Takashi Shimizu

When a ghost video reaches Kanon, she suddenly recognizes herself in one of the shots. The girl in the video disappears, which only scares her more. Together with a friend from school, she travels to the place where the video was shot. She isn't really prepared to face what she's about to learn about herself though.

Shimizu does well building up the tension, but once Kanon discovers what lies hidden in her past the film grinds to a halt and spends too much time on non-horror stuff. It picks up again in the end and the finale is pretty memorable, it just would've worked better as a more concise, 90-minute film.

Homunculus is a mystery with strong supernatural elements. Go Ayano plays Nokoshi, a strange man who is dead wealthy, but lives in his car and goes through life as a homeless person. One day he is approached by a medical student who wants to drill a hole in his skull. Nokoshi isn't interested, but the boy persuades him and before he knows it, he can see personifications of people's traumas.

Shimizu has a little trouble establishing the tone of Homunculus, and he spends a little too much time on the drama at the end. Other than that, this was pretty great. Pretty rad effects, an original plot, unpredictable until the very end and a great central performance. Don't go in expecting a typical Shimizu film, just sit down and enjoy what Shimizu throws at you.

Hibiki and Mei are sisters with a dark past. Mei has been able to leave that past behind, Hibiki turned out to be an introverted girl who has trouble adapting to the world around her. When she finds an odd box below their house, connected to Fuji's suicide forest, strange things start to happen to Hibiki and her friends.

The finale is pretty spectacular, a fine mix of horror and fantasy elements, it just takes a long time before it actually starts. Performances are decent, and the setting is very atmospheric. Sadly, the drama is rather bland, and the first 90 minutes are pretty by the numbers. Shimizu can do better, if only he could bring his films back to 90 minutes.

A young actress is having trouble getting her first big break. She finally lands a part in a horror film, not something she's dreamed of, but it's an opportunity. The film is based on an actual murder and it doesn't take long before strange things start happening on set. Even so, the show must go on.

The build-up is slow and deliberate, there aren't too many scares, instead, Shimizu goes for a more otherworldly atmosphere. The final 20 minutes crank up the dread and there are some pretty memorable scenes there (thanks to a nicely designed doll), but overall it's a bit too slow and generic. Not half as creepy as I remembered it to be.

Inunaki Village is a ghost town, hidden deep inside the Japanese forests. When two kids go there to shoot a horror video, they are attacked by spirits. They get out alive, but Akina doesn't come out unscathed and not long after she commits suicide. Kaena, the sister of Akina's boyfriend, decides to investigate.

The film has its moments, but Shimizu messes up the balance between narrative and horror. There's simply too much backstory to wade through and since it's all so predictable, it slows down the film unnecessarily. The haunts aren't particularly scary either and though the second half is definitely better than the first one, this is hardly a standout film in Shimizu's oeuvre. Basic filler.