Kaidan (2007)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Hideo Nakata

Well, I had reached the penultimate entry of the J-Horror series with the film "Kaidan" and I will safely say it is one of the best of the series, but THE best still belongs to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Sakebi/ Retribution". As of this writing I have not seen "Kyōfu", but from some reviews I read online, I hear it doesn't get better. With this film, "Ringu", and "Dark Water" director Hideo Nakata takes us back in time with a period piece to weave a Kaidan tale. Just what is a Kaidan? Kaidan or Kwaidan is a term that translates as "supernatural tale" that takes place in ancient Edo era of Japan (1603-1868) and has it's origins in party-goers sitting around telling these spooky tales. There have been many films made of this kind since the silent era, most famous the 1964 portmanteau film "Kwaidan" which was honored with a Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film.

Vengeance from beyond the grave is the bread and butter of most classic ghost stories, even quite possibly enough to garner being in it's own little sub-genre. Being a progenitor to the typical J-Horror tale, "Kaidan" is based on a very old Japanese ghost story called "Kaida-Banashi, Shinkei Kasane-Ga-Fuchi" by author San'yūtei Enchō from the 19th Century.

"Kaidan" begins on a black-and-white tinged opening with a narrator telling the audience a tale of an acupuncturist/ moneylender named Soetsu Minagawa, who was a widower raising two daughters and has lent a fair amount of money to a unscrupulous samurai named Shinzaemon Fukai. When Soetsu demands the Fukai pay him his due, because the amount has gotten too large, the samurai murders him in cold blood. First slashing him over his left eye, and then outright finishing the job. Soetsu's daughters are left fatherless, as Fukai has the body thrown in a deep pool nearby called Kasanega-Fuchi, which is named after a woman named Kasane who was killed there by her husband. They believe their spirits still dwell there and swallows anyone who steps in the pool. Soon, the Fukai family met a series of strange misfortunes, beginning with Fukai himself losing his mind and subsequently murdering his wife and ultimately himself. He left behind, however, a baby son named Shinkichi. Bringing us into the film proper.

25 years later, Shinkichi is now living with his uncle as a seller of tobacco. The daughters of Soetsu Minagawa are still around as well, as the eldest, Oshiga (Hitomi Kuroki of "Dark Water"), is a shamisen teacher (bringing that j-horror trope full circle) for young girls and lives with her sister Osono. One fortuitous day, Shinkichi comes through town selling his tobacco while coming upon Oshiga in the street. They have no idea of their connection, and yet fall in love with each other, going so far as to carry on a relationship. Soon, however, one of Oshiga's students, Ohisa, begins to fall for Shinkichi. Oshiga's jealousy drives a wedge between her and her young students. Shinkichi confronts her on it and suggests that he leave. During the conversation they get in a lover's quarrel which eerily ends with Oshiga accidentally wounding herself with her own bachi (or plectrum) above her left eye, just like her father. Shinkichi feels obligated to stay. However, while the injury of Oshiga grows malignant and has her bedridden, a much deeper relationship between Shinkichi and her former student Ohisa grows. Ohisa confides in Shinkichi that she wishes to leave their village for Hanyu (coincidentally Shinkichi's birth home), because her family is very harsh towards her.

Shinkichi and Ohisa bond while Oshiga is in utter pain from her wound, which ultimately taking her life. The way Shinkichi finds out about her death however, is the beginning of his nightmare spiral into a series of her supernatural hauntings. Just as he looks over her death ceremony, she leaves him a note promising him that if he marries another woman, he'll kill her. When Shinkichi finally does leave town with Ohisa, the run into a torrential storm, and even Ohisa feels threatened by the ghost of Oshiga while the lovers are in the woods. She too sees the ghost of Oshiga and runs from it, causing her to accidentally scrape her leg on a short farmer's scythe; the very weapon Soetsu used to defend himself against Fukai, which places them at the Kasane-Fuchi. When in a burst of hallucinatory conniption, Shinkichi no longer sees Ohisa, but Oshiga and when she begins to strangle him, he grabs the scythe and strikes her. Only realizing too late he has killed Ohisa. Local villagers find him and nurse him back to health, and ironically it's assumed that Ohisa's uncle's family are the ones who find him, as they say they are missing a family member on the way into town.

There, Shinkichi is nursed back to health by the uncle's daughter Orui (in some translations of this very story, this is the name of the character for Oshiga), who has fallen in love with him. Shinkichi decides to leave town, even turning down the family's wish for him to marry Orui, that is until he runs into Osono, Oshiga's sister. Osono finds Shinkichi work on the docks and he eventually agrees to marry Orui, which will ultimately lead to a child and eventually his own destruction, just as Oshiga had promised.


Besides the fact that Nakata continues his theme of death by water in this film (see "Ringu" and "Dark Water") Nakata seems to fill the film with homages to classic Japanese storytelling traditions. The very opening with a lone storyteller weaving this tale, is based on Rakugo, which is a Japanese form of play that is similar to stand up comedy or a one-man play. It doesn't end there, because the very style of the film (at least in the opening) is a tribute to the films of horror director Nakagawa Nobuo and the aforementioned film "Kwaidan" with its stage play-esque set pieces. Interestingly, some of the characters names in the story have significant meaning, such as Soetsu meaning "Restless" and Fukai meaning "Discomfort". Hmmmm. A play on names on behalf of San'yūtei Enchō. "Kaidan" is a slow burner for sure, as the first half of the film is mostly melodramatic at best, and to be honest with you even when the horror does kick in throughout the film, it isn't up to par on what the contemporary-set J-horror pieces have to offer.

