CGI/SFX master Masahiro Okano presents this disturbing and graphically shocking horror anthology, whose nine creepy chronicles of bad karma and nightmare logic are bound to a string of PRAYER BEADS...one bead for each 30-minute nerve-jangling, skin-crawling tale of terror.
I have to say this Japanese anthology was a li'l odd but quite interesting. Nine 30-minute stories (aka beads) tie together at the end. Bead #1 is a tale of lies and deceit. Sleeping with her best friendís husband, a woman becomes preggars and insists the offspring is her husbandís baby. It wouldnít be a good horror twist if the friend didnít severely chastise her unchaste compatriot and hubby! Bead #2 turned out to be very intriguing. A camping trip turns nightmare when a vending machine has a mind of itís own and turns people into an addictive beverage (this sort of extrapolates the "you are what you eat" trend kindled by MATANGO).
The third and fourth beads honestly didnít make much sense to me even after watching both of them twice! Great effects but WTF? Itís akin to reading an Arkansas road map and winding up in Chicago. Maybe I should have acclimated myself to the culture but the climactic experience was more surreal than scary.
Bead #5 clicked. A girl and two guys meet in a chat room and decide to go mushroom hunting. When they find the field of mushrooms, an old lady in a shack treats the trio to a snack. When one of the boys awaken, he finds his legs have been amputated. (Spoiler alert) The elderly crone turns out to be a witch who lures mortals to her turf and grows mushrooms from their severed body parts (sort of a human hydroponic system)! LOL! The fade-out reveals the girl is the old witchís granddaughter, abetting the transformation of chat room geeks into living mulch. Ostensibly, itís TROLL 2 on sake but the metaphor is loud and clear: techno addicts reluctantly regress to their provincial roots (this sort of apathy in the "electronic age" was explored in PULSE).
 
Now letís move on to the sixth bead. In the beginning, people are going crazy over this seal named Eddie. One group wants him released in the wild and the other group wants him to stay. The funniest subtitle was a hysterical old man screaming, "They say he should be released while still healthy, but if heís healthy why canít he stay here?" Hereís the twist: the old manís grandson has a special power and tells him he hates the seal Ďcause Eddie is bad. Next thing you know, Eddie multiplies and legion of seals emerge from the water and mutate into monsters that eat the patrons. Seriously! The li'l boy uses his "power" to make all the Eddies explode but, in the process, the juvenile dies. At the end, you see more "Eddie eggs" underwater about to hatch. Great graphics in this unlikely hybrid of David Lynch meets Ivan Tors.
The seventh bead is about a telepathic family. One of two female twins is murdered; come to find out, the so-called "boyfriend" sold her organs to a hospital. Grandma & grandpa track him down with the help of the other twin and telepathically conspire to make his entire body explode (think of a lost WALTONS episode directed by David Cronenberg). This bead was pretty short, sweet, and to the point unlike the third and fourth bead. I believe the eighth bead was my favorite. A geeky schoolboy, intimidated by a bully, retreats home to his computer and logs onto a japanimation cartoon called "Nyanta to the Rescue." The adorable cartoon cat dismembers the bully, within its animated environment, via a magical puzzle machine. The next day, the kid finds out that the bullyís real life counterpart was actually sliced/diced. Communicating with his computer, the kid professes a hatred for everyone including his own family. Nyanta obligingly transforms everyone he hates into something he loves, including delicious delicacies. Next day, everyone he "hated" has disappeared. That night, he ask Nyanta to bring them all back. Nyanta complies but the reunion is handicapped when the gang shows-up as the living dead. Oops. I was disappointed that you only hear the kid screaming; the monster that negotiates the comeback is audibly manifested but I felt a bit cheated by the forfeiture of a matching image.
Finally, the ninth bead--a wife stabs her abusive husband--evokes DEAD OF NIGHT. Players from the preceding stories converge in the climactic scenes, e.g. a newscaster from the "Eddie" bead, chronicling the murder, chews the fat with players linked to past episodes.
I give PRAYER BEADS a 7 out of 10, mostly for the special FX; lapses of logic or coherency prevail but this Japanese import is tonic for fans who are sick of sequels and remakes.
By Alexxus Young
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2004
DIRECTOR: Masahiro Okano
WRITING CREDITS: Masahiro Okano
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Joe Odagiri, Naota Takenaka, Masa Endo
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 270 min
RATING: 7/10
Prayer Beads Website/IMDB Click here
Prayer Beads Trailer Click here
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