cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Tags: comedy, satire

Plot synopsis:
J. Pierpont Finch buys a book, How to Succeed in Business, describing in step-by-step fashion how to rise in the business world. The ambitious young window cleaner follows its advice carefully. He joins the "World-Wide Wicket Company" and begins work in the mailroom. Soon, thanks to the ethically questionable advice in the book, he rises to Vice-President in Charge of Advertising, making sure that each person above him gets either fired or moved or transferred within the company.
Finch begins to fall in love with Rosemary Pilkington, a secretary at the company. Finch finds out that the president of the company, J. B. Biggley, has made advances towards Hedy LaRue, a beautiful but incompetent woman the company has hired. Finch uses this information to assist his climb on the corporate ladder.
Biggley's annoying nephew, Bud Frump, also takes advantage of the situation and tries to get to the top before Finch. By story's end, however, Finch has become chairman of the board, and might make the White House his next step to success.
Mean Streets
Tags: cult, comedy, neo noir, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is a young Italian-American man who is trying to move up in the local New York Mafia but is hampered by his feeling of responsibility towards his reckless younger friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro), a small-time gambler who owes money to many loan sharks. Charlie works for his uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova), the local caporegime, mostly collecting debts. He is also having a secret affair with Johnny Boy's cousin Teresa (Amy Robinson), who has epilepsy and is ostracized because of her condition—especially by Charlie's uncle. Charlie's uncle, a dignified man who takes his role as caporegime seriously, also wants Charlie not to be such close friends with Johnny, saying "Honorable men go with honorable men."
Charlie is torn between his devout Catholicism and his Mafia ambitions. As the film progresses, Johnny becomes increasingly self-destructive and disrespectful of his creditors. Failing to receive redemption in the church, Charlie seeks it through sacrificing himself on Johnny's behalf.
At a bar, a local loan shark named Michael (Richard Romanus) comes looking for Johnny to "pay up", but to his surprise, Johnny insults him. Michael lunges at Johnny, who retaliates by pulling a gun on him. After a tense standoff, Michael walks away, and Charlie convinces Johnny that they should leave town for a brief period. Teresa insists on coming with them. Charlie borrows a car and they drive off, escaping the neighborhood without incident. But then a car that had been following them suddenly pulls up alongside, Michael at the wheel and his henchman, Jimmy Shorts (Martin Scorsese), in the backseat. Jimmy fires several shots at Charlie's car, hitting Johnny in the neck and Charlie in the hand, causing Charlie to crash the car. The film ends with an ambulance and police arriving at the scene, and paramedics take them away.
Mater and the Ghostlight
Tags: revenge, horror, psychedelic, storytelling

Plot synopsis:
The short film opens with Mater playing pranks on the other residents of Radiator Springs. This sequence culminates with Mater teasing Lightning McQueen as if he had seen "the Ghostlight," a Route 66 legend recounted to Pixar by Dean Walker of the Kansas Historic Route 66 Association.
Sheriff admonishes him for mocking the urban legend, but Mater reminds Lightning that it isn't real. Sheriff points out that it IS real, shocking them, and then tells everyone the tale of the Ghostlight. The rest of the gang say goodnight and turn off all the store lights, leaving a nervous and scared Mater all alone in the dark.
During the body of the short, mayhem ensues as Mater is pursued by the Ghostlight, ultimately revealed to be just a lantern affixed to Mater's towing cable by Lightning and Guido. He drives into Willy's Butte and wakes Frank and his tractors and goes into slow motion where he sounds like a bull. The other residents of Radiator Springs watch as Mater drives around frantically with the "Ghostlight" on his tail, before Mater tires himself out and discovers the truth. The cars tell him it was all a prank to pay him back for all his pranks he played on them. Sheriff gently tells Mater that the only thing to be scared of on Route 66 is "his imagination." Doc jokingly adds that all Mater really had to fear was "The Screaming Banshee" before they all leave Mater, alone and frightened once again.
In a post-credits scene, Mater actually sees The Screaming Banshee but, not realizing it is him, warns him of the Banshee before departing, leaving the monstrous truck confused.
Red Road
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
Jackie Morrison (Kate Dickie) works in Glasgow as a CCTV operator, monitoring the Red Road Flats. She lives alone and engages in occasional sex with married man Avery (Paul Higgins).
Jackie recognises a man she sees on the CCTV monitor and begins inquiring about him. It is revealed that he is Clyde Henderson (Tony Curran), a prisoner who has been released early for good behaviour but will be back in prison immediately if he steps out of line. She begins stalking Clyde, tracking him on the CCTV monitors and gathering information about him. She follows Clyde to a cafe, and later learns he is throwing a party at the apartment he shares with fellow ex-con Stevie (Martin Compston). She gains entry to the party and begins exchanging looks with a drunk Clyde. They dance, but she makes an excuse and runs out of the apartment.
