Jiko Bukken: Kowai Madori
2020 / 111m - Japan
Horror
2.0*/5.0*
Stigmatized Properties poster

Watches

June 01, 2021

2.0*/5.0*

I think Nakata has reached the point where he needs to ask himself if he feels he still has something to add to the horror genre. Stigmatized Properties felt like a 25-year-old film that just happened to be made last year. It is so insanely derivative and uninspired that you have to wonder why Nakata even bothered.

After a comical duo disbands their act, one of them lands a job as a TV host, with the other on board as a screenwriter. His job is to seek out haunted houses and spend the night there. He gets lucky on his first job as his camera registers a spirit. He becomes an overnight sensation and before he knows it, he is on his way to his second haunted house.

There is a lot of padding here, which isn't very interesting at all. Generic characters and Nakata's tepid direction simply don't support a dramatic narrative. The bigger problem though is that none of the haunts are scary. It's just the same old ghosts and apparitions doing the same old things. The ending gives the film a small boost, other than that this is for the most hardened J-Horror fans only.