After hearing the first few minutes of Aaron AuBuchon’s podcast about this (and it’s trilogy), I decided to stop the podcast and watch this one today.
This feels like a Japanese take on a Hammer film, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s well made, well paced, has some really creepy visuals and characters. Also, I don’t really know how to describe it fully, but I felt like the Hammer films I watched last year had the same quality,of being very clear and clean with how it visually told the story. There were certainly a lot of creative shots, but it seems like the director didn’t let abstract concepts get in the way of the storytelling. In this case, it was a decision that I thought was a good one (though I’m not surprised that I liked this better than the opposite…looking at you, David Lynch)
Unfortunately, what I didn’t like about this was just simply the story. It felt derivative and just kind of boring. I’m of course watching a movie that is 6 years older than I am, so movies have had time to evolve since then, (and that I’m both removed from Japanese culture, and there’s some loss in translation), but it still felt flat.
I’m still searching for that early 70s Hammer-esque movie that I can really sink my teeth into, but unfortunately, this wasn’t it.
I know my rating will ruffle some feathers, but I try to keep them as personal as I can. I am planning on watching the rest of the trilogy, so maybe there’s gold yet to be struck with these ones.
2 out of 5