After spotting Clyde on CCTV heading to a local bar, she goes there and sees him break up a fight between Stevie and another man. Stevie and his girlfriend return to Clyde's apartment, while Clyde initiates a conversation with Jackie before inviting her back to the apartment too. Clyde reveals he has a daughter, with whom he regrets he has lost contact. Clyde and Jackie have sex, but she runs from the bedroom and stages rape, striking her face with a stone and fleeing from the apartment block in view of the CCTV cameras. The police identify Clyde as the rapist and Jackie watches the arrest on CCTV, and a few moments later sees Clyde's daughter approach the apartment block. Later, Stevie gains entry to Jackie's home and demands to know why she has falsely accused Clyde. Jackie reveals that Clyde killed her husband and daughter.
Jackie relents and tells the police she wishes to withdraw the accusation of rape. After Clyde's release, Jackie confronts him and they argue: Clyde describes the road traffic accident that killed Jackie's husband and daughter, and she reveals that her last words to her daughter were harsh. She tells Clyde that his daughter tried to reach him on the day of his arrest, and they go their separate ways.
Dead Man on Campus
Tags: suicidal

Plot synopsis:
Josh (Tom Everett Scott) gets into college on a scholarship, and Cooper (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is assigned as his roommate. Cooper does little work and instead spends all the time partying and consistently fails his courses, but his father continues to pay his tuition. The normally studious Josh is led astray by Cooper's lifestyle, and spends the first half of his first semester partying instead of studying, and consequently flunks all of his midterms. To his horror, he then finds out that a condition of his scholarship is a passing grade average each semester, and that with his poor midterm score, he needs an A+++ (which is impossible) in all of his courses or he will lose his scholarship.
Meanwhile, Cooper's father finally realizes Cooper is not trying to pass his course at all, and threatens to pull his funding if he does not get a passing grade this semester, leaving him in a similar position. They find out about an obscure academic rule that states that if a student's roommate commits suicide, then the roommates get perfect grades for that semester, regardless of any previous academic standing. Cooper and Josh set out to find roommates who are likely to commit suicide; their first potential roommate, Cliff O'Malley (Lochlyn Munro), is more likely to get himself (and any one with him) killed than commit suicide. They soon realize that he will likely get them killed or arrested and jump out of his moving car when he is being chased by the police.
Next, they try Buckley Schrank (Randy Pearlstein), a computer geek who thinks Bill Gates wants his brain. After they move Buckley in, they try to help push him over the edge. First, Cooper poses as a suicide hotline volunteer, and when Buckley calls, he tells him that he is Bill Gates and wants his brain. Then, Cooper buys equipment that may assist in a suicide (rope, daggers, prescription drugs) and as Josh and he are trying to plant the items around the dorm room, Buckley discovers the pair hiding from him with a noose and knife in hand. Buckley, who thinks that they are trying to kill him, and that the conspiracy to kill him and steal his brain is real, runs away.
Finally, Josh and Cooper move in Matt Noonan (Corey Page), a moody rock musician. Later, Cooper catches him singing show tunes and learns he was voted Mr. Happy in high school, leading them to believe that he is only pretending to be depressed to impress girls and make a name for himself in music. Facing the loss of his scholarship, Josh stands on the edge of a bridge, about to commit suicide himself. Cooper tells Josh he is not a failure and talks him down. When Josh comes down from the bridge, he reveals to Cooper that he was faking his suicide attempt so the school would not fail him, and Cooper would look like a hero to his father. The film ends with Josh narrating that he was given an additional semester to improve his grades, in which he saved his scholarship, and that Cooper became a more serious student, but did work summers cleaning toilets for his father's business to learn how to eventually take over.
The Sundowners
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
Irish-Australian Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) is a sheep drover and shearer, roving the sparsely-populated back country with his wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and son Sean (Michael Anderson, Jr.). They are sundowners, constantly moving, pitching their tent whenever the sun goes down. Ida and Sean want to settle down, but Paddy has wanderlust and never wants to stay in one place for long. While passing through the bush the family meet refined Englishman Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov) and hire him to help drive a large herd of sheep to the town of Cawndilla. Along the way, they survive a dangerous brush fire.
Mrs. Firth (Glynis Johns), who runs the pub in Cawndilla, takes a liking to Rupert. He takes to spending nights with her, but, like Paddy, he has no desire to be tied down.
Ida convinces Paddy to take a job at a station shearing sheep; she serves as the cook, Rupert as a wool roller, and Sean as a tar boy. Ida enjoys the company of another woman, their employer's lonely wife, Jean Halstead (Dina Merrill). When fellow shearer Bluey Brown's (John Meillon) pregnant wife Liz (Lola Brooks) shows up unannounced, she sees the young woman through her first birth.
Ida is saving the money the family earns for a farm that they stayed at for a night on the sheep drive. Even though Paddy has agreed to participate in a shearing contest against someone from a rival group, he decides to leave six weeks into the shearing season. Ida persuades him to stay. He loses the contest to an old veteran.
Paddy wins a lot of money and a race horse playing two-up. Owning such an animal has been his longstanding dream. They name him Sundowner and enter him, with Sean as his jockey, at local races on their travels after the shearing is done. Sean and Sundowner win their first race.