Ju-On (The Grudge) (2003)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Takashi Shimizu

The malevolent mother and child spirits continue their vengeance fueled haunting of Tokyo in this bigger budget theatrical sequel to the Ju-On television and video films. In the first film we saw the origin of the horror, as well as in the follow-up. The body count and victims increased, creating more and more horrific circumstances in a small vicinity that no one will be able to stop. The difference in this film, it seems to focus on one woman's encounter with the Ju-on Onryō spirits, creating a familiar vibe in the haunted house sub genre.

The feature film "Ju-On" expands the universe and attempts to give us some form of explanation of the exponential nature of the ghosts, while scaring the heck out of us. Keeping form of its predecessors, the film is told in non-linear construction, which makes us even more unnerved; adding to the suspense. In the opening, we get a short abstract visual to key events that set up the horrors of the film, though we don't know it yet. First off we find a young volunteer welfare worker named Rika assigned to visit an old woman home alone. Setting us smack bang in the very familiar ghost story trope of "the woman in a haunted house tale". She finds the house in absolute shambles, and the old woman shes' to check on, sitting in a room of the house alone. As she goes about cleaning up around the house, Rika eventually has an encounter with Toshio, the ghost child (except here he curiously appears in human form). She contacts the welfare department but when she goes to check in on the old woman, she finds a black figure hovering above her; the other ghostly resident of the house, Toshio's Yūrei mother Kayako.

The next sequence titled "Katsuya", takes us back in time with the old woman's son Katsuya Tokunaga and his wife (the old woman's daughter-in-law) Kazumi. We meet Katsuya as it appears they have just recently moved into the home looking after their elderly mother. When Katsuya goes off to work, Kazumi is left home alone with her elderly mother-in-law, but soon discovers it isn't just the two of them. Later that day, Katsuya gets home from work and looking for Kazumi he runs into the ghost of Toshio. After finding Kazumi in a catatonic state she dies, and he is soon possessed by an evil spirit. I presume based on the dialogue he later mutters to his sister, that he is possessed by the spirit of Takeo Saeki. Soon when his sister Hitomi comes home for a visit, she confronts him and is quickly kicked out of the house, until Katsuya takes Kazumi's dead body up to the attic.

The following vignette features Katsuya's sister, titled "Hitomi". The beautiful young woman becomes haunted by the ghosts. She contacts her brother from work and has what would normally be a mundane way back home, turned into a living nightmare. We even see the abilities of the Onryō spirit somehow transcends just the physical in being able to control or affect electronics, something which I'm sure was possibly inspired by "Ringu". Next up, in "Toyama" another welfare worker (Hashini; the worker who originally assigned Rika) visits the Tokunaga residence. He finds the old woman dead and Rika in a state of shock. The police are brought in on the case, and they end up finding the corpses of Katsuya and Kazumi Tokunaga in the attic. When one of the detectives question Rika about what happened, she reveals finding a boy named Toshio, which was reported a missing child. The police bring in a retired detective named Yuji Toyama, who was assigned to the case of the house Saeki family. He is seen with his daughter Izumi (here shown at a young age as opposed to the following segment), and soon joins the detective to help on their investigation. Toyama goes to the police station to watch the video camera footage of the Hitomi's last whereabouts in her building. The security guard is shown checking the ladies restroom, she had him check. Toyama checks the video footage and finds that he sees the same black spirit that Hitomi saw. As mentioned, the Onryō spirit is no longer bound by space, as she comes through the television screen Toyama is watching. Meanwhile, the film continues to follow Rika, who is still being haunted by the ghosts. By the end of the segment, Toyama decides to burn the house of Saeki down, but ends up apparently looking into the future as he witnesses his daughter as a teenager leaving the house after chickening out on the bet to stay in the house. Ultimately, it is all a ploy to lure him upstairs as the Yūrei Kayako gurgling and creeping like a spider, ends up chasing him. The police detectives happen upon him too, but run into the ghost themselves, and succumb to it.

The horror continues, as we follow some schoolgirls in the chapter titled "Izumi". We are now either a year or two later, as we discover Toyama is dead and his now older daughter is distraught over the haunted house of Saeki. Somewhere between her father dying and this episode, she went into the house with her three friends and they never made it out. This was the seen in the last episode, where her father actually saw her. When her school photograph comes out distorted her friends try to console her. It's already too late, as she knows that her number is up. In the final chapter, "Kayako", we find Rika must rescue her co-worker who has unknowingly went to the haunted house to check on Toshio. Rika, however arrives too late, as she realizes the spirits have taken her friend and Kayako's Onryō spirit taps into her psyche. This allows Rika to see, and in a sense relive, all that Kayako has been through (at least in this film). By the end of the film, we realize, somehow Kayako has possibly been reincarnated in Rika as, Takeo Saeki, the third and final member of this preternatural family continues his violent legacy.

