Trapped Ashes

Six strangers on a VIP tour of a rather desolate old Hollywood studio (conducted by a marvelously droll Henry Gibson) find themselves trapped in a old horror movie set (apparently designed by a William Castle wannabe), and they each have to tell a horror story to get out. Sure, it's not the most original setup, but then it's not the most original anthology horror, despite the often inventive concepts from screenwriter Dennis Bartok and the participation of directors like Ken Russell, Monte Hellman and Joe Dante. The usually playful Dante handles the framing scenes like a journeyman rushing through an assignment with more speed than attention. Hellman comes the closest to creating a fully realized story in his segment, a chamber piece that references the career of Stanley Kubrick, but ultimately they are all ideas without punch lines, and the final twist is a mundane payoff. Features cast and crew commentary, extended cuts of the sequences directed by Hellman and Russell, deleted scenes and a five-part featurette on the making of the film.