain and vengeance as the spirits who tell them attempt to put things right in the world of the living.
The film is notable for being a
Japanese horror
Japanese horror is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror. Japanese horror tends ...
film shot entirely in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, in Japanese with local Japanese talent. Writer/director Jason Cuadrado did not know any Japanese at the time of filming.
[Filmmaker Magazine, Spring 2007, Vol. 15, # 3]
Plot summary
The film follows a family, newly reunited with their estranged son, faces the remnants of the bad marriage, and evil intentions, of their home's previous owners. An old accountant, trying to set his "books" straight after a life of working for a criminal gang, takes his revenge on the man who wouldn't let him. A businessman, hungering for success and material opulence, finds that time is the only truly scarce resource—and the only one genuinely valuable. Lastly, a surprise ending for Shoko, a lady of leisure, who has a deadly definition of divorce, and meets young Tamika on the wrong dark and foggy road.
Cast
"Home Sweet Home"
*Leni Ito as Tamika
*Kiyoko Kamei as Manami
*Eiji Inoue as Shiro
*Masami Teramoto as Kyoko
*Daisuke Tomita as Kenji
*Masami Kosaka as Toshiro
*Eriko Yamaguchi as Akiko
"The Dirty Business of Time"
*Yutaka Takeuchi as Yoshi
*Kazumi Zatkin as Mai
*Mark Ofuji as Ebisu
*Arthur Shinomia as Hiroshi
*Satomi Okuno as Mika
*Hiro Saito as Sato
"Chalk"
*Toshiya Agata as Detective Minehiro
*Sachiko Hayashi as Detective Himiko
*Hidetoshi Imura as Seiji
*Daisuke Suzuki as Sheriff Harada
*Mari Endo as Kaori
*Keiichiro Hirayama as Takashi
"Shoko the Widow"
*Nikki Takei as Shoko
*Leni Ito as Tamika
*Hiro Abe as Jiro
*Yumi Mizui as Keiko
*Miley Yamamoto as Gin
*Makiko Konishi as Mari
*Masayuki Yonezawa as Kiyoshi
*Natalie Okamoto as Michi
*Yoi Tanabe as Reika
*Kie Ito as Ayame
References
External links
Official ''Tales from the Dead'' website*{{IMDb title, id=0960855, title=Tales from the Dead
2000 films
2007 horror films
2007 films
American supernatural horror films
Asian-American horror films
2000s American films