Ida finally convinces a still reluctant Paddy to buy the farm she and Sean have their hearts set on. However, he loses everything Ida has saved for the down payment in a single night of playing two-up. By way of apology, he tells her that he has found a buyer for Sundowner if he wins the next race. The money would recoup their down payment. Though Sundowner does win, he is disqualified for interference and the deal falls through. Nevertheless, Paddy's deep remorse heals the breach with Ida, and they resolve to save enough money to buy a farm one day.
Bed of Roses
Tags: romantic, fantasy

Plot synopsis:
Lisa Walker (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a business executive who has gotten used to being alone but doesn't like it very much. She was abandoned by her birth parents and then spent most of her childhood being raised by Stanley (S.A. Griffin), a foster father who never really loves Lisa after her adopted mother died.
One day, Lisa gets word that Stanley has died; alone in her apartment, after attempting to feed her now dead pet fish, she breaks down and cries uncontrollably. The next day at work, Lisa gets an unexpected delivery of flowers from a secret admirer. Puzzled, she presses the delivery man for information on who might have sent her the flowers. He says the sender wants to remain anonymous. Lisa asks her friends for names and visits the flower shop to no avail.
After getting to know each other better, he confesses that he sent them. Lewis (Christian Slater) runs a flower shop and often takes long walks through the neighborhood at night, trying to lose memories of his deceased wife and child. He saw Lisa crying in her window and hoped the roses would cheer her up. Before long, Lisa and Lewis begin dating but each has emotional issues to resolve before their story can have a happy ending.
Boys Night Out
Tags: plot twist

Plot synopsis:
Three married men, George (Tony Randall), Doug (Howard Duff), and Howie (Howard Morris), and divorcé Fred (James Garner) are friends who commute to work from Greenwich, Connecticut, to New York City on the same train. Seeing Fred's philandering boss, Mr. Bingham (Larry Keating), with his mistress sets the men to fantasizing about sharing the expense of an apartment in the city as a love nest. As a gag, they give Fred the task of finding an unrealistically inexpensive apartment and a blonde "companion" to go with it.
Fred rents a luxurious suite from Peter Bowers (Jim Backus), who is desperate to find a tenant because the previous occupant was a highly publicized murder victim. By chance, Cathy (Kim Novak), a knockout of a blonde, also answers the advertisement for the apartment. Fred explains that the place has already been taken, but that he is also looking for a beautiful young "housekeeper" for his friends. To his surprise, she accepts the job. The boys are delighted; each tells his wife that he is taking a course one night a week to improve his mind so he can stay in New York overnight.
Unbeknownst to the men, Cathy is actually a sociology graduate student writing her thesis on the "adolescent fantasies of the adult suburban male." Her skeptical advisor, Dr. Prokosch (Oskar Homolka), objects, "Can you look like 'yes' and act like 'no?' ... This a nice girl hasn't learned." Cathy responds, "No? This is what a nice girl has learned best." When they start calling on her individually in the evenings, she encourages them to talk, all the while secretly recording their conversations.
Cathy deftly avoids being seduced by the married men, although each lets the others think he has slept with her. She supplies what each one really wants: Howie is starved for more substantial food than his dieting wife will provide; Doug likes to repair things that are conveniently broken each week (his status-conscious wife does not want their neighbors to see him tinkering about the house); George enjoys talking about himself, but his spouse keeps finishing his sentences. Fred, however, is a different story: he is very attracted to Cathy and, disgusted by his friends' fabricated stories, refuses to use his night.
In the end the wives become suspicious, and on the advice of Fred's mother, Ethel (Jessie Royce Landis), hire private investigator, Ernest Bohannon (Fred Clark) to find out what is going on. Based on his report, they assume the worst and confront their husbands. All three married men confess that nothing happened, and Cathy reveals that she is just doing research.
After getting over the shock, Fred and Cathy become a couple, and the boys' night out is no more; instead, the four couples go out together.
Holding Trevor
Tags: comedy, queer

Plot synopsis:
Young, friendly, and intelligent, Trevor Holden (Brent Gorski) is in a stalemate. Entangled in an unhealthy relationship with Darrell (Christopher Wyllie), a seductive but self-destructive heroin addict, and trapped at a low-paying job, Trevor finds scant comfort in Los Angeles' vapid party scene, where conversation rarely rises above inquiries like "So, are you an actor?" Worse still, he and his two best friends - roommate Andie (Melissa Searing) and singer Jake (Jay Brannan) - are being pulled apart by boredom and discontent. At the hospital for his boyfriend's latest overdose, Trevor finds a potential new beginning in Ephram (Eli Kranski), a medical intern with ambition, a warm demeanor and strikingly good looks. After they spend a romantic evening together, Trevor seems poised to make some changes. He begins by ending his relationship with Darrell and then strives to reconnect with Andie and Jake. But what should be a joyous event - a party celebrating a negative HIV test - results in Andie secretly discovering she is HIV positive because of a drunken hookup. Later on, Trevor gets into a fight with Darrell at the party, which is overheard by the guests and causes a rift between Trevor and Ephram. Trevor is devastated by the tragic death of Darrell after an overdose. Ephram informs Trevor of Darrell's death and seeks to comfort him in the aftermath. After being offered a job in New York City, Ephram confesses his love for Trevor and suggests he abandon his life in Los Angeles and come live with him. Andie, reeling from her frightening revelation, seeks comfort in Trevor and pleads with him to not leave. Trevor is torn between pursuing the love of his life or staying to assist a dear friend in need. Trevor remains committed to bettering his life, but realizes that some people are too precious to abandon.
