Produced by the notoriously schizophrenic Chu Yen-Ping, this Taiwanese film is an anthology of three short stories of a ghostly nature. Rated Category III -- Hong Kong's equivalent of NC-17 -- Amazing Stories, with a low budget and rushed production fully apparent, attempts to use copious amounts of naked flesh to hold the viewer's attention. It's a valiant, but ultimately failed, effort.

The first story is about a woman who is being abused by her husband, with her only solace coming from a stuffed doll and her sweet, but mentally challenged, brother. After her brother is killed while trying to help her during yet another attack, his spirit is transferred into the doll, and bloody revenge ensues. This installment comes the closest to creating actual suspense -- in particular, the cinematography is quite creepy -- but the sudden and incomplete resolution will leave the viewer scratching their heads, rather than scared.

Next, we turn to the tale of a gravedigger who comes upon a lovely vampire/witch/werewolf one night. What exactly is she? Like the eternal question around a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. This segment has some positive elements, though they have mostly been "inspired" by other films such as Angel Heart and A Chinese Ghost Story. Of course, many Hong Kong/Chinese films have done this sort of thing to great effect. But yet again, the writers and director didn't seem to know how to really bring everything together in a compelling and satisfying fashion. In its' defense, the technical elements, especially the score, do make this segment at least tolerable to watch, even if there is no real payoff.

Finally, and in the longest segment, we get the story of a love triangle between an innkeeper, his sexually unsatisfied wife, and a mysterious drifter. This is where Amazing Stories really comes off of the rails. This part comes off as more as boring Red Shoe Diaries style softcore twaddle, with the ghost/horror elements awkwardly shoehorned in. Sitting through this part almost made this reviewer tap out on the movie as a whole. Sure, it's nice seeing good looking naked people, but it tends to get old after a while. Also, the showing of what many people would construe as animal cruelty (such as live turtles getting cut apart so people can drink their blood) seemed unnecessary and leaves a bad taste in the viewer's mouth and ocular cavities.

RATING: 5