"I Can't Go..I Can't Go Inside...I Cannot Go Inside That Place...Because...Because This Place Is..."
Since whomever uploaded this movie information refused to add all the main and support cast, I am listing them here in my review:Kyôko Akiba as Ryôko Kagami, the rep for the convenience store chain taking over this haunted one
Takaaki Iwao as Komori, the male night-shift clerk, also called "Paulos"
Hiroko Satô as Nao Shingaki (female part-time store worker/clerk)
Osamu Takahashi as Store owner
Etsuyo Mitani as Store owner's wife
Susumu Terajima as Akira Tejima ('no legs', bit part)
Yuko (actress name unknown), young female able to sense presence of ghosts/tortured souls in the store.
This movie started out with a fast and bloody surprise which most people won't be expecting!
The simplest methods to scare people are usually the best! This under-rated movie combines horror with mystery. The director gets well-deserved kudos for the simplicity of this flick!
The 'scares' are not overdone in this movie, as in many Asian horror movies (The Ring comes to mind as one!).
Even though this looks like a low-budget movie, it has some great scenes in it!
There are a couple of places where the action is very, very slow, but I personally believe this is made up in the scenes where they surprise you with eerie situations; there were even a few funny parts as well!
I also thought the 'refrigerator' scenes were different for a change. I never expected it!
The whole movie is very dark, and the director used dark scenes in this movie to portray the impending ghost activity here, but it also made part of the movie hard to watch. The girl being stalked in the hallway also looked a lot like the main female character; only by watching it that scene a few did I realize that it was the customer rather than the new manager.
Even time is subject to change in our Japanese "konbini/conbini" where this movie for the most part takes place.
As a Religious Studies major, I have read about religion, mythology and other countries' folklore (religion, myth and folklore are all related, but this is not the place to discuss that!)...I had to go back to my school books, but found the story of the "girl between the gap", which was referenced here; also, the numbers '334' '444' (if you want to make a Japanese person mad, use this number in your conversation or such with them!) '666' and such. I even believe that the '999' may be just writing the '666' upside-down in this movie..there you have to have some knowledge of Japan, China, Vietnam, et al. These numbers occur frequently in this movie, especially just before incidents!
What I am trying to say is that some knowledge of Japanese culture will make this more scarier for you!
I liked the scenes where the different ghosts exhibited their unique ways of haunting; the acting was really good, and the "gotcha" moments were interesting. The parts which were left for your imagination also made this movie worth watching.
Since this was a horror/ghost movie, i intentionally paid more attention to the music. which surprised me as being synchronized to the acting/upcoming incidents here.
The camera angles were used to add to the 'bizarre' feeling that the movie tried to portray; and the rest of the cinematography was also good.
This, however, was not a big-budget movie, but did well for what it tried to do: scare you just a bit!
The movie shot around the female lead Ryôko Kagami (Kyôko Akiba), hence no love story for her; but there was a side love story between Nao Shingak (Sakata Memeko,/Sato Hiroko)) and Komori/Paulos (Takaaki Iwao ), which was cute!
The actors did an excellent job through facial expression and dialogue making this a really good horror movie; all the support cast also did a great job supporting the main female actress and the stories that unfolded.
The major downside is that this was a low-budget film; although the camera angles were good and such, you could tell that money was tight on the set.
All in all, it was a great little movie, not Golden Globe- or Oscar-quality, but I would re-watch it occasionally, if for nothing else, the weird characters and their interactions occasionally.
RE-WATCH VALUE: Yes!
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