Where Have All the People Gone
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
On a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains in central California, a father (Peter Graves) and his two teenage children are exploring a cave when they experience an earthquake. After emerging, they hear from a ranch hand who was outside that there was a bright solar flash prior to the earthquake. He soon falls ill and dies, whereupon his body turns to a powdery substance. As the family comes down from the mountain to the nearest town, they discover that everyone has turned to the powdery substance inside their clothing, and there are few survivors.
Most, out of fear and survival, are out for themselves, but as they try to make their way home to Malibu (where the mother had returned earlier from the camping trip), they find two people that need their help, as well as a man who invites them to be neighbors.
They face dangers ranging from wild dogs, who seem to have been driven mad from the solar flare, to a gunman who steals their car. They rescue a woman (Verna Bloom), and later a young boy whose family was killed by two men who stole their car. Besides the physical journey, they struggle to overcome the emotional trauma of the events.
They find their way home and find a note left for them by the mother. They are informed that a virus starting after the solar flare is responsible for most of the deaths, and that some people have a genetic resistance. Jenny almost commits suicide by attempting to drown herself into the ocean waves, until she is rescued. After initial grief, they later continue with a hopeful outlook, by moving into Northern California.
Heart and Souls
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
In San Francisco, 1959, four people embark on the same bus. A single mother named Penny Washington leaves her three children at home to work in her night shift as a telephone operator. A singer named Harrison Winslow is afraid of the stage and quits his audition. A waitress named Julia regrets turning down her boyfriend John's marriage proposal and leaves her job to seek him out. A small-time thief named Milo Peck fails to retrieve a collection of vintage stamps that he had conned out of a young boy. The bus driver, Hal, has a serious accident, killing himself and everyone on board.
Meanwhile, Frank Reilly is driving his pregnant wife Eva to the hospital. Frank successfully swerves to escape the bus, just before it drives off an overpass, but Eva delivers their baby in the car. Hal ascends into the next life, but the souls of the four passengers become the guardian angels of the boy, Thomas Reilly, and can be seen only by him. Seven years later, the boy's parents and teachers begin to worry about his obsession with these "imaginary friends" and discuss submitting him to psychological exams. After realizing their presence is harming Thomas, the quartet decides to become invisible also to him. Unknown to Thomas, they remain by his side.
Twenty-seven years later, in 1993, Hal returns with his bus and prepares to finally take them to the next life. The quartet learns from Hal that they've been with Thomas all these years because he serves as their corporeal form; they were supposed to ask him for help in resolving the problems they left behind. If he ever refused, one of them should have inhabited his body and made him cooperate. After convincing Hal to buy some more time for them to rectify their unfinished lives, they reappear to Thomas, who is now a ruthless businessman and indecisive in his relationship with girlfriend Anne.
Thomas reluctantly agrees and, through a series of hilarious mishaps, the lost souls are freed: Milo by returning the stolen stamps, Harrison by facing his fears and singing to a live audience, Penny by discovering the fates of her children and Julia by encouraging Thomas to repair his relationship with Anne, as she was never able to do the same with John. In the end, Thomas becomes a better man and he dances with Anne as four stars twinkle in the night sky, symbolizing that Penny, Julia, Harrison, and Milo are finally at peace.
Final Days of Planet Earth
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Three years ago, a team of astronaut miners completed a daring space expedition. They embarked on their journey home, but by the time the craft returned to Earth, their commander had gone mad—taking a terrible secret with him to a heavily guarded state asylum for the insane. Today, archeologist Lloyd Walker and entomologist Marianne Winters are among a select group of people who are questioning a possible link between the tragic space mission, the mystery of the commander’s madness, and a series of bizarre disappearances and strange accidents in San Francisco. The answer arrives when they stumble upon an underground colony of insect-like creatures harvesting human bodies for survival.
Liz Quinlan, now an employee of the mayor’s office, knows all too well the secret of the aliens. She is their Earth Queen. The city's highest representatives are her consorts. With police and government officials taken over by aliens masquerading as humans, Lloyd and Marianne realize they can trust no one, except William Phillips, the one man who knows the ultimate goal of the aliens. He also holds the mysterious key to their defeat—it's in his blood. He is the commander himself—the sole mission survivor being held as prisoner. Lloyd and Marianne must find him before he becomes a victim of an unearthly experiment.
