If there's one thing that can and should be said for the popular cult- franchise "Tomie", it's this: despite an extremely shaky and underwhelming start, the series does make a noted improvement each time with its first round of sequels. It's a franchise that can be well-worth investing in as a result, despite also being one that has the most extremes of up's and down's throughout it's numerous entries.Yes, despite being a massive fan of the horror genre and particularly of Japanese creep-shows, I've never been particularly taken with the original "Tomie" movie. Based on a popular ongoing manga of the same name by author Junji Ito, the first entry in the film franchise was a messy swarm of under-developed ideas, sloppy attempts at atmosphere building, trite and hackneyed writing and direction and poorly established rules. It was a fundamental failure both as an example of horror and as a film in general. Thankfully, it's first sequel in "Tomie: Replay" was a marked improvement in virtually every capacity, with fun direction, decent writing and generally strong performances.And I do think that this third entry, "Tomie: Re-Birth", is another step in the right direction for the franchise. With a nice, slow sense of pacing and a great sense of direction from famed director Takashi Shimizu, this entry has a lot going for it. It stands as one of the better early entries in the series, and can be a great deal of fun.A young woman named Tomie is modeling for a painting by an artist named Hideo. After she defaces the painting in a jealous fit, Hideo kills her. But, as any fan of the series will know... Tomie will not die. And thus she returns to torment the artist and his friends, leading to an intense and disturbing story filled with twists, turns and subversion of expectation...I firmly believe the main strength that sets this entry apart is the wonderful direction of Takashi Shimizu, who is best known for creating the very popular haunted-house series "Ju-On" and for also directing the first two entries in its American remake series "The Grudge." Shimizu is a fine director when it comes to slow-build, atmospheric horror, and he excels here with some great, creepy sequences of bodily terror. It's arguably the most disturbing of the first three films, and Shimizu it helps to give it a grand sense of dread and intrigue. Especially in some of the very trippy-yet-grounded visuals that he relishes in. We also have one of the best Tomie's of the series here thanks to actress Miki Sakai, who excels in the role in a way not many of the other actresses to portray the character have.The film does have some faults to it, however. Much as many entries in the series do. I found that while it is a good time, it can often move a bit slowly. To the point it can be boring even. Some scenes feel a tad out of place and wonkilly inserted into the narrative. And much like virtually every other film in the series, it wrongfully assumes that the viewer is intimately familiar with the source material, causing some confusion with those who aren't. And it is a serious problem- adaptations should be able to stand on their own without knowledge of what came before. The films should try and explain the rules and goings on more than they have been to this point. It causes an unnecessary level of confusion for the viewer, and not in an intentional way. That being said, I'd rank this one right about on par with the previous entry- the very enjoyable but mildly flawed "Replay." It's a lot of fun. It's very watchable. It runs laps around the sub-par original. But it still has a few faults holding it just shy of being a "great" movie. As it stands, it's merely decent. Worth watching for fans of horror and Asian cinema... but probably not for general movie-goers.I give "Tomie: Re-Birth" a slightly above average 6 out of 10. Another step in the right direction for the series. But not enough of an improvement for me to call it a great film.

The TOMIE series of Japanese 'horror' films have been a real chore to sit through. The first one was at least novel but hardly a classic in the same way as RING or THE GRUDGE. The second, a horrendous shot-on-video anthology under the name of TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE, is best forgotten. The third, TOMIE: REPLAY, was instantly forgettable, telling exactly the same story as the original film with little to no variation. The fourth, TOMIE: REBIRTH, is another re-run of the same themes, and has exactly the same problems as its predecessor: it goes nowhere we haven't seen before, it doesn't explain any of Tomie's origins or behaviour, and it's way too familiar given what's come previously.The film begins with a resurrected Tomie the girlfriend of an art student. It's fair to say that their relationship doesn't end well, and from that point in the film follows the established route: Tomie can't die, and also seems to be able to multiply in some strange way. The storyline is an excuse for some ghoulish japes involving animated severed heads and some grisly body disposal sequences, but aside from that it's largely boring. What's particularly annoying is the way lots of scenes seem to be drawn out to a ridiculous degree; two characters will have a conversation but leave long spaces between words and utterances. It doesn't add atmosphere, it just feels like the slim story is being stretched out to fill the running time.The man who directed this, Takashi Shimuzu, also handled the two excellent GRUDGE movies, not that you'd realise. Tomie: Rebirth looks and feels cheap, and the picture quality on the DVD I watched was particularly fuzzy. The acting is poor, with Miki Sakai probably the least impressive of the actresses who've played Tomie so far. The film relies far too much on her supposedly creepy giggle for effect, when in fact it just sounds silly. Inevitably, a sequel (TOMIE: FORBIDDEN FRUIT) follows.

Tomie: Re-Birth mainly focuses on the characters affected by Tomie. I enjoyed the changes in characters' nature: particularly for Shunichi and Hitomi. At first, Shunichi (Mazasaya Kikawada) comes off as a confident guy who likes to have a good time with his friends. Gradually, he becomes more unsure, paranoid, and even obsessed in a most manic way. On the flipside, Hitomi (Kumiko Endou) has an innocent, yet subdued nature. Questions and uncertainty beckon Hitomi down a road from which she may regret walking down upon.Don't get me wrong..Miki Sakai does well as Tomie and is equally adept at producing an ominous stare; one enabling her to peer deep into the depths of inner souls. Although there are CG effects used, I thought the use of close-ups and different angle shots were more effective at establishing a mood of fear. Despite slow pacing and a few sappy (yet amusing) scenes, Tomie: Rebirth is darkly entertaining.

Ever have a movie you need to see more than once to appreciate? This is what the movie is to me. The first time I saw it I wasn't really impressed by it for some reason. Despite this, I felt the urge to buy this movie and view it again. And I'm really glad I did decide to give it another chance. Again, like Replay this follows the manga closely and gives us creepy moments (Tomie's head crawling, brrrrrrrrrr). This also has a cool subplot to it that the first two hinted at but never really expanded upon. What is that you say? Tomie infecting another girl and that girl becoming her! In the first it was hinted at the end an the second one there was just a small snippet of that. But this movie dedicates the entire second half to that storyline and I was pleased.