The events in "Ju-On: The Grudge" have been seen and done before in film. For Americans, it is not so dissimilar from "The Amityville Horror", the difference being the latter is based on reality. The film series, however does have a few roots in classic Japanese horror cinema. For those interested, the tale seems to throw in the use of the black cat which does not quite fit into the Onryō spirit legend. There was a film in 1958 called "Borei Kaibyo Yashiki" (Mansion of the Ghost Cat aka Black Cat Mansion) by 50's horror maven filmmaker Nakagawa Nobuo, which seems to be a progenitor to the Ju-On film series in some way. This theatrical entry of the "Ju-On" series of films is a classic in the subgenre of "J-Horror". For Japanese horror films, sound design is essential. This has pretty much always been the case in all ghost stories, going back to the campfire. It is probably the most psychologically robust cinema genre one can watch, working on the parts of your mind you really don't want to explore. Visually, they rely less on gore and place more emphasis on creeping you out. For this entry in the series, director Shimizu really elevated his filmmaking prowess making not only a great horror film with more texture and characterization, but even allowed for humor and simple entertainment. Shimizu also remade this very film for American audiences with "The Grudge" and sequels continue to this day.

Sakebi (Retribution) (2006)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Some ghost stories are based on an relentless revenge from beyond the grave. Some are symbolic psychological character studies. Then others are meant to be a cautionary tale and a warning about mistakes done in life, and the idea that you may escape the past, but the past will not escape you. This kind of film is a well-beaten path for director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and he's proven he knows how to make a thought-provoking horror film that doesn't just follow the traditional tropes.


In the opening, we see a man forcefully drowning a woman dressed in red, face down in a shallow puddle in the midst of an empty lot. Police detective Yoshioka (played by Kiyoshi Kurosawa director pet Kôji Yakusho) and his girlfriend Harue wake up to a quick earthquake. Yoshioka is sent to a crime scene in an empty lot with a woman in red drowned face first in a puddle of salt water, also in an empty lot. when Yoshioka finds a button from a coat that may or may not personally belong to him at the crime scene, he begins to suspect himself. Even still, he turns the button in as evidence, and later the forensic team finds his fingerprints all over the woman's body.

The next scene has teenager begging his father doctor Sakuma, for syringes, so he can get some money. The dad takes his son to a deserted industrial area, drugs him, and drowns the boy face first in a bucket of water. When the forensics team find evidence of the first victim having been bound in yellow cord, Yoshioka returns to the original crime scene. There he runs into Dr. Sakuma standing by smoking. Yoshioka chases him down and accuses Sakuma of somehow framing him. Yoshioka's partner, however, becomes increasingly aware that there are too many ties binding him to the murder of the unknown woman. Yoshioka interrogates Sakuma, but finds the doctor has become mentally unstable, as he clearly has outbursts of seeing the ghost of his son and running from him.Yoshioka begins to realize he is the prime suspect in the unidentified woman's murder. It's after this, that he has an encounter with the ghost of the woman in red, interestingly enough during another short earthquake. The woman has a nightmarish scream and coerces Yoshioka to continue looking for her killer.

The next scene brings us to yet another person, where an executive confides in his office mistress that he has divorced his wife and plans to marry her. She soon withdraws herself and goes to the river to draw buckets of water. Later at home, she fills the bathtub full of the salt water, and bludgeons her boyfriend, of course, drowning him in the water. The police find him and for Yoshioka, the murder becomes something of a burden to both he and his partner who practically accuses him straight out as being the suspect. That is until, they find that the parents of the unknown woman has identified her. They head out to meet the mother of the woman, where they discover she has been dealing with an bully of an old boyfriend of their daughter's. When they chase him down, they eventually get a confession out of him, and the murder of the woman in red is solved. The problem is, detective Yoshioka's truth has just begun, as he links all the suspects, including himself to a certain abandoned insane asylum on the route of a ferry. The ghost also has not left, as they have unfinished business.

"Sakebi" is a twisty horror film to say the least. Kurosawa's style is effective throughout with his insightful use of visual and audible motifs in the film's overall theme. Let me just say, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is probably one of my favorite Japanese directors. His style feels somewhat reminiscent of what I fell in love with in John Carpenter. Though I haven't seen all of his films, this one is one of his best. This film feels like what Carpenter may have made had he were trying to do a Hitchcockian noir. However, this ghost story has its roots in Japanese horror cinema as well. For anyone interested in its predecessors seek out "Kwaidan" (1964) which features a similar segment called "The Black Hair" and "Ugetsu Monogatari" (1953) which I already reviewed on this site. Apparently, this film is supposed to be considered the fourth part in the J horror theater series, but it is not official. If it is, I consider it the best entry of the series yet. Regardless, this film is highly evocative thriller, and shouldn't even be lumped into the category of J-horror. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Honogaurai Mizu no Soko Kara (Dark Water) (2002)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Hideo Nakata

Japanese director Hideo Nakata returned to the world of horror author Koji Suzuki, with his adaptation of the short story “Floating Water”. The simplistic story revolves around a woman named Yoshimi Matsubara and her young daughter Ikuko, going through a turbulent divorce. The husband, Kunio Hamada, seems manipulative and unrelenting about his commitment to gain full custody of their five-year-old daughter. Yoshimi tries to convince their legal councils that she is capable of taking care of Ikuko, seeing how she’s already marred herself having gone through therapy over her job. She was a proofreader, and she claims that some of the books would sometimes give her anxiety and nightmares. Now, unemployed, she finds a way to convince them she can take care of her daughter.

