A corroded diving bell descends amidst a ruined city and the Assassin emerges from it to explore a labyrinth of bizarre landscapes/dystopian nightmare set in a post-industrialized world [that’s forever teetering on its last legs, but never quite falls over] inhabited by freakish denizens/hyper compartmentalized society that’s struggling to both die and reset. Everybody’s looking for something, but it’s often hard to tell what until they [the Assassins, the Surgeon, the Alchemist and the Last Human] either find it or just set the next domino in motion.
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Language·····None
An experimental stop-motion animated film. All sets, creatures, and environments were handcrafted over the course of three decades.
Written, produced and directed by the legendary animator and visual effects artist Phil Tippett.
A corroded diving bell descends amidst a ruined city and the Assassin emerges from it to explore a labyrinth of bizarre landscapes/dystopian nightmare set in a post-industrialized world [that’s forever teetering on its last legs, but never quite falls over] inhabited by freakish denizens/hyper compartmentalized society that’s struggling to both die and reset. Everybody’s looking for something, but it’s often hard to tell what until they [the Assassins, the Surgeon, the Alchemist and the Last Human] either find it or just set the next domino in motion.
*
Language·····None
An experimental stop-motion animated film. All sets, creatures, and environments were handcrafted over the course of three decades.
Written, produced and directed by the legendary animator and visual effects artist Phil Tippett.
"We're a quiet little community.We've never had grief or a need for law, Two days ago, all that changes. A runaway killer named Travers comes down out of the hills, followed south by that marshal from Colorado. Holes up in the old Shattuck place in the woods. Marshal, he does the only thing he can do. He comes down here for help. By the time we got there, Travers was gone. Not the Shattucks though. They were still there, what was left of 'em. Fourteen people that varmint killed. Two of 'em I knew.····· That fancy-lookin' shotgun. It tells it. Soon as I seen that, the shotgun with silver work on it. That's all Travers ever uses. Not a bullet, clean and simple, but a shot. Jagged little pellets, rippin' on a man's insides or face. And the look of him, just like the marshal said. A medium sized man this side of 30. None of us has seen him, except the marshal that's after him"
········································
- Well, look, Marshal, I'm not Travers, and you said you knew it.
- Yes, I did. Trouble is, People don't know it. What I mean is they took ya for him back there in town. Kinda makes a man think, don't it? Now, you take me, a lawman. Four months swallowin' dust, dust kicked up by a killer wanted in three states and a territory. This close I come to him. You any idea what it'd have meant to me to bring him in? This close, half a dozen times. But this killer, this Travers, he don't capture. He makes it away. Still, there's that thought. You, wanderin' out of the hills, bein' mistaken for Travers, the whole town willin' to swear to the fact. What I mean is, uh, to some men that'd present a possibility, wouldn't you say?
"No. We don't walk. We're... We're too close. With no money, how far would we get? Look, we knew that if things went wrong, we'd have a backup plan, and we do. We... We have to force her hand. We have to do it now."
...........................................
- So, can you tell me about the tenants that live across the hall from Mrs. Lonnigan?
- That's, um... That's Abigail Clayton.
- Abigail Clayton. Well, can you tell me about her?
- Well, not... Not really, sir. I've actually never met her.
- You've never met her?
- No. No, I haven't. I've been here now, It's been 11 years. She was in the apartment before I arrived, yes, so we've never met.
- In 11 years, you've never had any interaction with her personally?
- That's not completely true, sir. Every day or night at a specific time she will pass a letter to me underneath the door. I'm the only one in the building who communicates with her. Food, clothing, you name it, I deliver it. I leave it in the hallway, I knock, I leave. She never goes out. Ever. Yeah, so, in that sense, we have had communication, yes.
- That's a little strange.
- Well, this is Columbus Circle, sir. Nothing seems strange around here.
...........................................
"We live with a disease. Mom used to say it was the one thing that kept us close. I always thought that it was the one thing that would keep us apart. But I was wrong, and everything you thought you knew about us is wrong. We live in the houses next to you, we work in the stores you shop at. Our kids play with your kids. We're just trying to be an ordinary family, trying to figure out where we fit in in the world. But we do need blood, and we need a lot of it preferably fresh and not frozen"
"We were born. not made. We walk in the sun. And we don't crumble at crucifixes as we are not the undead. We can get hurt. or die like anybody else. But something does happen when you solely feed off the life source of another. You feel differently. Everything is amplified. ····· We never lost control before. And this time. The surveillance footage of the murders was all over the news. It went global. They knew who we were. just not what we were. They called it The Vampire Killings. Thought we were some kind of stupid cult or passionate Twilight lovers. Pretty ironic. The only place my parents ever mentioned coming from was overseas. So we traveled across the Atlantic. Trying to keep my dying brother alive on human blood. The twins were searching for help in France while my brother David had been looking for contacts in England. But so far. everything was a joke. or a dead end. ····· I headed into the English old country looking for the Mandersons wondering if there were others out there. and if there were. could we trust them?"