Old Rockin' Chair Tom
Tags: revenge

Plot synopsis:
Mammy Two Shoes is standing on a chair, which Jerry is shaking. She calls for Tom, who chases Jerry away from Mammy, but Jerry trips him. Jerry goes back to Mammy and rocks the stool up and down until Tom chases him again. Jerry opens a door and the ironing board, followed by the iron, fall on Tom's head. Tom catches Jerry trying to cut down the stool, and Jerry gives him the axe. Mammy urges Tom to hit Jerry, but misses and eventually he chops down the stool. Tom supports Mammy on his head, until he loses his balance. Jerry opens the door of the basement stairway. Tom goes through the doorway, with Mammy still on him, and crashes down into the basement.
Mammy retires Tom and calls in Lightning, a ginger orange cat who kicks Jerry out of the house and into the dumpster. Lightning kisses Mammy's hand and she praises his etiquette and efficiency. Jerry tries to sneak back into the house, but Lightning kicks him out again. Lightning twists Tom around, and dresses him up with a fake beard and a walking stick, leaving Lightning in charge. The cat shows his true nature by raiding the fridge, until he drops a bottle of milk, which wakes up Mammy. Lightning frames Tom by dumping the fridge contents at Tom's feet, stuffing leftovers into his hands and cramming Tom inside a watermelon. When Mammy enters, Lightning nods Tom's head when she asks if he had been in the fridge. Lightning kicks Tom into the dumpster, where he sees Jerry and they plot to remove Lightning from the house.
Tom and Jerry, armed with a magnet and iron, sneak into the house, and place the iron by a sleeping Lightning's mouth, and the magnet behind his rear. This causes Lightning to swallow the iron, waking him up. As Lightning chases after Jerry, Tom uses the magnet to attract the iron, and therefore pull Lightning back into his fist. Tom then tosses the magnet to Jerry, but Jerry is too light and is dragged along with Lightning until he runs into the iron and latches onto the magnet. Lightning grabs onto a piano leg and Tom, Jerry and Lightning begin a tug-of-war. The duo wins and Lightning is sent through the piano and into a wall.
Mammy hears the chaos and enters the room, but soon Jerry starts to terrorize her again by shaking the stool she is standing on. She calls for Lightning, but Lightning is unable to come to the rescue, as Tom is controlling his movements behind the kitchen wall. Eventually, Mammy calls for Tom, who grabs Jerry and pretends to beat him up. Tom helpfully kicks Lightning out of the house, but, forgetting the iron, he ends up breaking his foot.
Tom, with his foot wrapped in bandages, is given a nice pie from Mammy. Tom takes most of the pie, but leaves the remainder of it for Jerry who, using the magnet, brings the dish of pie to his mousehole and happily tucks into the pie.
Helen of Troy
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
The film retells the story of the Trojan War in In 1100 B.C., albeit with some major changes from the Iliad's storyline: Paris of Troy (Jacques Sernas) sails to Sparta to secure a peace treaty between the two powerful city-states. His ship is forced to return to Troy in a storm after he has been swept overboard on the shore of Sparta. Paris is found by Helen, Queen of Sparta (Rossana Podestà), with whom he falls in love. He goes to the palace where he finds Helen's husband, King Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis), Agamemnon (Robert Douglas), Odysseus (Torin Thatcher), Achilles (Stanley Baker) and many other Greek kings debating whether to go to war with Troy. Menelaus, who is denied by Helen, sees that his wife and Paris are in love and, pretending friendship, plots Paris' death.
Warned by Helen, Paris flees and, after they are both nearly caught by the Spartans, takes Helen with him to Troy. Under the pretense of helping Menelaus regain his honor, the Greeks unite, and the siege of Troy begins. Much blood is shed in the long ordeal, with the Trojans blaming their plight on Paris and Helen until it turns out that the Greeks are solely after Troy's riches, not Helen. The siege culminates in Greek victory through the ruse of the legendary Trojan Horse. While trying to flee, Helen and Paris are cornered by Menelaus. Paris faces the Spartan king in single combat, but just as he wins the upper hand he is stabbed from behind, denying him a fair trial by arms. Helen is forced to return with Menelaus, but she is serene in the knowledge that in death she will be reunited with Paris in Elysium.
Speed Grapher
Tags: psychedelic

Plot synopsis:
Speed Grapher follows the exploits of former war photographer Tatsumi Saiga, who investigates a secret fetish club for the ultra-wealthy called the Roppongi Club. He tries to photograph the club's "goddess", a 15-year-old, exploited girl named Kagura, but is discovered. As he is about to be killed, Kagura kisses him, granting him the ability to destroy anything he photographs. Saiga soon discovers that Kagura's body fluids, like her saliva, in combination with a certain "virus", can give people bizarre abilities relating to their secret desires, fetishes, and obsessions. Club members strive for the honor of becoming "gifted" via Kagura's power. Saiga soon becomes entangled in this secret underground society and the powerful and corrupt Tennōzu Group mega-corporation that operates it. He attempts to free Kagura, a move that puts the two of them on the run from the Tennōzu Group and blood-thirsty members of the club with bizarre and often horrifying special powers.
