The DVD:
It is a dark and stormy night. You've wandered in the woods for hours, when you come across a decaying building. The sign atop the entrance reads "Gregory House" and with your last remaining ounce of strength, you stumble through the portal. There you are greeted by Gregory, a repellant rodent with an evil laugh. He's the nibbling Norman Bates of this lodge of the damned, and he invites you to stay. So tired you can barely walk, you enter your room and begin to drift off. Suddenly, you hear a noise next door. Not to fear, says Gregory, it's just a "pet" that got out of hand. It's been "permanently silenced" and yet still tries to cry out. Soon, another disturbance rouses you. You meet a young "thing" that demands your spirit. Gregory intervenes. You are fed a thick, vicious soup by a chef who's poised butcher knife demands a compliment. A child wanders in, wondering why he has such horrible headaches (the axe imbedded in his scalp may be a clue) and a little doll demands another sweet "soul" to care for her. Escape now seems like a viable option, but it appears you are trapped. A roving set of scales known as Judgment Boy undermines your attempts at leaving, tossing ethical roadblocks in your path. A craven, blood-loving nurse named Catherine keeps drawing more samples from your arm and while he feigns at being helpful, Gregory himself seems to constantly countermand your requests (while "answering" to a higher authority). Eventually, your travails lead you to an underground torture chamber, the rooftop living space of Gregory's deranged mother and a massive graveyard of previous "visitors". It is one Hell of a night at Gregory House, but it's just baneful business as usual at this Inn of the Vexed Creepiness. It is all part of the plan. It is all an angst-ridden aspect of The Gregory Horror Show.

Okay, this is gonna get a little confusing. The Gregory Horror Show is a computer generated Japanese anime that plays like an interactive CD-Rom, except that it already is a videogame, a seemingly popular Playstation 2 title that mimics the DVD's first person POV storyline...kind of. Though a 'chicken or the egg' identity crisis is easily avoided, (the cartoon arrived first) it is hard to separate the RPG from the CGI in this salute to the supernatural. Filled with amazing imagery, stupid storytelling and occasional glimpses of out and out brilliance, this is a frustrating yet fresh romp through a quasi-disturbed diorama. If creator Naomi Awata has intended this strikingly original story to be scary, she's booing up the wrong backdrop. While the old dark house haunted evil abode elements are purring along like well-oiled banshees, there are aspects of the character design and narrative drive that are more whimsical than wicked. Fans of The Residents interactive catalog (Freak Show, Bad Day on the Midway) will immediately take to this twisted tale of an evil mouse, his miscreant mother, and the assorted ghoulish guests hanging out at Gregory House. But for many not tuned into the Gaham Wilson/Addams Family idea of mixing the funny with the frightening, The Gregory Horror Show will seem like just another weird wig-out from those hopped up on Saki savants over in the land of the rising sun. Certainly there is more to this show than first meets the eye. Buried inside the macabre muddle are notions about personal pride, familial love and individual independence. There are even a few moral and ethical issues raised. But once the focus moves from the familiar to the fantastic, when we leave the fright factors and start dealing with some outlandish Heaven vs. Hell dynamics, the amusement gets sidetracked. What started out simple has broadened its scope into the epic. The result is prosaic, not paranormal.

Still, there is a great deal of iniquitous wonderment here. The first thing you notice about The Gregory Horror Show is the wildly imaginative individuals residing in this rundown hotel. Gregory himself is a boxy, bilious rodent shoveling on the ominous with a sly little smirk. Unfortunately, he comes across like a troublemaking relative of Topo Gigio most of the time. Hell's Chef also works at the House. He's a demented dish maker who demands that his cuisine remain supreme, less you pay the ultimate price. Among the other residents in this menacing motel are Neko Zombie, a living dead cat with its eyes and mouth sewn shut; Lost Dolly, a terrifying toy looking for its long dead master and Mummy Dog, a cure little pooch with an axe in his head, mimicking the same migraine tendencies as his parent, Mummy Papa. We also run into Toilet Baby, a tyrannical tyke who rides a wild commode and responds to unpleasant circumstances by expelling bathroom tissue from his mouth, Cactus Gunman, a Mexican succulent with a bandito's bravado, and Gregory's insane mother, who seems to be the leader of this lunatic asylum. Perhaps the two standout oddballs in this strange assortment are Catherine, a pink polka-dotted dinosaur with an unnatural appetite for bloodletting (good thing that she's a nurse) and the scary scales of justice- carrying Judgment Boy. Proposing ethical and moral dilemmas and demanding you address his difficult propositions, he is a perfect combination of the disturbing and the surreal (though his questions are usually less than inspired). Catherine's craving for claret is actually a very eerie component to Gregory's world. She slithers like a snake as she inserts her needles and seems in near orgasmic delight as she draws out the life fluid. In combination, they make a mad menagerie of storyline possibilities, with each individual certainly ripe for exploration and eerie exploitation.