When I Get Home, My Wife Always Pretends to be Dead 2018*
"Chie's death pranks continued unabated"
"Is it a cry for help? If not, why would she play dead over and over?"
"It must be related to our 3rd year anniversary"
"She's telling me something"
"She wants attention"
"I played along with her death game"
"I'm afraid to go home"
"Playing along doesn't help"
"I don't need excitement. I just want a normal wife"
"She's gone from playing dead to the afterlife and outer space"
"What is she trying to say?"
"What did I do to deserve this?"
................................
- Chie, I'm tired of your playing dead. Tell me why you do this?
- The moon sure is pretty.**
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Original title·····家に帰ると妻が必ず死んだふりをしています。(Ie ni Kaeru to Tsuma ga Kanarazu Shinda Furi wo Shite Imasu)
Language·····················································Japanese
"There's another Robert Klein. Apparently, he is a Jew. ····· One way or another I(Klein) must find out what this other Klein wants from me"
.................................................
- Where do you think they're taking us?
- I don't know.
- But there's no need to worry is there? It's just a routine check.
Rounded gums. Slight prognathism. Nostrils arched. Naso-labial space normal. Septum slightly flattened. Lover lip fleshy. Prognathous jaw typical of non-European races. Forehead narrow. Scalp low. Hair thick oily, shiny. Ears normal lobes not fixed slanted. Upper eyelids dropping. Skin swarthy. Facial expression more or less Jewish. Attitudes during examination not Jewish. Hips naturally large and flaccid. Soles of the feet flat. Arch totally absent. In the opinion of the undersigned based on morphological and behavioural data the person examined could well belong to the Semitic race. Her ancestry could be either Jewish Armenian or Arab.
There is an old proverb which says: Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both. This is the story of a boy who tried it. While employed as a moving picture operator in a small town theater he was also studying to be a detective.
How to be a Detective Rule 1. Search Everybody
Rule 2. Look for Clue
Rule 3. Examine all windows
Rule 4. Search for fingerprints
Rule 5. Shadow your man closely
Rule 6. Send for police
Rule 7. Keep cool
* [Silent film] Original title·····The Misfit
Intertitles·············English
Plot is not related to any Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
Directed by and starring Buster Keaton.
There is an old proverb which says: Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both. This is the story of a boy who tried it. While employed as a moving picture operator in a small town theater he was also studying to be a detective.
How to be a Detective Rule 1. Search Everybody
Rule 2. Look for Clue
Rule 3. Examine all windows
Rule 4. Search for fingerprints
Rule 5. Shadow your man closely
Rule 6. Send for police
Rule 7. Keep cool
* [Silent film] Original title·····The Misfit
Intertitles·············English
Plot is not related to any Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
Directed by and starring Buster Keaton.
"As soon as ancient Pandeys declared Kashi as the city of righteousness and salvation the kings, noblemen, and traders all around the country started building their palaces and temples near the ganga river banks. When the temples were built there was also houses built next to it. So these priests can perform veneration in the temples day and night. And these priests kept doing righteous deeds for their benefactors. They taught astrology, scriptures, Sanskrit to their children. They never bothered about property or wealth or food or water or clothing. No matter you say these bloody communists will always interfere with their philosophy. Everything was fine before independence. Things got worse when landlords were abolished. Those who couldn't take care of themselves how could they take care of the priests and Brahmins? So the priest's income came to a stop. And on the other hand, they had no other means of income. All their lives, they never did a thing themselves nor allowed their children to do anything"
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"A month later. I will be jobless. The school now leads a tutor who can teach Sanskrit as well as English. My father didn't teach me English. The soul of India lies in the language of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is nectar. This is what I heard growing up. And cursed English all my life. Savitri, we'll teach English to our children"
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"When the wheel of time turns it's your principle that gets crushed first. Poverty crushes everything."
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Original title·····मोहल्ला अस्सी
Language··················Hindi
"Someone pinched the new shipment. It seemed to be a captive girl and her friend. yakuza suspects chinese. ····· Well, it's a convenient way to start a fight"
...........................................
- Who are you? And why did you hit me?