The two move into a less than stellar apartment tenement plagued with plumbing problems and an untrustworthy landlord and worthless old janitor. The apartment they move into looks like it could be an unkempt relic of another time, including a foreboding water stain on the bedroom ceiling. Yoshimi learns that a young girl had disappeared from the building a year before, which doesn’t make her living there with her young girl any more pleasing. To make matters more interesting, Ikuko seems to repeatedly find a child’s red bag, one Yoshimi comes to discover is identical to the missing girl’s bag. The water issues are far more than plumbing problems, as puddles are found in the apartment building, a glass of water from the faucet contains hair, and that leaky ceiling doesn’t seem to cease.

After successfully landing a job, and getting Ikuko back into school at the local kindergarten. Her ex-husband begins playing games with her in an effort to gain custody of Ikuko. Meanwhile, just as Yoshimi and Ikuko begin to fortify their relationship, Yoshimi comes discover the little girl who disappeared may be haunting the building. Yoshimi finds conclusive evidence of this, when she learns that the girl lived right upstairs from their apartment, attended the same school that Ikuko is, and that the little red bag did indeed belong to her. All of this leads to a surprising yet melancholy climax, revealing just what truly did happen to the missing little girl and what her connection is to the water.

"Honogaurai Mizu no Soko Kara" is one of Hideo Nakata’s most atmospheric efforts, possibly better than Ringu. It evokes the dreariness of rain soaked streets, be it outside or indoors. The moody shots are tinged to a sickly yellowish filter to focus on flashbacks, and it’s effective. Nakata even takes use again of the videotape look of he utilized in Ringu with a security camera shot of the elevator, something that always made me wonder in a building that couldn’t seem to afford such a luxury. All in all, this film’s underlying story isn’t necessarily about the ghosts of children or the key signs of bad plumbing, it more or less is a sad cautionary tale about family or moreover the relationship between mother and daughter. The movie reminded me of John Mayer’s sappy Grammy winning song “Daughters” in that regard. However, it is a compelling ghost story, as most great ghost stories are primarily there for emotional exposition that the main characters must be guided through whether they know it or not.

Rinne (Reincarnation) (2005)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Takashi Shimizu

From the filmmaker that pretty much single-handedly jump started the onryō (J-Horror) sub-genre of horror films, comes a slight variation on your traditional ghost story film. The film opens with a series of strange events happening to a select few people which include a school girl, a business man at lunch, and a truck driver. In Shimizu's style of making the freaky random scare tactics work, the beginning probably sets the tone for the film, but as we find out more of the story, it really doesn't matter to the crux of the film.

"Rinne" is the third entry in the J-Horror film series headlined by producer Takashige Ichise. The film proper begins with an audition for a horror film by a famed director named Matsumura. In a room full of actresses, one of them tries to convince the filmmakers she's fit for a role because she feels she has lived before and this horror film is familiar territory to her. Matsumura glares at another actress in the room, Nagisa Sugiura (Yûka) and dismisses them. Later on, Nagisa and her agent discuss her chances in the film on a train, when she notices a little girl with a doll. The train opens to the platform, and when Nagisa rushes toward her, she next sees her underneath the platform before the train leaves.

Not long later, Nagisa's agent tells her that the events of the film are based on a true story. Back in the 1970s a Professor named Kazuya Omori (Shun Oguri) murdered eleven people in the "Ono Kanaka Hotel", including his own wife and two kids; a son and a daughter. He even recorded the murder spree with an 8mm camera. Meanwhile, the director meets with an old woman, who gives him a box apparently connected to the real life murders. When he opens the box, he is visited by the mysterious little girl as well, though unknowingly, and quickly sends off a copy of the script to Nagisa. The next day, her agent gives Nagisa a copy of the script, and the ghostly girl with the doll once again appears to her. At a pre-production meeting for the film, the filmmakers discuss their plans with the cast and crew, and hand out the roles to the cast explaining who their real life counterparts were. The director gives Nagisa the part of the professor's own daughter, Chisato Omori, which is the exact same little ghostly girl Nagisa has been having visions of.

A college girl, Kinoshita, has very similar hallucinations, and confides in her boyfriend about having a recurring dream in a hotel she's never been to before. When researching her paper on the phenomenon of cryptomnesia, her boyfriend hooks her up with another girl (named interestingly enough Yûka, the actress who talked of reincarnation in the beginning of the film) who has been experiencing reincarnation episodes herself. Meanwhile, filming begins on the horror film "Memories", and during a scene Nagisa sees the ghost of the murderous professor. The filmmakers also decide to film the movie at the actual "Ono Kanaka Hotel" where the murders occurred. Nagisa's hallucinations begin to worsen as she not only observes the ghosts, but they reenact the tragic events. When the director actually finds the ball of the murdered son, he goes looking for Nagisa himself.