It's too bad then that The Gregory Horror Show feels like a new fangled take on that laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair, except that in this unreal realm, you have NO control over your character's fate. The first person POV has everyone address you directly, almost mandating your attention and anxiety – or in reverse, your instant disconnect and lack of caring. The mundane male voice narrating the adventures seems consistently surprised that odd things happen, and he never learns from his many macabre mistakes. Indeed, you'll feel foolish a lot of the time watching these short segments (4 to 6 minutes each) unfold in their preordained premise/payoff/cliffhanger plotting. Obviously meant for individual viewing, Geneon has tossed them together to try and form a single story, but the surreality constantly gets in the way. Characters come and go too quickly, important facts are mentioned only once and then discarded, and we never really get a feel for the narrative's flow. Like a stuttering series of vignettes, The Gregory Horror Show is anarchy with ADD. Imagine Pee Wee's Playhouse with poltergeists, a demonic world where everything talks and strange soups ooze with sanguine satisfaction. The combination of darkness and light, the dryly humorous with death has worked before. And there is no doubt that The Gregory Horror Show speaks to a younger generation far more in tune with their own inner morality (it would be easy to envision Goth kids sporting Dead Body or Neko Zombie tattoos). But as a story, as a continuing adventure of evil and escape, The Gregory Horror Show is underdeveloped and wildly uneven. At least half of the 25 episodes (referred to as "nights" instead of installments) are like one-note jokes. You get the goofy gruesome point early and often, yet it's rare when one sequence gels with the next. As a series of separate snippets, there is some enjoyment to be found. But in combination, the conceit doesn't work.

However, it's the artistry that will draw you into Gregory's world and provide the narrative drive the scripting – or at least, the English dubbing – lacks. Indeed, the lack of continuity may come from the strange sounding translation, which seems to take the tenets of the show either too literarily, or far too loosely. But this is animation, and as such, bright colors and inventive drawing can save the day, and it almost happens forThe Gregory Horror Show. Like insane Legos of Hate, the block based character design of the denizens of Gregory's world is weirdness incarnate, perfectly matched with a fractured Fisher Price playfulness that suggests both the child-like and the threatening. The simple geometric lines matched with asymmetrical attributes (Gregory's dropping eye, Catherine's crazy tongue) keeps the viewer constantly off kilter, and when united with excellent digital backdrops and moody cinematic ambience, the look of the series surpasses its stilted sagas. The movement of the elements is very early MTV. Indeed, Gregory and the cast tend to ambulate like the rectangular workmen in the Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" video (come to think of it, the entire concept is like an animal based update of that early computer creation). When it wants, the animation can be very fluid and forceful (Judgment Boy's movements are magnificent). But there is very little mouth articulation and the lip sync is poorly executed. Perhaps the best way to experience The Gregory Horror Show is to turn down your TV sound, adjust your picture settings optimum replay and sit back and enjoy some amazing animated artwork. This is a series that resembles a children's toy chest filled with Día de los Muertos, with each and every figurine just waiting, teeth bared, for the wee one to shuffle off with the sandman.

