Pray (2005)

"Pray" is a 2005 Japanese horror film concerning ghosts. The movie jumps right into action and keeps the viewing trying to figure out what is going on. There might have been something lost in translation because there are a few facts that don't seem entirely clear to me and so I may have to watch it again to see if I missed something...otherwise, the movie is overly complicated for no real good reason. The scares and violence are kept to a minimum in this film and the atmosphere doesn't carry the weight of the movie as other Japanese ghost films have been able to.


Mitsuru and his girlfriend Maki have kidnapped a young girl named Ai, and the three head to Mitsuru's old school which has since been closed and abandoned. When they call her parents to demand a ransom for her return, they're told that Ai had died a year ago. Ai soon disappears inside the school even though the two adults had drugged her with sedatives. The tension between the two quickly builds to screaming matches as they search the school grounds for Ai. Mitsuru begins to have subtle visions that confound him. While looking for Ai, Mitsuru finds three of his friends at the school, claiming that he had told them that this was a cool place to hang out. Mitsuru finds the girl but lets her run off after having more visions. Soon, one of Mitsuru friends is killed and is found with his left hand severed off. Is Ai more than she appears to be or is there something even more sinister hiding inside the school?