At this point, Yûka explains to Kinoshita how she gets information of her memories and possible memories of a past life. Yûka takes her to the library where she has done research on her past life, revealing she was a victim in the hotel murders. Kinoshita instantly discovers the "Ono Kanaka Hotel" is the very same location of her own recurring dreams. Unfortunately, Yûka becomes another victim of Chisato's doll, which now appears to have become animated on its own. Meanwhile, Nagisa continues to be tormented by her visions of Chisato and her doll, which are becoming one and the same. Nagisa questions Matsumura on his reasons for doing the film and he only shows her the doll that the old woman gave him as research for his film. Kinoshita, however, visits the old woman herself, and finds out that the professor may not have been insane, but was conducting a study of his own on the possibility of reincarnation. Thus, kinda explaining the purpose of him going on a murder spree, because of his strong belief that they would return, which goes on to explain the opening of the film. All the random people seen in the opening are the eleven spirits returning inside new bodies. Both Nagisa and Kinoshita discover the horrific ramifications first hand of the professor's experiment.

According to Shimizu, he deliberately wanted to make a film that was different from other J-Horror films, and he most certainly did so. The idea is original, but in that it is not a horrific as one conditioned to the genre would expect. This film kinda takes its inspiration from Stephen King's (or more specifically Kubrick's film version) "The Shining" with a little bit of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series entry "New Nightmare". For me it kinda feels more like Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" which King drew inspiration for "The Shining" in the first place. This is one of the better entries of the J-Horror series as it completely attempts to reinvent the horror sub-genre. Shimizu also appears to have developed a style and verve to his film making powers, and I like the use of changing film stock in scenes where the Nagisa character goes into a hallucinatory flashback. Keep a look out for a fun little cameo, as J-Horror director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa "Kairo" (Pulse) plays a professor in one scene. The hotel is interestingly enough named "Ono Kanaka", which by my very rough translation is interpreted "eternity sight-seeing". A nice summation of the film's theme, and let's hope Shimizu improves as a director.

Ju-on: The Curse 2 (2000)
JAPAN --- horror
 
Dir: Takashi Shimizu
 
Following up on the horror hit Ju-on, the sequel keeps in the same vein as the original, but IMHO with added character development and scope. In fact, the first twenty minutes or so is essentially the end of part one. Also a television production, this film showcases the horrific events of the past and shows that those events has an infectious and exponential affect for all those unfortunate enough to be involved with the haunted house. The film opens with a segment titled "Kayako", which is basically an extended scene from the previous entry. We see the teacher, Kobayashi, visiting student Toshio and confronting the Onryō ghost of Kayako. This is almost indentical to the scene in the first movie. Though it embellishes a little more on Kayako's obsession of Kobayashi and serves as a good frightening refresher for the returning audience and passersby, it's skippable for those who've seen the first film. Kyoko Again this segment is an extended scene from its predecessor. Brother and sister, Tatsuya and Kyoko, visit the now haunted residence of Toshio and Kayako. Kyoko is psychic, so her real estate brother wants confirmation on the house. She does confirm it's haunted. In the middle of the segment, we get a new character; a boy named Nobuyuki, who we later learn is Kyoko's nephew. Kyoko begins a personal investigation into the house, and discovers the previous owner's mysterious deaths. When she goes to see her brother on it, she discovers his son has been attacked by the malevolent spirit. We soon learn the spirit has also moved into Kobayashi's old apartment, now belonging to Kyoko's brother.

The next part, titled "Tatsuya", introduces the unfortunate new residents of the cursed home. The mother gets a package in the mail which appears to be the manic writings of Kayako and Toshio's crayon art. When this woman gets in the house, it's apparent the package somehow possessed her with Kayako's spirit. Serving breakfast for her husband, she bludgeons him upside the skull with a frying pan, sits down, and eats breakfast without conscience. Next we see Kyoko's brother, Tatsuya, in a country house with his son. They are with Tatsuya's parents, and we see that Kyoko is with them, but seemingly appears to be possessed herself. He confers with his parents over his guilt of causing her apparent possession, as their father reveals, he too has psychic insight, and that Tatsuya must do something about the house before he is also possessed. He goes to the house to check on the new residents, and finds the horrifying revelation, they've been supernaturally evicted. At the parents house, the spirit appears to have found them as well.

Kamio

The next episode we witness two police detectives Kamio and Lizuka visiting the household of former detective Yoshikawa, who has clearly become a distubed individual. Kamio and Yoshikawa were on the original case with the family murders. They next follow a boy we recognize as Nobuyuki, as Kamio discusses the case or cases of the strange murders of Kayako and Kobayashi as well as the disappearance of Toshio and some other people. Back at the station, Kamio shows Lizuka before and after photographs of Kitada, and points at that she actually seemed to become Kayako. Kamio tells Lizuka he's off the case. Back at Yoshikawa's house, we see him on the floor and his wife sees Kayako's face on the ceiling. Next at the police station, Lizuka is told by one of the officers he has a visitor. He points out a photo of Kayako to the officer as she tells him that's she's the visitor, but soon Kamio comes running out of his office and has become the next victim.
"Nobuyuki" is the next segment, which involves the real estate agent's son. He is in school with his classmates who make fun of him for being strange. He's been staring out the window, but we see he's actually staring at the ghost of Kayako. Very soon, we see her go to the school window and get in, as her Onryō spirit torments Nobuyuki. A creepy little finale, if not a little bit over the top.

