Tales of the Unusual

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

Directed by Masayuki Ochiai, Hisao Ogura, Mamoru Hoshi, Masayuki Suzuki, Tales of the Unusual leans on a strong ensemble — Kazuyuki Aijima, Izumi Inamori, Renji Ishibashi — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about horror titles of 2000.