It's taken me years to finally get around to seeing this film and that's mostly because I've seen so many positive reviews of it as I have Noroi and I was afraid that this film would not live up to the level of quality that Noroi was. As it tuns out, however, this film definitely lives up to those positive opinions. I wouldn't say that it perfectly matches Noroi's level of quality, but it is pretty darn close.
This film is made in a similar style to Noroi in that it is a found footage mockumentary horror film- which seemed to be a favorite style of Shiraishi's in this period of time in his career. The way this style is executed in this film still feels quite fresh. I think what sets this film apart from Noroi and what might make it more engaging and enjoyable for some people is that the film is structured in such a way where it doesn't go too long without anything scary happening. This film is still a pretty slow buildup but there's enough creepy punctuations throughout it that keep it feeling like it's moving forward in a way Noroi doesn't.
The acting in this film is actually quite well done, I think. Everyone feels more or less like they are playing themselves which, since this is a found footage "documentary" of sorts it works really well. Although, there were some moments where Shiraishi, himself, whenever he acts scared, seems to be overdoing it a little bit. I don't know if he's overacting on purpose but that was something I found a little more funny than scary.
The filmmaking itself is low-budget as most found footage films have the tendency to be. Something I noticed throughout the film, though, is that there are some moments where it seems like it's being filmed guerrilla-style and, knowing how something like that is generally frowned upon in Japan, I couldn't help but laugh- not necessarily because it's bad, but because of how much guts it takes to do something like that. This seems to be the case, particularly, when they go into a Manga cafe and when they go to a movie theater. I found it a bit funny, also, how he shows the poster to the movie he's about to see (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) but the poster is blurred. I found myself wondering, "what's the point of showing it if you're just going to censor it anyway?" and started laughing.
A lot of people complain that the ending of this film is bad. Even though I, myself, didn't feel that it was as bad as some people have made it out to be, I can see where they are coming from. For a film that is so grounded as this one, you'd expect, maybe, something like and ending as grounded and realistic as Noroi, but instead we are greeted by an ending that, if nothing else, illustrates with the utmost transparency the budgetary limitations of the production. It might turn some people off- I've honestly seen better horror imagery done in flash games like Exmortis, for instance. While I, myself, didn't come away from this film feeling duped or offended by the quality of the ending, I would warn any newcomers to this film to not get their hopes up too high for the ending as, even though the escalation to it is done very well, the payoff might not be what you hope.
Another thing I liked about this film was the soundtrack. The soundtrack reminds me of The Shining in that it isn't necessarily music the way we generally define it, but more like unsettling noise. It helps to add to the atmosphere of creepy scenes and I enjoyed that aspect of it.
This film isn't perfect and it is hurt significantly by its ending, however, the journey to that ending is definitely worth experiencing. This is still high-quality filmmaking and story telling and the way this film escalates the scares I think helps to make it possibly more palatable than something like Noroi which is almost entirely buildup until the last few minutes. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who might want a more unique horror film experience.
