Exte (2007)

When most people think of Japanese horror movies, the first image that comes to mind is long black hair, usually covering the face. This image was made extremely memorable but the wild success of both "Ju-on" and "Ringu". So what better movie to review and end a month long worth of Japanese horror films than with "Exte", also known as "Hair Extensions", a movie all about killer black hair! The film stars Chiaki Kuriyama, who is known for her roles as Gogo Yubari from Quentin Tarrantino's movie "Kill Bill: Volume 1", and as Takako Chigusa in "Battle Royale". I would describe the film as a subtle black comedy due to the "villian's" behavior and the fact that Chiaki's character works at a hair salon called "Gilles De Rais Salon".


Police are called to the scene when a dead body is found in a shipping contained filled with human hair. The corpse is taken in and released to the morgue after the body was inspected and noted that the deceased was a victim of a black market organ racketeer ring. The morgue's night watchmen, Yamazaki, is obessessed and has a hair fetish and quickly realizes that the body is still growing hair, all over in places that is shouldn't be. He steals the body and takes it back to his home where he begins to worship the corpse and it's hair, eventually harvesting some of the hair and giving it away to hair salons with the intent of selling more to them the stores later, so more people could be walking around with long beautiful hair that he can stare and obessess over.

Meanwhile, a young woman named Yuko works at a hair salon, preparing for the workshop that will allow her to prove her skills and become a full fledged hair stylist. Her life is interupted when her sister leaves her daughter on Yuko's doorstep. When Yoku finds that her niece is covered in bruises and is abused by her sister, Yuko refuses to let her sister take the child back. Yuko sister eventually gives up and leaves the child with Yuko. Yuko and Mami form a bond over time as Yuko gains her trust and proves that she isn't abusive like her sister is.

The two story lines converge when Yamazaki is walking around town filming women and comes across Mami, who is trying to find Yuko' salon. Yamazaki takes her to the salon and becomes enraptured with both Mami's and Yuko's long black hair. He comes back later that night with hair extensions that he gives to the salon employees to try out and wear. One of them wears the extensions at home and is violently killed by the hair, which has a life of it's own. The people who wear the extensions see flashbacks of the original victim and how her hair was shaved off before she was gutted for her organs. The hair is taking revenge on society. Soon Yuko and Mami are kidnapped by Yamazaki after a series of events and learn the truth for themselves, and try to escape from the madman with a unhealthy obsession for hair!

Yuko

Yamazaki

Gross

Hair gone wild

Sadako 3D (2012)

"Sadako 3D" is another chapter in the "Ringu" Japanese saga, this time focusing on a cursed video clip that makes the viewer commit suicide after hearing the words "You're not the one". The film has it's scary moments and tries to return to the powerful chilling level that "Ringu" first brought to audiences around the globe. This is outright horror film and doesn't try to be anything but that. The story is an interesting take on the "Ringu" saga and freshens up the Sadako mythology. The film was shot in 3D and the scenes are beautiful to watch on a non-3D screen. The acting is solid and the CGI effects are not nearly distracting as they can be in other films. I'm excited to see the sequel, "Sadako 3D 2" that was filmed and released last year.


Everybody is talking about the hot new "cursed video" that is out. Rumor has it that if you find it and watch it, you'll end up killing yourself immediately afterwards after hearing the words "You're not the one". No one really believes this and the thrill of seeing it is too much for some, including s high school student. The student's teacher, Akane, finds out that the student had looked for the cursed video on her phone earlier that day. When another student begins watching the video, after she found an Error 404 message, the video pops up once she's alone. She watches as a man is killed by a woman with long crazy hair, but when the ghost's arm reaches out of the video screen, Akane saves the student in the nick of time. The ghost grabs Akane and says that "You are the one". Meanwhile, two police detectives are working on the series of suicides, with the younger one believing that the cursed video is the reason behind it all, going so far to prove his point by watching the video and falling prey to it's curse. The older detective then tracks down the creator of the film, Kashiwada. Kashiwada's home looks like a movie set but the detective discovers that Kashiwada was trying to resurrect Sadako Yamamura by throwing women with long black hair down the well. By doing so, he only created imperfect versions. To find the perfect host for Sadako's spirit, he created the cursed video. Now Akane and the police detective must put a stop to Kashiwada's twisted plan before Sadako becomes flesh and blood once more!

