Together with Nakata and Shimizu, Norio Tsuruta fronted the Japanese suspense wave. A true, dedicated horror director, though at his best when diverging from the usual less is more fare. A must for people who love Asian horror cinema.
The good stuff
The addition of the fantastical figure gives Orochi a somewhat novel feel though.
Solid pieces
The inoffensive
Dark Tales of Japan
Worthy but flawed
Scary True Stories: Summer Special 2018
Well before Ringu and Ju-on turned the Japanese horror genre on its head, the front-runners of the genre were honing their skills working on the Honto ni Atta Kowai anthologies. Not that they were great films, but historically it's a series with considerable significance. Hence why I didn't mind checking out this 2018 TV special. The plot isn't anything special. You get 6 unrelated short films, held together by a host and a bunch of kids reacting to the various horror stories. If you're familiar with the Japanese horror wave of the past two decades there won't be any big surprises here, this 2018 summer special offers the usual array of ghosts and haunted house stories. Films like these are decent enough horror filler, but they aren't half as scary as they used to be. The anthology setup makes certain there's enough variety and some of the shorts do manage to create a bit of tension, but it's mostly just familiar territory that's being rehashed. Not terrible, but not very scary either.Read all
Dubious filler
Scary True Stories: Realm of Spectres
Plain forgettable
Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground
Big nopes