Saori

Back to the haunted house, with a 'For Sale' sign posted outside. This scene is audio only, with a still shot on the house, as we hear two girls who apparently have snuck into the property. This final episode ties into the next film; the theatrical "Ju-On: The Grudge".

Uchū Kaisokusen (Invasion of the Neptune Men) (1961)

JAPAN --- science fiction

Dir: Koji Ota

I'm a Gen-Xer, not a baby-boomer. I did not grow up in the 1950's or 60's. So, looking back on the films and television properties of that era is always interesting for me. I guess my main attraction would be to see how the science fiction genre evolved. In Japan, Tokusatsu (which is loosely translated from meaning "special photography" or "special effects"), became a genre in the mid-1950's following the massive success and inspiration of the Gojira films. Theatres ran serials of a character called "Sūpā Jaiantsu" (Super Giant), which was a success. Of course, Japanese television began to air Tokusatsu shows, the first being "Gekkō Kamen" in 1958. Soon after this hit, a slew of copy cats invaded the airwaves for the children's television market. These shows inspired series that even came to America as late as the 90's with shows like "Ultraman" and "Power Rangers". Of course anything that gets too successful is going to have multiple knockoffs. This film is no exception. Uchū Kaisokusen (Invasion of the Neptune Men) is a pretty cheesy fun children's science fiction film from the cold war era.

This review is going to be biased because it's going off the dubbed American version, and not the original Japanese dialogue, though I doubt it would matter much. Featuring the debut of Shinichi Chiba (later to be named Sonny Chiba of The Streetfighter, Kill Bill fame), Uchū Kaisokusen involves a scientist, Tabana, who's alter-ego happens to be the superhero "Iron-Sharp" (or Space Chief in the English dub). When a group of boys mistake a UFO for a fallen satellite, they are attacked by bullet-helmeted alien beings; it's "Space Chief" to the rescue. After a quick defeat, the aliens rocket back into space and the hero "Space Chief" receives his name from the boys. Soon, a strange electronic band wave causes a series of odd events such as clocks running backwards and trains reversing. Scientists (including Tabana) learn that the wave is coming from the earth and emitted into space. Later, the kids find a left over piece of the alien ship, which eventually lead scientists to pinpoint the source of the wave is coming from Neptune. Of course, this means war, as the aliens plan to invade earth, and only "Space Chief" can save the day.

American producer Walter Manley snatched up this film along with the "Prince of Space" serials, which he edited together into films. The dubbed American actors over the Japanese dialogue has not aged well. Something that has become acceptably standard for the anime or Shaw Bros. kung-fu genre is not all that great here. Maybe it's just me. While this films progenitor, "Prince of Space" serials, had an over-the-top villainous Hitler-inspired Krankor and his minions, the aliens in this film are pretty lame. It also brings up the fact that using WWII file footage in a children's film is kinda strange.

Yogen (Premonition) (2004)
JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Norio Tsuruta

Anyone who remembers the US television show "Early Edition" will be familiar with the plot and subject matter in this second entry of the J-Horror series of films. Fortunately, this film sticks a little bit more closely to the formula of the sub-genre without straying into some strange areas that fails to even entertain, let alone scare, the audience. Based on the 1973 manga "Kyoufu Shinbun" ("Newspaper of Terror") by Jiro Tsunoda, "Yogen" involves a high school professor (The J-Horror occupation of choice) who becomes involved with a haunted newspaper that foretells the future.

The film opens with a brief shot of an old newspaper obituary of Chizuko Mifune (the subtitles has her last name Kifune). This woman was a real-life self-proclaimed clairvoyant with psychic abilities in the Meiji dynasty (roughly around the mid 19th century to early 20th). According to this film, she killed herself and apparently foretold her own death from a newspaper article. Next we are shown a family driving on a road trip. Professor Hideki Satomi (played by Hiroshi Mikami) is finishing some business on his laptop in the backseat with his young daughter, Nana as his wife, Ayaka, (Noriko Sakai of Ju-On: the Grudge 2) drives them along. Hideki must pull over to a phone booth to urgently email his work. It's here he sees a crumpled piece of newspaper clipping with the headline "Young Girl Killed in Auto Wreck". He opens it further to see a picture of his own daughter. Meanwhile, his daughter is locked in the car seat, as Ayaka tries unsuccessfully to pull her out, she goes to get Hedeki. Out of nowhere, a huge truck slams into the car, and with the daughter trapped in the backseat the vehicle explodes. The couple rush over to the car, but realize it's already too late. Hedeki tries to find the newspaper, but it has blown away.

