Hideo Nakata may not be a familiar name to some of you, but he's the guiding force behind the recent horror films RINGU (remade in America as THE RING) and THE RING 2. Well, here comes a trilogy of earlier shorts from Nakata, an anthology with more ghosts than you can shake a stick at - CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT.

The Cursed Doll. After play rehearsal, the gang gathers around to tell spooky stories. Satomi begins, and speaks of a strange doll in her house. She has been having the same dream every night; walking down the hallway hearing a girls' voice calling her, only to find a doll. Satomi checks an old storage closet, and finds a box with that very doll inside! Mom insists it's a family heirloom, but Satomi puts it in the home's alcove to be safe (and to get some sleep). However, Satomi keeps hearing that little girl's voice, even in the day now, and finds doll hair on the stairs leading up to her bedroom. Freaky. And did the doll's eyes move? Satomi's friend Etsuko is very concerned for her pal (who's becoming increasingly distracted), and tells her not to be alone in the house with that doll. Satomi returns home, only to find her mother has had an accident and is in the hospital. And she had the doll with her.... What is the sinister secret of the doll, and can Satomi and her family be able to make peace with the doll's restless spirit?

Spirit of the Dead. In the emergency room, Takako's husband succumbs to a fatal heart attack. Little Yuta watches the spirit of his father walk into the light... A few months later, Takako takes the now withdrawn and moody Yuta on a camping trip with her friend Kazumi and her kids Takuya and Sayuri. They go to a wonderful spot next to a river with a beautiful waterfall. But while playing catch, the ball disappears in to the water - Takuya accuses Yuta of stealing it. Kids being kids, the matter soon is moot and they play hide-and-go-seek. Only Yuta never shows up for dinner. Takako finds him on the river - with the ball. Yuta insists a woman gave it to him, and wanted him to stay with her. What is the mystery of the waterfall and the strange ghost who so desperately wants Yuta? Can Takako stop a spirit from beyond and save her son?

The Haunted Inn. Three schoolgirls - Kyoko, Yukari, and Akemi - are giddy with excitement as they head to a weekend at a traditional-style inn in Japan. Kyoko is taping everything with her video camera, but when they arrive, she senses something weird as they ascend the steps to their room. Kyoko becomes even uneasier when she learns the inn was originally a family's mansion. Yukari, however, is absolutely bananas about the place, especially the big bureau with its fold out mirror. Later, when the bathing girls decide to video themselves au natural, Kyoko catches a reflection of something in the mirror when she fetches the camera. Must be her imagination...Yukari finds a bottle of finger nail polish in the bureau, which she happily uses. But the next day Yukari is moody and distracted, so the other girls go off without her. What is it about this place that haunts Yukari? Who is that specter in the mirror? Will Kyoko's instincts turn out to be right? Who will survive when the nightmare begins?

CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT is a perfect example of the axiom "you gotta start somewhere". Overall, these three shorts are on the level of TV's "Night Gallery"; interesting vignettes, but nothing that surprises or 'wows' you. All were shot on video, which gives the picture a very flat look. Also, the video effects are hampered by the format and obvious TV budget constrictions. The stories themselves are rather bland - there's no suspense built up because the outcome is kind of obvious (beyond the fact the DVD case pretty much gives it away). However, the saving graces of these shorts are the acting & directing. Nakata chooses many interesting camera angles; maximizing what suspense he can to make up for some of the story limitations. He gives scenes a unique presence by using POV shots and creates a fluid sense of movement with his editing. You can see the thematic groundwork Nakata was choosing for himself in CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT that was realized so effectively later in RINGU. The young actors give very natural performances in the first and third stories of this anthology, while the two older women are effective in the middle part (and the young'uns do their parts without too much camera mugging). Picture quality-wise, CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT suffers from being shot on video as noted above; the colors seem muted as well. The entire production looks like it was shot in 'soft' focus, but this may have been intentional since it is a trilogy about ghosts. Sound is clear and fine - the audio is only in Japanese, although there is an English subtitle track option. Music is basically non-descript (but the DVD menu does use an English rock song - curious...)

THE DVD release of CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT is the first of Urban Vision's new Asia Vision label, but unfortunately, they don't include too much by the way of extras. There is an image gallery and previews and....that's all. A little featurette on Nakata and how his career progressed from this stage would have been appropriate, and could be linked to future release by the director. Even some cast/crew bios would have been nice.

CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT is a not very suspenseful, low-key TV horror anthology, saved from terminal blandness by some engaging performances and artful direction. If you are a student of Japanese or horror film history then this film is definitely a curio to observe the beginning of director Nakata's career. If you're not, then CURSE DEATH & SPIRIT will be a disappointment.