On the set of a dark war time drama at an old movie studio, a young director, Toshio Murai, is trying to complete his debut film. The two starring actresses, Hitomi Kurokawa and Saori Murakami, play sisters in his film. Murai has a crush on Hitomi, the seasoned leading actress, and keeps a photo of her by his bed. The younger and less experienced actress, Saori, is annoying and likes to have recess on the set. The production of the movie is consistently interrupted by strange occurrences and the cast and crew begin to get spooked.
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Second feature film from the man who would go on to make The Ring and Dark Water, indeed his very first film if you exclude, as I see IMDb do, a 'pink'. but first or second it is a great effort and if it doesn't totally succeed it certainly has some very creepy moments and is breaking new ground for a ghost film. He is already using the media, ghostly images appear superimposed upon the film he is using to shoot a melodrama, and utilising the long haired maniacal girl/ghost image. Modest running time exactly in accordance with the requirements of the story; if only all directors would go short if the story did not warrant more. A little confusing now and again because Mr Nakata does not lay everything out that obviously but well worth catching.
This movie was really hyped up by some of my Japanese friends. Basically it has exactly the same positives and negatives of the original The Ring film also directed by Nakata. It has one of the creepiest scenes I've ever seen in a horror movie, when the blurred image of the ghost actress appears on the rushes of the footage shot by the film's hero. However, the plotting is pretty bad and the finale feels like a real missed opportunity. As with The Ring the plot explanation for who and why the ghost actress is, is completely garbage. Interesting to see it has been picked up for remake rights. They really need to tie up the exposition plotting to make this work - i.e who the ghost actress is, what she wants, why she is haunting the studio, why the director has memories of watching the film as a child, why him???!! etc. When the ghost actress reveals herself it never lives up to the creepy image scene earlier in the film. They would do well to watch The Eye by the Pang Brothers to see how this is done, instead of the usual white faced hovering ghost.
I really enjoyed this debut by Ring director, Hideo Nakata. If you've seen Ring beforehand then you'll be familiar with the style and idea of this flick. It's got a subtle spookiness about it that works better than the constant (and predictable) stingers that infest most mainstream movies of this genre. If you like films that give you the chills, then you will probably like this one. A good, creepy debut by Hideo Nakata. 8/10
Lots of effective, creepy moments building up in the first 2/3 of the film, but seems to putter out after that. Solid performances and great handling of the "movie within a movie (within another movie?)". Still, a good first effort from director Hideo Nakata ("Ring").
