A couple of girls named
Tomoko Ôishi (Yûko
Takeuchi) and Masami (Hitomi Satô)
decides
to hang out at a cabin and have watched a
videotape that apparently puts a curse on
you while watching it and having a week
to live. Tomoko suddenly dies of what
seemed like a heart failure and Masami
died at the exact same time and Tomoko's
cousin Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima)
who is a reperter investigates the tape
and after watching it herself strange
things start to happen around her so she
teams up with her ex-husband Ryûji
Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada) to try and
stop the death clock that begun ticking
as their son Yoshino (Yutaka Matsushige)
watched the tape himself as he claimed
that Tomoko's ghost told him to do so.
They go to a volcanic island where they
discover that the video has a connection
to a psychic who died 30 years ago, and
her child Sadako...
Before there was The
Ring this was created and I have
to admit that this one had a bit more of
some dark horror than in the US version
which is a good thing. Also it shows each
day on what the main cast were doing in
order to survive after watching what they
saw on the VHS tape.
Alot of the storyline was similar in the
US version but it had alot more class and
there were at times some different twists
too since there's no point in remaking
the whole storyline now is there?
It's exciting to watch and wonder what's
going to happen as well as many tense
moments too. However, the story is a bit
too long and it sometimes drags.
There's alot of mysterious moments which
involves the little boy as well as
discovering where the tape came from and
the spirit of the evil child where
there's mentioning the tape is not from
their world which leaves a great
impression too. Plus the phone is
guaranteed to make you jump that it's so
loud when it's ringing which was very
necessary too. Check this one out for
yourself as you may get something out of
it. That is if you like Japanese horror
films since this one was almost similar
to One Missed Call.
The acting is
spoken in Japanese so it's tough to tell
at times how these people talents are but
I will say for sure that the lead actress
Nanako Matsushima showed great
powerful emotions with her crying as well
as getting intense and scared too. Plus
she showed some great anxious expressions
too. She was no doubt agreat character
actress seeing her perform in this film.
iHiroyuki
Sanata as the ex-husband in this
film seemed to do well with his serious
attitude as well as showing some descent
aggressions and a nice tough willed
attitude too. He looked right for the
role so I have no criticism at all with
his part in the film.
Child actor Yutaka Matsushige as
the son showing a nice emotionless
behavior and really came across very
mysterious. He brought alot to his role
in the film just behaving that way and
knew how to act unusual during the plot
of the film which was another bonus due
to his talents.
Hideo Nakata
knew his work quite well showing nice
dark moments with many of the scene's
used in this film. There's a nice
beginning which involves supporting
actresses Yûko Takeuchi and
Hitomi Satô as two teenagers
hanging out and having fun with one of
them telling the other about a videotape
that is supposedly cursed and people die
from it with a good serious and fearsome
expression on Satô's face and
then breaking down and laughing. Then
there's a great reaction on the two of
them when the phone rings and then they
both slowly go to the phone and are
hesistant to pick it up which looked
impressive.
There's a nice moment with Nanako
Matsushima watching the video tape
and then a shot on her looking at the
clock and nervous about what's going to
happen to her.
We spot many good scene's between Matsushima
and Hiroyuki Sanada trying
to discover what's on the tape as well as
doing some research on it in which all of
this was strongly directed.
There's many good camera takes on child
actor Yutaka Matsushige walking
up a staircase and then going into a dark
room with him staring all around which
leaves a chill down your spine.
There's a nice shot on Takeuchi lying
in her bed and spotting something
sleeping next to her and calling to her
as well which looked very eerie. Next
there's a good moment with Matsushige
watching the tape on TV and then Takeuchi
screaming and freaking out at him
along with a good shot on Matsushige
staring at her expressionless.
There's a great shot on both Matsushima
and Sanada touching
some cement top of a well of some sort
and then Matsushima acting
paranoid which was good. Plus a good
camera shot looking up on them from the
bottom of the well while they remvoe the
lid with struggling shots on Sanada climbing
down a rope and digging up buckets of
water along with good sobbing by Matsushima.
There's also a good moment with Matsushima
down in the water and shots on her
digging up some hair in the water when
she tries to find something. There's also
a good shot on a head of some sort rising
up which looked spooky.
There's a great reaction by Sanada
after a tape is being played and the
phone ringing showing a good terrifying
expression on his face along with
supporting actress Rie Ino'o as
the evil force coming out of the TV and
crawling on the floor with good close up
shots on her hands as well as her hair
covering her face and creeping up towards
him which looked greatly done.
There's perfect bonging
sounds with dark metal scrapings for the
real gloomy moments along with alot of
terrific suspenseful violin music too. We
also hear the typical thumping and echey
noises too all brought together by Kenji Kawai
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