Saiga and Suitengu engage in a game of cat and mouse; Saiga and Kagura manage to evade capture several times before Suitengu himself attacks Saiga, severely injuring him, and takes Kagura captive. To take over Tennōzu Group, Suitengu murders its president, Shinsen Tennōzu, who also is Kagura's mother. Kagura inherits the group, so Suitengu marries her and takes legal control of it. Saiga, having recovered from his wounds, interrupts the wedding and rescues Kagura. Together, they attempt to leave Japan but are enticed back by the prospect of defeating Suitengu once and for all. The plan, however, ends up being a trap set up by Prime Minister Kamiya, Seiji Ochiai and other Cabinet members as a way to control Suitengu and take control over the club. But, Suitengu knew of their betrayal and after trapping all the Cabinet members, the police superintendent and other members of government inside the club, he went to Kamiya's mansion to exact his revenge against him. He then took away Kagura from Saiga by promising not to kill Saiga if Kagura comes with him willingly. Saiga and his policewoman friend Hibari Ginza make one final attack on Suitengu's stronghold - the main building of Tennōzu Group. In addition, a group of politicians from around the world fire missiles at Tokyo to kill Suitengu. Saiga and Suitengu battle, but Saiga is unable to defeat Suitengu before going blind from overusing his power. Suitengu spares Saiga's life, and, in a final act of defiance, destroys all the money he gathered before being killed by the missiles. The world collapses into a financial crisis, but Saiga and Kagura finally reunite, no longer under threat of attack.
Bloodrayne
Tags: violence, gothic

Plot synopsis:
The game begins in 1933, in a place where it appears that the people believe in vampires, as all the doors and windows show crosses. It shows a man and woman running down a street. The woman trips, and the man pauses long enough to help her up, only to be dragged into a dark alleyway by a chain. His head is thrown from an alley at the woman's feet, with Rayne (voiced by Laura Bailey) walking calmly up to the woman. The woman seemingly breaks down crying, but in fact only hides her face to reveal she is in fact a vampire. After a brief fight, Rayne decapitates her and then takes off before a small army of vampires tries to catch her off guard. She drops a grenade on their position as she leaves.
On top of the buildings, two mysterious men, who were watching the events unfold the whole time, are discussing their reason for being here. One reveals they are here to recruit Rayne, who is trying to find where her father is. The other member does not want a Dhampir with the Brimstone society, regardless of the fact that she is only half-vampire and has fewer weaknesses, as the Society is trying to rid the world of Vampires (and presumably people with Vampire blood in them). Eventually they agree to recruit Rayne, and leave a necklace with their symbol on it (as seen on the game cover).
=== Story ===
The game consists of three acts:
Mortton, Louisiana: the game starts in Mortton, Louisiana, as Rayne's first mission with the Brimstone Society, along with Mynce, her mentor. They are sent there to investigate an outbreak of an unidentified disease in the area.
Argentina: after the events in Mortton, the story skips several years ahead. Rayne is sent to infiltrate a Nazi base in Argentina, prevent the G.G.G. from obtaining the mystic artifact known as "the skull of Beliar" and eliminate the organization's head members.
Germany: Rayne finds an anonymous letter informing her that a G.G.G. officer in Germany has list of the remaining G.G.G. officers. After obtaining the list, she pursues her targets to Castle Gaustadt, to eradicate the G.G.G., and eventually, Jurgen Wulf himself.
=== Characters ===
Rayne is a dhampir looking for her father, and kills any vampire that crosses her path. She is working for the Brimstone Society.
Mynce is Rayne's friend and mentor. She helps her with her first assignment, during which she is seemingly killed.
Juergen Wulf is the leader of Gegengeist Gruppe (Counter-Ghost Group, abbreviated G.G.G.), a group that aims to bring Hitler into power through use of occult artifacts, including obtaining and reassembling the remains of Beliar.
Beliar was the original devil, usurped by Mephisto who tore him apart scattering his body parts around the world. These "relics" retain some of his power, granting their owners supernatural abilities.
Papy fait de la résistance
Tags: cult, satire

Plot synopsis:
Héléna Bourdelle, a.k.a. "La Bourdelle," is a great singer and wife of maestro André Bourdelle. Joining the Resistance, he is killed by the accidental explosion of a grenade. Following the defeat, the family's mansion is taken over by German forces, leaving the family occupying a few back rooms, and complaining to the Kommandantur about his excesses and those of his men. Madame Bourdelle, her daughters and their tenant help by chance the escape an English airman, and are then forced to hide him in their cellar. The family, whose former caretaker Ramirez has become a Gestapo agent, is favoured by the General Spontz who has a soft spot for Bernadette Bourdelle. He is willing to ignore the fact that Guy-Hubert, son of the family, a seemingly cowardly and effeminate hairdresser, is actually the elusive vigilante known as "Super-Resistant".
