A movie dealing with very heavy topics puts them aside for not altogether convincing romp through horror land. A bit incomplete, a bit overstuffed, but actually fairly enjoyable.
Category: Japan Page 1 of 2
This movie about a young couple in a spooky mansion is a video-game adaptation that deeply embraces its source material, making some bold choices. Some work. Some don’t. Its unique style helps to stand up compared to others, though.
Bullied students start returning to schools wearing masks. As the fad spreads, and increasing numbers of people wear masks, there are outbreaks of violence mixed with admiration of the bold fashion statement which allows people to be their true self. At the center of the story is a mystery about a supposed suicide, a murder of another student, and a strange young mask-maker with a troubled past. A spectacle of a movie which leans strange, but I find it worth a watch and am confused why it has been so forgotten.
This found footage movie is very well worth a watch if you can deal with the pretty traumatic central theme of youth suicide and do not expect to play too much by standard horror tropes. Much less sensationalist than other movies that have tried to turn Aokigahara into a massive haunted house, the thoughtfulness of the interviews and carefulness of the direction (not to mention fairly strong performances by our leads) gives it a wholly different disquieting feeling than you might expect.
We come at least the final story, about a caving expedition that goes wrong and the personal impact of it. Rounding out the collection is the Epilogue which fills in one gap while reminding us the themes of the collection.
A small acting troupe is launching a play in an old disco hall. Dripping water sends one of the crew up to investigate where he discovers something otherworldly. The most meta of the stories, and one of my favorites though the ending might irk some.
A luxury yacht adrift at sea. When a fisherman volunteers to help see the craft back to port, he encounters the darkness which left it abandoned in the first place.
A fairly satisfying horror story about a quick sailboat excursion brushing up against something darker. It spends little time on speculation and more on the social awkwardness of the situation, which is perhaps what makes it work so well.
Hiroyuki is a miserable man. Miserable in his life. Miserable to be around. A fisherman, Hiroyuki is abusive to his son and his wife. Though successful in catching eels, he feels trapped by his family. One day he wakes up and his wife is gone and he feels a strange fear of getting back out on the water.
The second story in the Dark Water collection is a lesser tale — perhaps the weakest in the collection — but there is a sense that there is perhaps something underneath.