Ringu 0: Birthday (2000)

"Ringu 0: Birthday" is a prequel to the original "Ringu" and takes place before 30 years before the mysterious video tape is ever found. In this movie, Sadako Yamaura is the protagonist rather than the antagonist, showing how she tried to contain her powers and her evil "alter ego"and the eventual attack by her father and becoming trapped at the bottom of the well. The film doesn't go into detail how her powers are associated with the video tape or why the person dies within seven days after viewing the video clip (unlike the American version that stated that Samara lived for seven days before dying inside the well). What we do see in "Ringu 0: Birthday" is how she tried to live a normal life as a young adult by seeing a therapist for her powers and joining a theater troupe. As soon as she joins, the other troupe members begin having bad dreams about the well and realize that it has something to do with Sadako. The director of the play realizes Sadako's connection to the ESP demonstration that her mother was involved with and plans to use her talents for his own means. Only the sound tech, Toyama, doesn't have any ill or negative feelings or ideas about Sadako. Sadako loses control of her alter ego after being exposed by a reporter whose fiancee had been killed in the original ESP demonstration. In the end, Sadako becomes one with her alter ego and her adoptive father is forced to end her rampage the only way he knows how.

The Shock Labyrinth (2009)

The movie was less than ten minutes in when I first noticed major themes and details that both appear in Takashi Shimizu's films "Tormented" and "The Shock Labyrinth". "The Shock Labyrinth" was made two years before "Tormented" and set the tone by using the same location of the fun park located in the shadow of Mt Fuji and the "hospital" neighboring it. In fact, the hospital in "The Shock Labyrinth" is actually another carnival ride, set up as a haunted house attraction. The next detail I noticed between the two films was the over emphasis on the spiral staircase; in fact, both movies center in on someone falling from the staircase. The final and most important shared detail between the two films is the rabbit doll! In "The Shock Labyrinth", the doll is actually a backpack that one of the main characters is wearing and in "Tormented", the two main characters are actually watching "The Shock Labyrinth" when the doll magically floats out of the screen and into young Daigo's hands. "The Shock Labyrinth" isn't as strong of a film as "Tormented" but it does contain more scares and overall creepy moments. 

Ken has returned to his old hometown after moving away ten years ago. While his friend Motoko is picking him up, Motoko's girlfriend Rin is visited by a panicked old friend Yuki. Motoko and Ken soon join Rin and everyone is shocked to see Yuki, who is still in a state of distress. They bring Yuki to her parents home, where her younger sister Myiu insists that Motoko is dead, at least that was what her late father had told her. Yuki is badly injured in a fall and the four teens take her to the nearest hospital, but once there, they can't find anyone to help them and Yuki runs off into the darkness. The four teens go off and look for her but begin to have visions of the past and they become aware that there are not in a hospital but in an old carnival haunted house that they had snuck into ten years ago, and quickly remember the horrible accident that occurred. The four teens are faced with the decisions that they made ten years ago and the consequences of dealing with Yuki's angry spirit..... 

Inugami (2001)

The 2001 film "Inugami" is beautiful and haunting Japanese horror fantasy about a ancient family curse concerning wild dog deities. The movie is based around three main characters; Miki, a spinster who makes paper in the old traditional fashion, her brother Takano, a drunk and cheating husband who runs the large family, and Akira, a new school teacher in a near by village who falls in love with Miki. The plot is full of deep dark family secrets, Japanese mythology, romantic tension, and twists. The filming and production values are extremely high, and I loved how the final climatic scenes were shot in black and white for an heightened effect.

Without revealing too much, the story is set in modern day Japan in a tiny village, right before the Bonomiya family is set to celebrate their 900th family anniversary. On the day that Akira first comes to the village and meets Miki, strange occurrences begin to affect the villagers starting with weird nightmares and increasing to brutal deaths that are quickly blamed upon the Inugami. Slowly the secrets about the Bonomiya family are revealed, including those concerning Miki and Tokano. Upon the day of the Ancestral Rites, Tokano decides to offer Miki as a sacrifice to appease the Dog Gods....

Marebito (2004)

The only way I can think of describing the Japanese horror film "Marebito" is to imagine that you are watching a film that was equally inspired by the early works of David Cronenberg and H.P. Lovecraft. Directed by Takashi Shimizu between his original "Ju-on: The Grudge" and the American remake "The Grudge", "Marebito" is a lonely physiological nightmare about a lone man's journey to experience real terror. The film is narrated by the main character in a detached manner that sounds similar as if he was talking to a therapist. The movie is weird and the narrative feels like it's missing something at first and it does leave you with some questions at the end. Overall, the film is an unique and interesting experience worth watching.