Three years later, we see Hedeki living alone, divorced from Ayaka, and he has become something of a paranoid distraught recluse. Ayaka on the other hand conducts research experiments with local psychics. She has been trying to collection information from these psychics through the use of nensha (thoughtography) about "the newspaper of terror". One of them, an older woman, expresses apprehension about recounting her own encounter with the phantom newspaper. She gets into a really metaphysical explanation of its possible origin, and confirms to Ayaka it is very real and very deadly. Ayaka brings up a man named Rei Kigata, who named the phenomenon, who will figure in the tale later.

Hedeki in the meantime finds himself having strange psychic episodes, one that even involves him experiencing a kind of deja vu moment. He also is involved with a morose female student of his, who suggests she has had an encounter with the newspaper herself. The paper begins to warn him about her as well, predicting her murder as a knifing victim. Meanwhile, Ayaka gets a strange and disturbing phone call from whom she believes is the old woman, prompting her to go out and check on her. Once there she goes through the house looking for clues of the woman's whereabouts and finds a scrapbook of past newspaper clippings accompanied by psychic photographs, as well as a phone number for Rei Kigata. When Ayaka gets upstairs, she finds the woman dead with a photo clutched in her hand. Ayaka calls Hedeki to set up a meeting.

Later, Hedeki is in class and goes to the student he believes is the next knifing victim, when she reveals she too has seen the phantom newspaper, and warns him it is best to do nothing. That night, Hedeki receives a visitation from the paper, as it slams against the window of his apartment. It contains the article with his student's death. Rushing out to the rescue, Hedeki realizes he's too late to save his student, as he confronts the killer but the girl ends up dead anyway. The next day he meets with Ayaka as she shows him the psychic photograph the woman had is of his face in a newspaper article. They both go to a mental institution where they see a man who had similar psychic predictions was driven insane. Soon, Hedeki's predictions begin to increase, and Ayaka goes to him as they go to find answers from Rei Kigata. They get to his place of residence, your typical shotgun shack in the boonies, and find it abandoned, but much like "Ringu" some clues were left behind via videotape. They watch old recordings of Kigata, as he describes his attempt to thwart the "dead zone" by changing the future. They find out Kigata ultimately became a ghostly figure and perished. Hedeki and Ayaka realize that he's in a catch-22, no matter what happens he cannot escape destiny.

"Yogen" is one of those psychological thriller/suspense forays into psychic phenomenon, with a decidedly horrific bent. I'm not so certain it can be called a horror film outside of some forced moments. IMHO, the story and emotional impact of the opening, may have kinda robbed the movie of allowing the audience to be in for some fun scares. We just witnessed an innocent little girl die for crying out loud. Though admittedly, there are plenty of very creepy moments peppered throughout the film. It feels like the director wants to take us on a melodramatic episodic trip with Hedeki, but realizes the story of Hedeki and his family must be resolved. All in all, this film raised the bar for the series a little.

Ringu (Ring) (1998)
JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Hideo Nakata

The film that began the international J-Horror sensation and till this day inspires countless copy cats in the popular sub-genre of horror cinema. The ghostly woman with long black dishevelled hair has been a traditional fixture in Japanese folklore for centuries, but the stark difference with the film "Ringu", is its marriage with modern technology.

The film could be seen as an essay in a nations regret in partaking in the creation of a kind of Frankenstein's Monster with advanced technology. Thanks in part to Reganomics in the 1980's, the world stood by as many leading technology firms and businesses outsourced to Japan for labor and taxation reasoning. Consumers in return bought up their merchandise such as Nintendo, Sony (who is credited with the prototype of the videocassette), Fujifilm, Casio, et al. Even today Japan looks like a futuristic wonderland. The question is, do the Japanese harbor some underlying fear or regret in that ingenuity? The answer is, probably, and as this film poses, the future may not be so much of the threat as that of the past.

"Ringu" has been adapted from the 1991 novel of the same name written by Koji Suzuki. It takes place in contemporary Japan and follows a reporter's investigation into an urban legend of a cursed videotape, that turns out to be all too real. The film opens with two teenage girls, Masami and Tomoko, gossiping about a local urban legend until Tomoko tells her friend that something similar happened to her and her boyfriend earlier that week. The legend goes, while visiting Izu, a boy wanted to record a tv show while he went out to play. When he returned to watch it, he realized the channels were different, and there should have been nothing recorded since that channel did not exist. When he did play it back, a strange woman appeared and told him he would die in one week. Tomoko and her boyfriend were also in a cabin in Izu when they watched a videotape. When the phone suddenly rings, the girls get scared, and Masami boldly goes to answer. They learn it's only Tomoko's mother, and their fears are relieved, until Masami leaves. Alone, Tomoko hears the television come on in the living room by itself, at first she's startled but goes to turn it off. Soon however, she meets her expected fate. Now investigative journalist, Reiko Asakawa, questions some school girls about the legend. They of course all have those "a-friend-of-a-friend" type testimonies, but Reiko picks up on the fact that Izu is the tie that binds. She and her young son attend the funeral of their cousin Tomoko, when she confirms the deaths of Tomoko's group of friends who all rented a cabin in Izu and died. Reiko returns to Tomoko's room, and finds a receipt from a local photolab. She picks it up and finds pictures of the kids on their vacation, except one where all the faces are warped. She realizes all clues are pointing to that cabin in Izu, so she decides to take a trip out there herself. After checking in, she discovers the infamous videotape in the form of an unassuming unmarked videocasstte. She pops it in the player and watches it.