Michel Taupin, who is a tenant in the family house, woos without success Bernadette Bourdelle, after initially having views on Colette. His insistent desire to join the Resistance leads to many adventures. Imprisoned after an episode at the Kommandantur, he meets a resistant, Felix / Frémontel, who confides in him, thinking he is about to be shot by the Germans. When they are freed by Super-Resistant, Felix finds himself unable to get rid of Michel. Although she had vowed not to sing while there were Germans in France, Madame Bourdelle is forced by General Spontz to attend a reception in honour of Hitler's half-brother, Marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel, held in a castle near Paris. With the help of Michel Taupin, the Resistance detonate a bomb in the dining room.
The story seems to end, but proves to be a "film within the film," and gives way to a contemporary television debate, designed to address the period of occupation, and to report on the reality of the depicted events in the film. The show brings together Bernadette Bourdelle and General Spontz (now happily married), Guy Hubert, Adolfo Ramirez Jr. (son of Ramirez, who came from Bolivia to defend his father's memory), and Michel Taupin (now Cabinet Minister of Veterans Affairs). Soon, the discussion turns to disaster: Ramirez Jr. insults and defames the other protagonists of the story, who start to beat him up on the TV set, forcing the host to cut the transmission.
Strangers in Paradise
Tags: psychedelic

Plot synopsis:
The story primarily concerns the difficult relationship between two women, Helen Francine Peters (referred to as Francine throughout the series) and Katina Marie ("Katchoo") Choovanski, and their friend David Qin. Francine considers Katchoo her best friend; Katchoo is in love with Francine. David is in love with Katchoo (a relationship which Katchoo herself is deeply conflicted over).
The love triangle (which later expands into a love rectangle with the introduction of Casey Bullock, who marries Francine's ex-boyfriend Freddie Femmur and later divorces him, in order to pursue both David and Katchoo) alternates with the mystery and intrigue regarding Katchoo's past as an underage lesbian hooker and the Parker Crime Syndicate. Run by David's lesbian sister Darcy, the "Parker Girls" work for the shadowy 'Big Six' organization, an international crime syndicate with influence over the world of politics. "Parker Girls" are highly trained women used by organized crime to control, manipulate, spy upon, and ultimately kill men and women in positions of power and authority, for the Big Six.
SiP, as it is commonly known, began as a three-issue mini-series published by Antarctic Press in 1993, which focused entirely on the relationship between the three main characters and Francine's unfaithful boyfriend. This is now known as "Volume 1". Thirteen issues were published under Moore's own "Abstract Studio" imprint, and these make up "Volume 2". This is where the "thriller" plot was introduced. The series moved to Image Comics' Homage imprint for the start of "Volume 3", but after eight issues moved back to Abstract Studio, where it continued with the same numbering. Volume 3 concluded at issue #90, released June 6, 2007.
Que la bête meure
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
A high-powered car races through the French countryside. A young woman is in the passenger seat. It enters a small village at high speed. It hits Charles Thénier's nine-year-old son, returning from the beach, and drives on without stopping. Charles vows to have his revenge, keeping a journal of his thoughts.
The police investigation is fruitless. Charles thinks the guilty party may run a garage, since there is no record of a car going in for repairs. By chance, while pursuing this hunch, he discovers that actress Hélène Lanson was the passenger in a car that was damaged on the day of his son's death. Adopting a pseudonym, he seduces her and discovers that the driver was her brother-in-law Paul Decourt. He arranges a trip with Hélène to visit her sister's family in Brittany.
Charles discovers that Paul is detestable, cruel to his wife and hated by his teenage son Philippe. He has conflicting thoughts as to whether or not he will kill Paul. He rescues him from a cliff-fall. Philippe confides to Charles his own desire to kill his father.
Hélène confesses that she once slept with Paul. Charles presses her to explain more of her anxiety about Paul, but she refuses to add anything.
Charles decides to kill Paul in a staged boating accident and buys a yacht for that purpose. However, while at sea, Paul pulls a gun on him and reveals that he has read Charles' journal and passed it to his solicitor to take to the police should something happen to him.
Charles appears to abandon his plan to murder Paul and drives away with Hélène. In a roadside cafe a television announcer reports Paul's death from poisoning and appeals for Charles and Hélène to return, which they do. Charles argues to the police that it would be foolhardy for him to kill Paul when he knew the journal would reach them. They contend that Charles has planned to use this argument to deflect their suspicions and arrest him. However, Philippe enters and confesses to the murder.
Back at their hotel, Charles is weary and promises to tell Hélène the entire story the next day. She wakes to find his note explaining that Philippe has confessed falsely to the crime Charles himself committed. He tells her to share his confession with the police and that he will punish himself and never be seen again. He is seen sailing oceanward.
The Unnamable
Tags: violence, murder

Plot synopsis:
In the late 18th century, in the Winthrop house, something within it is screaming and banging at the walls of its confines. Joshua Winthrop, the owner of the house, rushes through the poorly lit corridors of the house before unlocking a heavily locked door. He begins talking to the creature inside to calm her down but she then kills him.
