1994    Japan    50 minutes    Animated, Colour, English dubbed Compilation tape
featuring short films by directors Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Katsuhiro Otomo.

Three separate animated sci-fi/horror/fantasy films directed by three masters of the
anime form. Originally released in Japan as Meikyû Monogatari.

Labyrinth (written and directed by Rin Toro) is a dark urban tale which pays homage
to Lewis Carroll’s fable “Through the Looking Glass.” A young girl, Sachi, and her car
fall through a mirror and end up in the alleyway behind their house. An ominous clown
leads them along surreal streets where invisible children play and streetcars are filled
with glowing skeletal commuters.

Running Man (written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri) is an exuberant cyberpunk
thriller which owes equal inspiration to William Gibson and Raymond Chandler. Zach
Hugh has been the champion of the Death Race for 10 years, but so much adrenalin
is getting to Zach and he is beginning to fray a little.
He is cybernetically integrated with his car and drives himself to death- rather
apocolyptically. You may have seen a heavily cut version of this on MTV’s “Liquid
Television” but this is the uncut original complete version and will blow you away.

The Order to Stop Construction (written and directed by Katsuhio Otomo) is a grim
sci-fi comedy which takes the concept of man vs. machine to its ultimate absurd limits.
A young Japanese bureaucrat must shut down a building project deep in the Amazon
jungle after his company's contract was canceled by a revolutionary government.
The contract dealt with a project to build a city with a robot crew and the mechanical
foreman will stop at nothing to complete its task.
As the only living person on site, his biggest problem is getting the robot crew to obey
his commands and not their core programming.


[ Words by 'Plasmababies' and 'Allenfamily' on Ebay ]