The Gregory Horror Show Vol-2 : The Guest From Hell (1999)
Animation Production: Naomi Iwata/Project Gregory Horror Show
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Official Website: The Gregory Horror Show
Running Time: 73 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

A couple of days before last Halloween we posted up a review of the first volume in Geneon’s release of the Gregory Horror Show. The program which is completely animated with computer graphics was different from most of the company’s recent releases in that it wasn’t exactly anime, but it also wasn’t something else entirely, which made it a bit of a standout title.

With volume two of the series hitting the streets this past month we thought we check in and see what Gregory is up to in his small hotel and what new residents may have checked in since we last visited.

Story

"Gregory Horror Show is a CG-animated horror-comedy program, set in an alternate dimension and populated by surreal and imaginative characters, dominated by Gregory, the evil proprietor of Gregory House. On the surface, each inhabitant of this “hotel for lost souls” represents a universal, everyday fear. But even this appearance is camouflage -- the bright plumage of insecurity to hide inner conflicts and subtlety of character.

Gregory acts as your guide and host into this macabre, wacky world of compiled short stories. You will be surprised at each plot-twisting ending."-- The Gregory Horror Show Website

Review

With the first set of episodes the Gregory Horror show established it’s premise fairly easily and managed to pack in enough surprises & twists to make it a worthwhile experience. With this second set of episodes the original premise is re-used, but this time with a different character who arrives to the Gregory House after a series of unfortunate events in the real world. The overall execution is very much in the same vein as our unseen heroine has many run in with the house guests and each one helps her realize something about her past life or teach her something about this new strange world she suddenly finds herself in.

The plot essentially revolves around our protagonists coming to grips with a choice she made in the living world, one that pitted true love against the prospects of a better job and more material goods. When her decision seems to go sour as her ex dates one of her friends something happens…and she finds herself in the Gregory House. Now she must figure out what happened and why she ended up in this strange place that is neither hell nor heaven, but a strange in-between purgatory.

As before the story unfolds mostly from a first point perspective that allows us to experience the events that unfold from our unseen character’s perspective. This gives the entire production a very video game-like feel that takes you back to the days when first-point perspective games ruled the world. By making the story more immersive you can’t help but feel like you are in some way interacting with these characters so it is a neat effect and one that I’m surprise we don’t see more in these types of shows.

Last time out we met several different characters and their peculiar traits, personalities and abilities. This is something that is carried over to this set of chapters as not only we catch up with old friends, but also meet a host of new ones. It should be noted that although there is a fairly sizeable cast Gregory continues to be the main one we interact with and talk to throughout the storyline. As our host in the netherworld he is at once both helpful and terrifying, as he helps us get around and sometimes even saves us from trouble, but only so that he can throw us into even more dangerous situations to his great delight.

On the production side the animation was on par with what we had already seen in the first volume. The computer animation is effective, but somewhat dated, to the point where it continues to remind me of an early to mid nineties video game cinema, except its not grainy or jerky. The color palette here is decidedly dark with many brightly colored highlights that accentuate the mostly dark world we are explore. The character designs were for the most part amusing and fun to watch for as each of the new characters was introduced to our protagonist.

The soundtrack was appropriate with several haunting pieces with plenty of eerie sounds to accompany the onscreen antics of Gregory and company. The voice acting was again very good and held up quite nicely, however I did miss having the option to hear the original Japanese cast. Not sure why this would not be included in what is admittedly a short DVD, so it’s not like there wasn’t space on the disc to include another sound source option.

The DVD is fairly basic as far as recent anime releases come. Included with this volume are the 25 short episodes that make up the “Second Guest” saga if you will. In addition you also get four bonus episodes of the Gregory Horror Show “The Bloddy Karte” which features everyone’s favorite blood sucking lizard nurse. The only other extras are the included previews for other Geneon releases and a small insert inside the DVD case with info on the next release alongside some artwork.

The video transfer was nice and crisp with no noticeable defects or color bleeding. The audio is encoded with Dolby Digital 2.0 and it comes across clearly with no real issues or problems that I could pick up on.

Final Thoughts

All in all if you enjoyed the first volume of The Gregory Horror Show you’ll love this second helping. In many ways it repeats what we have already seen, but it manages to inject just enough new elements and angles to make it worth checking out. The Bloody Karte bonus episodes also help add to the entire viewing experience.

If you enjoy a good dose of dark comedy this one might be just what the doctored ordered. If you haven’t seen the first DVD in the series I recommend you start there however as it has a slightly better set up.

Jeffrey Couto