Randolph Carter regales two of his university buddies, Howard and Joel, with ghost stories. Randolph points out that they are sitting in the graveyard surrounding the haunted house of his tales (which happens to be within the limits of observation). The story that Randolph had been telling them was of Joshua Winthrop and his demon daughter, Alyda Winthrop. Joel comes up with the idea to stay there overnight. Randolph and Howard go back to the university, leaving Joel alone in the house.
Soon a group of students decide to go there, two young lads fresh from the university football team, Bruce Weeks and John Babcock, and a couple of girls that they want to score with: one of which Howard is in love with, Wendy Barnes, and the other, Tanya Heller, is "in love" with Howard. They go there and get set up in a room to tell each other ghost stories. Meanwhile Howard chases after Randolph to tell him that Joel never came back from the house, prompting Randolph to swing into action saying "I'll get the flashlights" with some degree of authority and urgency, despite not being too bothered about the missing student prior to that.
Alyda Winthrop, the creature, begins stalking the four, planning to kill them as she killed her father and Joel. Soon Joel's decapitated corpse is found hanging upside down, his blood dripping onto a plate of some sort, along with his head, that rolls across the floor to look at a half naked Wendy. Soon Randolph and Howard arrive at the house and Randolph discovers that the door has locked of its own accord upon their entry, which he thinks to be magic. Howard runs off to the aid of Wendy and Tanya, while Randolph decides to study The Necronomicon. In it he finds a spell to unlock the door. He goes outside and enters the ground under a tree via the tomb of Joshua Winthrop. This tree, with the aid of Randolph and the book, snatches Alyda from the house in the climax of the film, leaving Howard and Tanya the only two alive and in the desperately terrifying vicinity of the female demon.
Howard and Tanya flee from the house and run to a safe distance, but a hand comes up from the ground and begins pulling Howard down. It is Randolph coming up from the catacombs beneath having fended off the skeleton guardians.
Lonesome Ghosts
Tags: haunting

Plot synopsis:
The Ajax Ghost Exterminators - Mickey, Donald and Goofy - are hired by telephone to drive out four ghosts from a haunted house that has long been abandoned. Unbeknownst to them, they were hired by the ghosts themselves, who are bored because nobody has visited the house they had long been haunting for a long time (either because none of the locals were scared or they had scared them all away, as one ghost puts it: "Guess we're too good!"). They wish to play tricks on the living, and do so through a series of inventive, annoying pranks. The exterminators arrive and knock on the front door, which falls down. When they announce themselves, but there is nobody to receive them. Mickey decides they should get to work anyway. When entering, the door lifts up and throws them inside before putting itself back in place. After hearing the ghost's laughter, the three split up to hunt the ghosts individually. The exterminators are toyed with at every turn; The ghost knocks Mickey on the head and puts his fingers in his gun and it explodes. Mickey is driven upstairs and tries to open a door, which falls down and the ghosts (forming a marching band) come out of the fallen door and go into another. Mickey opens the door which causes a splash of water. Donald, meanwhile, is whacked with a wooden board and is scared away by the sounds of banging chains and dishes. Goofy, in a bedroom, becomes tangled in a dresser and stabs his own rear with a pin, mistaking his blue pants for a ghost and is shoved down into the basement. In the end, the three exterminators accidentally become covered in molasses and flour, making them look like ghosts and consequently scaring the actual ghosts out of the house in a panic. The ghost hunters stand victorious, having driven the spirits out of the house, although not exactly certain how. Donald smugly assumes the ghosts fled in capitulation to their superior tactics.
Goofy says, while warily looking around him: "I'm brave! But I'm careful." Donald observes, "So you can't take it, you big sissies!", and Goofy quips, "I ain't scared of no ghosts!" (weakly boasting while hiding from a ghost-engineered scare).
In the Blood
Tags: revenge, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback

Plot synopsis:
In 2002, Ava, a 14 year old girl from Bridgeport, Connecticut, is woken up in the middle of the night and sees her drug lord father murdered by two masked intruders, before grabbing a shotgun and gunning down the two assailants. Twelve years later, after a rough life and recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, Ava marries the affluent Derek Grant in Arlington, the two having met while attending Narcotics Anonymous gatherings. After the ceremony, the newlyweds fly off for their honeymoon to a Caribbean island where Derek's family owns a summer home. One evening, the couple befriends a young local named Manny who invites them to a nightclub where Ava gets into a violent fight with several patrons following an encounter with local criminal Big Biz. The next morning, Manny invites Ava and Derek to ride "El Vuidador" ("The Widowmaker") a mile-long zip-line in the rainforest. Once there, Ava, who's afraid of heights, declines to go down the line, but Derek does and his harness snaps while descending, making him fall to the ground. Ava finds him in the forest, unconscious and severely injured, but alive. Unable to ride in the ambulance with her husband, she eventually reaches the hospital, where staff deny that Derek was brought in. After realizing that none of the island's other clinics and medical facilities have admitted her husband, Ava goes to the police to declare him missing. Stranded in a foreign land, faced with inaction from the local authorities and suspicion from her father-in-law, Ava tries to piece together what happened and find her husband, whatever it takes.