From a purely technical standpoint then, there is nothing wrong with The Gregory Horror Show. There is immense imagination in the rendering and development, and the lack of a cogent storyline will not be a bother to most with a penchant for the peculiar. While it never really achieves the dark comedy it craves, or instills the shivers it insists on, this is still a well-made piece of ersatz eerie eye candy that only semi-satisfies. Writer/Creator Naomi Iwata along with director Kazumi Minagawa have a spectacular way with temperament and tone, and the animation itself is borderline genius. But somewhere along the line, The Gregory Horror Show breaks down, and it never really rights itself. Perhaps it's the clashing of genres that confuses it – no one has ever really been successful at mixing the goofy with the grotesque. It could be the episodic format, a quick pic prototype that undermines any attempt at developing narrative flow or character expansion. Maybe it's the goal-oriented video game variables that cause the confusion. After all, Playstation 2 would be far less successful if you could only watch, not interact, with the action. Whatever the reasons, The Gregory Horror Show makes for a fine, if flawed few minutes of mystery. The artistry involved and the visionary concepts at play combine for an amazing experience. But for everything it does so well, it just can't quite gel together into something cohesive. Toward the end, when spirits are in chaos and souls are in the balance, you can actually get caught up in events occurring within The Gregory Horror Show. But overall, this is a delightful, if dismissable, bit of high tech cross promotion.

The Video:
The difficulty with translating CGI to DVD is the lack of room for detail and depth. Thankfully, Geneon has found a way to give us Gregory in all its blood red glory, never once causing us to curse over ghosting or flaring issues. The 1.33:1 full frame image is vibrant, electric and damn near psychedelic at times. The overuse of strong primary tints never once undermines the transfer integrity and the overall look is lovely. One can easily see how this parade of pigments could become an addictive adventure. If it stands for nothing else, The Gregory Horror Show is a stellar example of direct from digital conversion.

The Audio:
Equally evocative, in a far more minor way, is the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Attempting to pump as much feeling and mood into these mini-movies as possible, the sonics are clear and crisp. There is very little spatial separation between the elements – the sound seems to come out of both speakers simultaneously. Still, the Western character voices are excellent and they match the roles perfectly. There is a natural tendency for American actors to over-enunciate and scream every line of an anime dub, and there is some of that here. But for the most part, this is a professional auditory experience.

The Extras:
Along with some basic information on the show, and a few advertisements for other Geneon merchandise (including an odd shot of a Gregory action figure) the sole significant bonus material present on the DVD is a four-part storyline surrounding Catherine and her famous love of blood. Draining several patients in the hospital she works at, a kind of queer romance develops between her and her victims. In many ways, this series of stories – entitled "Bloody Karte" on the disc – is The Gregory Horror Show working perfectly within its parameters. The storyline is straightforward as well as strange, and there is a nice combination of craziness and creepiness. While it would have been nice to have additional extras that explain the show or highlight how it was created, the additional episodes really help to flesh out the various facets of the production.

Final Thoughts:
Fans of anime, especially the more action-oriented, character-driven diversions, will probably scoff at The Gregory Horror Show. They will chalk it up to the kid-vid side of the genre, dismissing it as an exercise in overt style over content. But there is more here than just some spine-chilling characters carousing around a moody motel. This is a fine example of computer-generated imagination, a gorgeous combination of the intricate and the basic. Die-hard fans of both kinds of animation will definitely enjoy the phantasmagoric aspects of the visuals, and even those not known to frequent Japanimation will find the CGI incredible. It is for these reasons, not the numerous plot holes or scattershot short sketch approach, that this DVD is recommended. It is mind-blowing to look at. It has exceptional character design and voice-over elements. The entire enterprise is drenched in the darkest shadows and swabbed with the splatters of inhuman grue. But no matter how hard it endeavors to precipitate the atypical, or offer up the humorous within the horrifying, The Gregory Horror Shows just never achieves its goals. There is a potentially great Grand Guignol concept at work in this slice of the strange. But unfortunately, we end up feeling as lost as the unseen human protagonist wandering around Gregory House. As an illustration of the cutting edge of technology, there are very few equals. But as a daring trip into the land of nightmares, the only fears you'll foster are ones of disappointment. The Gregory Horror Show should have been better. For what it is, however, it is still a ghastly holiday into the zany.

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