I really enjoyed this flick. I came in with no expectations and I never watched Versus, but the concept of this film was very intriguing to me (looked it up on IMDb).A severely wounded samurai seeks shelter at a temple which unbeknownst to him is the temple of the demon Aragami who wishes to die in combat via our unwary samurai.The conversation is exactly what you would imagine it to be between a man and a being proclaiming to be supernatural. Skepticism and disbelief is played well in here and the scene is great. This is all shot in one room in a dark slightly tainted sort of Buddhist temple. The fact that this movie was shot in only one week is amazing (although if they had spent more time on it it could easily have been better as it is not without its flaws).The slightly creepy serving woman is the only other real character we have on screen and she only has a few words to say at the end. What I really wonder is who she is as perhaps she is Aragami after all and she just enthralls/seduces warriors so she can watch battle after battle? I wish they played that possibility up just a tiny bit more, adding perhaps some covetous looks throughout on the samurais side and more coyness/ seductive possibilities on her part.My only real issues with this film was that it seemed to get a little rushed at the end. The major fight could should have been done better and had slight elements of cheesy stances which were unrelated to the fighting. Also the last warrior, the future attacker could have been cooler looking. I did like the fact that our protagonist seemed to be crazy at that point (which still stands to reason that the woman is really Aragami after all). Also, the electric guitar music at the end seemed out of place. I would have liked a more philosophical ending versus one that makes you think you just finished watching your average action movie.Summary: Very entertaining story built upon Chinese (really any ethnic background) mythology with only 2.5 actors (the woman gets a 1/2 a count since shes more just a visual portion). I just wish 2 weeks was spent on this as it could have been on a whole new level. Either way, I'd definitely recommend this.

I really liked the story in this movie, of mysterious beings that existed in the world and the night they spent before the showdown. However, it turned out to be just another action B-movie plagued by poor acting and story development.I should've known from the English opening credits that this movie would be a joke made for the foreign audience though. I can just see it now, these directors and producers discussing this film in a meeting. "Subtlety doesn't work for foreigners, let's have Oosawa Takao over-react to everything." "They like CG, let's add an unnecessary space scene to it." "They liked VERSUS, let's get Tak to appear in the end"...Katou Masaya's performance as Aragami was pretty impressive. He seemed to be really into the character and portrayed the mysterious character and its motive very well. Oosawa Takao though, I know is a much better actor from other films.This film's action wasn't bad, but nothing out of ordinary. It was clearly produced in a rush and little attention to details. The Aragami's speech, for example, ended sentences with "...Ja" in beginning of the movie, which is what barbaric men say in Japanese, but he practically stopped it altogether in the second half of the movie for no reason. Such abrupt change in speech pattern is a proof of poor production. A nice stab at the Dual Project Challenge, but ultimately a good script wasted.

I loved this film.I loved the dialogueI loved the combat sequencesI loved the set.Do yourself a favour and see it the way it was meant to be seen, back to back with 2LDK. Aragami is obviously the better movie, but together you can see the results of the competition between the directors.And as was said below, I would love to see what 2 Hollywood (or in my case Australian) directors could come up with.A great journey.. strongly recommended

When you're preparing yourself to tune in to a Ryuhei Kitamura movie, you know that the experience will be intense, original and it will most likely make you hunger for more. I am a fan of this director and 'Aragami' didn't disappoint me. The plot were at first quite mystic to me when reading it, but I got caught up fast with the plot once the movie had started. Kitamura's movies in my humble opinion often have great dialogs but 'Aragami' has something beyond this - the dialogs are superb. Anyone doubting in Japanese movies should give this a try if you have a special liking about samurais and mystical magics. Another great reason to not give Hollywood a second thought. This movie quickly turns out to be one amongst my favorite Kitamura movies. 9/10!