We see the tape contains a series of very strange images, and immediately after viewing it, she sees the ghost of Sadako in the reflection of the television screen. To make matters worse, the phone rings and she answers to hear a buzzing sound. Startled at the revelation that this legend is all too real, she seeks the help of her ex-husband Ryuji, who's now a university professor. She tells him to take a snapshot of him with a Polaroid camera and sees her picture has been distorted like the kids' photo. Ryuji watches the tape, but he doesn't receive a call. He tells Reiko to make a copy of it for him for further study. Ryuji and Reiko thoroughly study the videotape, putting the pieces of the images together and discover this may have been created by someone from someplace called Oshima island. As the couple begin to unravel the mystery, they find out the source of this was a psychic girl named Sadako who died in a well on the island. Now they must find a way to evade the curse, especially when their young son has also watched the tape and time is running dangerously short for them all.

Sadako's tale is an amalgam of two very famous ancient Japanese ghost stories. One being the Yotsuya Kaidan and the other being Banchō Sarayashiki. Though the film is essentially a ghost story with a somewhat technological facet, it doesn't feature overtly high-tech infrastructure, or the spooky old house. In fact it seems to go out of its way to feature exactly the opposite from both degrees with either wide open isolation or congested interiors and exteriors. This serves as a contrast to all the cellphone, video cassettes, and Polaroid cameras utilized throughout "Ringu". There are touching moments with the son and his grandfather and some melodrama between Reiko and Ryuji. The J-Horror tropes were all first established here with the ancient ghost story, evil side of technology, cursed school girls, a single mother, and a doomed college professor.

On the sound design front, one could write an essay (as I'm sure many have) on that aspect of this film alone. It too has gone on to be highly imitated and found its textural construction in nearly every kind of J-horror since. Sure, there are the typical horror movie jump-back sounds to startle you, but underlying that is a whole storytelling device that's somewhat operatic; from the low almost long-distance train whistle for the timestamps, the buzzing insect-like noise of the phone calls, to the crackling white noise positing of Sadako's stalk. It's interesting that this film was actually directly inspired by two Western region films. Suzuki claims he was inspired to write the book after seeing the Tobe Hooper haunted house film "Poltergeist". Nakata suggested that he drew inspiration from David Cronenberg's "Videodrome". "Ringu" is a classic horror film in an era that relies increasingly on shock and gore, which lead to the appeal of J-Horror films. The film has its shortcomings like the lack of further explanation of Tomoko's or that the main characters (particularly Ryuji) clearly appear to possess psychic abilities. The film is a slow burner that allows the suspense to and mystery to build one step at a time. It is unfortunate not enough films today allow the audience to use their own intelligence to figure things out. "Ringu" was followed up by a couple of sequels that, of course, failed to engage and innovate the genre like this one little masterpiece.

Kansen (Infection) (2004)

JAPAN --- horror

Dir: Masayuki Ochiai

This film plays somewhere between your typical gross-out J-horror and a morality tale. The morality being, always tell the truth, as malpractice will always catch up with you. I suspect this film to be a social commentary on the Japanese healthcare system. "Kansen" takes place in a sort of out-of-the-way, short-staffed hospital. For the first hour or so, we are introduced to all the main characters. It often feels like a boring medical drama in the style of "ER" or "Grey's Anatomy", luckily, the horror elements do kick in. First off, with a suspicious elderly woman who claims to see dead people in reflective surfaces. The real horror begins, however, when an ambulance tries to press a patient with a peculiar rash, on the hospital.

Dr. Akiba refuses, claiming the hospital simply cannot care for him due to the fact they do not have the proper facilities. Akiba rushes to a critical patient upstairs in room #3. The patient falls unconscious and the responding staff fear losing him. Akiba then calls for potassium calcium chloride (which is used in lethal injections to stop the heart) instead of calcium chlorate. In other words they misdiagnose, and the patient ends up dying on them.

The doctors and two other nurses plot to cover-up for the accidental death, and it is from here on out that the green ooze begins to infect the main staff randomly. It is unfortunate that the remainder of "Kansen"s plot is scattershot. While that may work for some films, this has too many subplots and characters to deal with, and resulting in no real solution. Sure, it does tie up character arcs, but you end up feeling an empty loss for the events of the film as they pull you every which way but loose. Director Ochiai does a decent job attempting to balance the film, through use of color themes and freaky camera angles. Beyond that, I can't recommend much here.

"Kansen" was billed as the inaugural release of a proposed 6-part J-Horror film series, from producer Takashige Ichise. One original entry from a different director each time. Unfortunately, it would appear we only got three of those, including this film "Yogen" (Premonition), and "Sakebi" (Retribution).

Fortunately, it would seem the other planned directors made their films anyway, they just didn't include it under the banner of this J-Horror film series. As of this writing, I have not seen all of them, though from what I've seen they all share a similar mind-bending climax. Unfortunately none of the films are highly original in any way, as they were simply conceived to cash-in on the Japanese horror fade quickly.