Logline:  Seven strangers are trapped inside an infamous "House of Horror" during a Hollywood movie studio tour, and forced to tell their most terrifying personal stories to get out alive.

In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror films such as "Tales From The Crypt", "Kwaidan" and "Spirits Of The Dead", TRAPPED ASHES features four stories of the surreal, erotic and terrifying, directed by five of Hollywood's most unique filmmakers:  Joe Dante ("Gremlins", "The Howling"), Ken Russell ("Altered States", "Tommy", "The Devils"), Sean Cunningham ("Friday the 13th"), Monte Hellman ("Two Lane Blacktop", "Cockfighter"), and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on "The Matrix" Trilogy).  In addition, multi-Academy Award winner Robert Skotak (TERMINATOR   2: JUDGEMENT   DAY, ALIENS) is serving as Visual F/X Supervisor on the film.

The cast includes Henry Gibson (THE  WEDDING CRASHERS, GREMLINS  II), John Saxon (NIGHTMARE ON  ELM STREET, ENTER  THE  DRAGON), Racel Veltri (AMERICAN  PIE: BAND CAMP), Tahmoh Penikett ("BATTLESTAR GALACTICA"), Tygh Runyan  (K-19 WIDOWMAKER),  Amelia Cooke (SPECIES III),  Jayce Bartok  (SUBURBIA, THE  STATION  AGENT) ,  Lara  Harris (THE  FISHER  KING),  Scott  Lowell ("QUEER AS FOLK"), Michele-Barbara Pelletier,  Luke MacFarlane  (KINSEY) and Scott Heindl  (I ROBOT).

Principal photography for the film took place in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Tokyo.  The film is entirely financed out of Japan by the Cinema Investment Fund, Tokyo Broadcasting System and Tokyo Broadcasting System International, and Asmik Ace.

Wraparound Story Director: JOE DANTE

Ultra Studios is one of Hollywood's oldest and most venerable movie companies -- and like Universal and Warner Bros., it's discovered there's money to be made by opening its doors to the public.  On an ordinary day, a group of strangers sign up for an hour-long tour of the legendary sound stages including:  PHOEBE, 30, a semi-successful actress and her sarcastic screenwriter boyfriend ANDY, 34; a pair of upscale New Yorkers -- architect HENRY, 40, and his uptight wife JULIA, 38; an over-the-hill screenwriter of B-pictures, LEO, 74; and a young woman who works at a revival movie theatre in town, NATHALIE, 28.  They pile on board a red bus, and an eccentric, elderly TOUR GUIDE shows them the sights -- including the infamous "House of Horrors" used in director Desmond Hacker's notorious 1960's thriller "Hysteria."  While exploring the long-neglected set, the tourists are trapped inside a bizarre octagonal-shaped room with no windows and locked doors -- just like the doomed characters in the old movie were.  When two members of

the group are gruesomely killed trying to escape, it becomes apparent that some sinister, unseen Manipulator is forcing the remaining six people -- plus the Tour Guide -- to relive the plot of "Hysteria" by telling their most terrifying stories to stay alive:

Episode 1 -- "The Girl With Golden Breasts"

Director:  KEN RUSSELL

Phoebe is just one of many invisible young actresses struggling to get noticed in Hollywood. So she decides to improve her chances by getting brand new breasts. They're the latest in plastic surgery technology: not made from silicon or gel implants, but from reprocessed human cadavers.  Phoebe's stagnated career  soon makes an amazing turnaround:   she's getting hired for bigger and bigger roles, and she even finds a brand-new boyfriend. Everything's going great - and she feels she owes it all to her gorgeous breasts.  But her boyfriend starts waking up with red bite marks on his back . and Phoebe discovers that her new breasts have a hunger all their own.

Episode 2 -- "Jibaku" (Evil Spirit)

Director:  SEAN CUNNINGHAM

American architect, Henry, and his wife Julia are visiting Japan for the first time. Henry's always dreamed of making this trip - but Julia hasn't, and as soon as they arrive she starts having dark premonitions and disturbing visions of some impending horror.  Her intuition is soon proved correct when they discover the hanged body of a Buddhist monk who's committed suicide, in a remote wooded area of an ancient temple. That night Julia is visited by the spirit of the dead man, who makes passionate love to her in her dreams.  Soon she finds herself drawn further and further into the dark land of the dead - leaving her husband Henry to desperately try to bring her back into the world of the living.

Episode 3 -- "Stanley's Girlfriend"

Director:   MONTE HELLMAN

In Hollywood, 1957, two ambitious young filmmakers become unlikely friends: Leo, writer of sadistic little B-pictures like "The Strangler," and a soon-to-be-famous director named Stanley.  They find they share a passion for photography, jazz -- and chess.  During all-night chess matches, the two men open their creative souls to each other.  Nothing could come between them -- until the day Stanley shows up with a mysterious beatnik girlfriend, Nina.  There's something ancient and modern about her, some indefinable, irresistible quality that drives Stanley half-mad with desire, turning his back on his work, his films, his friend Leo.

After a long silence, Leo receives an invitation to play chess one afternoon -- but when he arrives at the apartment, he finds Stanley has left town on a film project, leaving girlfriend Nina behind.  Leo can't resist tasting the forbidden fruit, even if it means betraying his best friend Stanley.  But he soon discovers that Nina's love comes with its own terrible price to pay ...

Episode 4 -- "My Twin, The Worm"

Director:   JOHN GAETA

Before she was born, Nathalie's parents had a tumultuous marriage.  In the mid-1970's, her mother and father relocated from France to work at the family's vineyard in the California wine country.  Her devilishly handsome father Vincent was unable to resist any female temptation --and her beautiful mother Martine suffered in silence, complaining only to her closest friend, Annie.  Martine was overjoyed when she learned she was pregnant with Nathalie -- until the doctor revealed that something else was growing inside her along with the baby:  a six-foot long tapeworm.  Unable to kill the worm for fear of aborting the fetus, Martine was forced to let the worm and the baby Nathalie grow side by side, until, in some twisted way, the two became symbiotically linked.The worm was finally killed soon after Nathalie was born -- but she never forgot her "phantom twin."  Years later, after Vincent has abandoned Martine for her best friend Annie, Nathalie finds herself living with an unfeeling father and a neurotic, spiteful stepmother. But her twin, the worm, will soon return to exact an excruciating vengeance on Annie and Vincent.

After the four stories are finished, the tourists find themselves freed from the claustrophobic House of Horrors. But not before the final sinister "chapter" to each of their stories is finally revealed ...