- She was running and shouting for help.
- Are you trying to be a knight in shining armor?
- No, I was just annoyed.
- Why did she run anyway?
- The hallucinations.
- What?
- Her drugs ran out and the hallucinations began.
- That's why you hit me? Do you know what you have done?
············
············
- You! A yakuza? A civilian?
- I'm just a boxer.
...........................................
"Her dad got indebted to the yakuza. she works to pay off his debt. They let her sell herself out on a dating sites. She goes by the name of Monica. So we will make up a story about how she stole the drugs and ran off."
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Original title·····初恋 (Hatsukoi)
Language···Japanese
"You thought the scream came from someone else? ··· You thought it came from in here? ··· Because you thought something had happened in here? ··· You struggled with the handle but you couldn't get it open, and suddenly Victoria opened it and let you in, and you asked what's the matter and she told you that you had a nightmare and it was you who screamed? ···Who's voice did it sound like? ··· Was it Anne's?"
..........................................
- Vic's got us just where she wants us. We haven't a cent but what she gives us. She's the sole trustee.
- It's not the money I care about, it's our happiness. Stand on your own feet. Assert your will. I can never make you realize, Rip, what my life is here in this house. I even hesitated to come into this room. She's told me that it's not a public sitting room. She never speaks of me as Mrs. Van Brett. She refers to me to Caroline, to Telson, even to Louise as, "That woman."
- Anne. I should've fought her down long before I asked you to marry me. I was a coward.
- Oh, Rip... Rip, don't say that.
- Listen to me. You think you know me, but I'm going to tell you some things you don't know. My mother died when I was born. Have you ever thought what my childhood was like here in this haunted house?
- Haunted?
- To me, yes. When I was seven my father died. The day of his funeral, Victoria led me down to the drawing room where he lay. She took my hand and made me put it in his cold hand. And there she made me promise to keep him in mind always, and to do all the things he'd always wanted me to do. Most of them she made up because it pleased her. I know that now. She told me my father was able to watch me from the place he'd gone. Many a night I'd lain in my room shivering at the thought that those cold eyes of his could look in through the key hole and watch me. I think it amused her. It all went to build her power over me. Then she set up this shrine here with his ashes. I thought somehow those cold eyes of his were in there watching me. Day by day she broke my will.
Tales from the Dark 2013* duology split into six segments based on supernatural/ghost short stories by Lilian Lee.
Pt. I
1. Stolen Goods|- Kwan loses his job on a construction site. He refuses to go on welfare, despite owing back rent and having no relatives to turn to for help. In desperation Kwan heads to a cemetery and steals a selection of urns, intending to blackmail their relatives into paying a ransom for their return. However, Kwan soon discovers that tampering with human remains will wreak repercussions from the spirit world.
2. A Word in the Palm|- Hon (fortune teller, who is about to go out of business despite his proven ability to see ghosts) and Lan (crystal gazer/spiritualist) team up to resolve a potentially deadly love triangle between the vengeful ghost of drowned schoolgirl, her swim-coach lover and the coach’s pregnant wife.
3. Jīngzhé|- Chu, a streetside villain hitter who’s compelled to look at her own life choices when the ghost of a teenage girl becomes the last customer of the White Tiger day night.
Pt. II
4. Pillow|- Ching-yi, a nurse stricken by the disappearance of her boyfriend, she starts to develop insomnia. Countless sleeping pills couldn’t treat the disorder, until one day when she comes across a small rundown bedding shop under an alley. She is especially attracted by the exotic scent of a pillow and decides to buy it. It works like a charm, as if her boyfriend caresses her to sleep every night. But what she doesn’t know is the secret behind the pillow and the nightmare she is getting herself into.
5. Hide & Seek|- Eight teenagers return to their old elementary school after hearing it will be demolished soon. They decide to stay in the school after dark. While they are juggling around and playing their own version of hide-and-seek, more and more "players" join in without their knowing. Just when they think the gatekeeper is the only being in the abandoned schoolyard, they don’t realize there are actually more "inhabitants" than they ever imagine. As the night falls, they will soon come face-to-face with the inhabitants/ghosts that lurk behind and prevent them from leaving the school.
6. Black Umbrella|- Lau is a middle aged, hobbit sized man in a Tang suit and holds a wooden black umbrella. Virtuous on the outlook and chivalrous on the inside, Lau seems to be very preoccupied and act cautiously until he encounters Jenny.
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Original title·····李碧華鬼魅系列 (Lǐbìhuá guǐmèi xìliè)
Language··Mandarin·Cantonese