Search - Prayer Beads: Complete Series on DVD

Excellent Japanese horror anthology

S. Boone | Louisville, KY | 03/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Prayer Beads is 9 tales of the dark and creepy, srrt of a "Tales from the Darkside" look and feel but more a "Masters Of Horror" mentality. Some of the tales seem overly ambitious, as in, there's almost too much crammed into a 30 minute segment and focus is lost, but that's a minor complaint. There's a couple that discover a vending machine in the middle of nowhere that dispenses questionable beverages, there's cute little seals that draw big crowds to a river and turn out to be nowhere near as cute as originally thought, and there's even a creepy "Hello Kitty" knock-off cartoon that appears on a young boy's computer and makes his wishes come true. All of these tales come off pretty well considering their origin, which is apparently Japanese TV (cable, I'd say, the language isn't always PC and the gore flies at times). A worthwhile anthology to fans of Japanese horror. 5 out of 5 stars."

Ok Horror But Not That Scary

Rich | CA | 08/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The series on this collection are about eight episodes 30 min each you only get japanese audio and english subtitles.The stories themselves are not all bad but don't expect to much horror scenes the one that seemed the most scary was the episode 'Cat's Paw' where a bullied boy with a bad home life goes onto his computer and gets an email to a website that says it well grant two wishes for free but the third one comes with a price and when you watch how his two wishes come out and what happens with the third one you well definitely feel for the kid Again except for a few episodes the series was not that great but if you're like me and have become a big fan of j-horror I say go ahead and try this one out"

Has it's moments

John Stanowski | Philadelphia, PA USA | 07/08/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Prayer Beads is one of the better Japanese horror anthology tv series to come out in a while. Though it starts off slow and has many episodes not worth watching, there are some truly scary and original tales here. Definitely worth a look from the J-Horror fan."

Asian Horror Fans will enjoy this

Dancing Ganesha | Bangalore, India | 04/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These were interesting, vignette-like stories that don't really break the mold until the last few episodes. One of the last ones, "Aparment," dealing with a violent father and his sullen, abused family, is almost discomforting in its sheer realism and quite applicable to today's modern problems dealing with a patriarchal figure who refuses to change or move with the times -- very dark and disturbing in its own way, and gives off a certain essence of Gothic descent and sickness.

One episode that I also found interesting and amusing in a dark way would be "Cat's Paw," wherein a cute and bucolic cartoon character (a cat), turns out to be much more dangerous than the smiling, helpful "super-hero" it claimed to be previously. Couldn't help but laugh out loud at this one, except at the very end, which isn't as funny when you realise what's about to happen.

Some of these stories are just plain cruel. The one about "Mushroom Hunting" really serves no purpose at all other than to practise its sadistic vein on unsuspecting victims; it's like an old story from a faerie-tale about witches who do strange and despicable things just for the sheer hell of it.

Some of these stories are derivative, but I'd strongly recommend watching these if you're a fan of Asian Horror (don't forget to turn off the lights)!"