AKA: グレゴリーホラーショー

Genre: Horror, comedy.

Length: Television series, 88 episodes, 2 minutes each

Distributor: R1 DVD from Geneon out of print

Content Rating: 13+ (Mature themes, violence.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Pet Shop of Horrors, Le Portrait de Petite Cossette

Notes: There is a PS2 videogame based on this show released in Japan, which also got translated and released in Europe.

Rating:

Gregory Horror Show

Synopsis

Gregory Horror Show is a small collection of vignette horror stories starring the various denizens of Gregory House, plus one guest (and victim) for the two first story arcs. The third takes place on the Nightmare Train and is mostly centered around Gregory himself.

Review

To say that Gregory Horror Show is a little... odd... would be a bit of an understatement. At its roots, the show plays out like Tales from the Crypt, except in extremely small bits and pieces. It's mostly dark and gloomy, but not without a humorous glint in the eye.

It also looks really weird. The characters all follow this cubic style, like some kind of odd origami project rendered in 3D CG, and they shuffle around like weird puppets. The backgrounds are a varied mixture of the same kind of textured polygon flats and shaded CG shapes. Obviously, Gregory Horror Show was never meant to impress visually, though you could argue that it sure knows how to set a mood, despite the sparse amounts of music. (If you can even call it that.)

For all their cubical shapes, a lot of the characters actually do a good job at being creepy. A lot of the credit for this definitely goes to the voice actors, who really bring out most of the characters and give them life. Or should I say death in this case? Maybe, but they are easily the best part of this show, or maybe I should say the only part.

And it'd have to be, because each "episode" of Gregory Horror Show last two minutes, each beginning with an approach towards the front door of Gregory House. They segue over into the character of the moment and their gimmicks, some of which work, others not so much. Due to the nature of the show, this also means that -- sadly -- some of the better characters like Neko Zombie are underutilized, as is the little girl and her... shall we say... "flip side". There's also Catherine, the psychotic nurse who would like nothing better than to jab the biggest syringe you've ever seen into your body and extract your blood... to go with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. At least you can trust Gregory himself to stick around and try to scare you with his sinister laugh and Marty Feldman eyes.

But barring the sinister atmosphere, Gregory Horror Show just isn't really all that scary. This might not be an absolute necessity for a horror show, but it would have been nice if it had at least made my hairs off my back stand up. Some of that could probably be blamed on the ridiculously fragmented way this show is set up. There simply isn't enough time to establish anything, much less go anywhere. (Though Gregory would argue that this is your destiny anyway, so there's no point in fighting it.)

And that's about it. There really isn't much more to be said about this show, so I'll just leave you with a montage of all the weird creatures you'll find here in Gregory Horror Show.

You must be exhausted from all of this. May I show you to your room?

What.... was I just doing? It's... not clear to me anymore. OH GOD HAAAAAAALP! — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Any acts of violence are greatly reduced due to the art style. There are characters who have axes and knives in their skulls, or one who've had its mouth sewn shut, and... it's all SO CUUUTE! That's just how this show is.