Search - Gregory Horror Show - The Nightmare Begins . . . (Vol. 1) on DVD

Blissful Nightmare

Madamluna | 09/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gregory Horror Show is the story of a hotel for lost souls run by its mysterious proprietor Gregory, a misshapen rat who takes pleasure in scaring his customers out of their wits. The main character (he has no name, but he's obviously meant to represent the viewer, as you see the world through his eyes) makes his way to Gregory House in the middle of the night, and finds that checking in is easy; checking out is the hard part. If Gregory doesn't stop him, then the other guests will. And there's also the question of whether you would want to leave at all...

Gregory Horror is a surreal and sometimes disturbing horror-comedy feature that challenges the viewer in every episode. Its short, almost Twilight Zoneish episodes focus on one of the guests at a time, each of which represent a different facet of the viewer's personality or world. There's the Mirror Man, who has lost his own identity and exists only to show others their true self; Cactus Gunman, who challenges the other guests to hallway duels without any idea of why they're fighting; Judgement Boy, who forces guests to make split-second decisions with either their heart or their head; and many more, totaling 48 in all. (Not all are in this first DVD, however.) The stories can be chilling one minute and hilarious the next, and your host Gregory is the thread stringing them all together. I will say that the story begins to develop and pick up in the last half of the series, which culminates in a weird, fulfilling ending that's sure to creep out and satisfy even the stingiest viewer.

Gregory Horror is illustrated in a strange style. It's 3DCG, and each character has a blocky body, almost like they were made out of Legos. The backgrounds don't seem like much at the beginning, but the characters move fluidly, and this is a much more character-driven series than anything else. The different areas in Gregory House also begin to get more complex as the DVD goes on, such as Roulette Boy and Clock Master's rooms. The English dub (this is dub only) is excellent and hard to find fault with, and the music is also evocative and more than serves its purpose.

The extras include promos of the GHS action figures, five episodes of the GHS series "Bloody Karte," (basically, Gregory Hospital) and some trailers for other Geneon series.

In conclusion, Gregory Horror is perfect for fans of black humor, horror in general, quirky Japanese anime, the Twilight Zone/Night Gallery, or for anyone just looking to have a good and somewhat thought-provoking time."