Masuoka is a cameraman who carries his camera everywhere he goes and typically always has it recording. He prefers to see life through the camera lens, and when he happens to be on location and filming during a random suicide, he becomes obsessed by the man's look of sheer terror. Masuoka wants to experience real terror like that for himself so he goes on a journey into the tunnels and pathways hiding below Tokyo. He comes across the ghost of the man who killed himself and the ghost explains about the creatures known as Deros that stalk the tunnels. The ghost disappears and Masuoka finds himself at a mountain range underneath the city. There, he finds a mute, naked girl chained to a wall. He takes her home and names her "F". He tries to feed her but she refuses to eat or drink but he eventually finds out that she lives off of blood, so he begins to go out and kills two women to feed to "F". Masuoka begins to spiral into madness and it is soon revealed exactly what he has done that he can now finally admit to himself. The film ends when he finds the terror that he has longed for....

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?

Parasite Eve (1997)

Even the Japanese have issues adapting some popular novels into film, even if the adaption into a video was a smashing success. The movie version of "Parasite Eve" was a complete let down and not nearly what I was expecting. The pacing is terribly slow and fails in it's attempt to make the scenes seem more meaningful and heart felt. The action sequences, when there is any action, are not impressive and full of cheap special effects, especially the poorly done "people on fire" effect. The background music is too grandiose for such mild action and the script stumbles around before deciding to ever move forward and the final 15 minutes of the film are the hardest to get through.


Hiroshi Mikami ("Premonition") stars as Dr. Toshiaki Nagashima,  a microbiologist expert on Mitochondria, a type of symbiotic parasite of human DNA cells. Toshiaki's wife, Kiyomi, carries an intelligent Mitichondria known as Eve, and Eve is ready to take her evolution to the next level. She causes Kiyomi to crash her car in near fatal accident. Eve then influences the people around her to ensure that Kiyomi's kidneys are transplanted to a suitable host for Eve's child that she procreates with an unsuspecting Toshiaki. This of course happens after Toshiaki takes Kiyomi's liver and makes cultures form it, in which Eve is allowed to grow and evolve at an astounding rate. When Toskiaki realizes what Eve is and what she plans to do, only he can save the human race by trying to reach the real Kiyomi that is still deep inside Eve.

Ringu 2 (1999)

The curse of the yurei Sadako is back in "Ringu 2", this time being looked into by Ryuji's girlfriend/teaching assistant Mai and Reiko's coworker Okazaki. While Okazaki works on the interviews that Reiko made and he continued on with, Mai searches for Reiko and her son Yoichi to demand answers to why Ryuji died. A detective working on the case tells Mai about Sadako and her mother, and even forces Mai to see the body of one of Sadako's victims who was found in a similar state that she had found Ryuji. Mai also has visions of Ryuji as he tells her that she has his powers now even though they won't be able to save anyone. Eventually Mai finds Rieko and her son and reveals their presence to the detective. Reiko and Yoichi try to escape after Yoichi demonstrates that he has powers similar to Sadako, but Reiko is killed by a truck as she is deep in a vision. Mai takes Yoichi and seeks out the man who raised Sadako as a child, hoping that he has answer as to finally stop the vengeful spirit.

Mother and daughter

Poor Reiko

Mai destroys a tape so no one can see it

Tormented (2011)

Japanese horror master Takashi Shimizu is back with his 2011 film "Tormented". Filmed in 3D, this movie is more about atmosphere and mood rather than plot or scares. It's a very beautiful film and the 3D effects are not distracting while watching on a non-3D format screen. The story is heavy influenced by the "Little Mermaid" and is directly referred to several times. The movie is worth watching but not if you are looking for something intricate or scary. Although the rabbit suit is unnerving at first....


Kiriko is a mute young woman who lives with her 10 year old step-brother Daigo and their father, a reclusive children's book maker. One day Daigo kills an injured rabbit at school and then shortly after this event, he begins to have nightmares about a person in a giant rabbit suit. Kiriko tries to get her father to help them but it's apparent that she and her little brother are alone in dealing with the increasing terror that the Rabbit is causing. They soon believe that is has something to do with Diago's mother, who died during childbirth, Is she coming back to haunt them?

Ringu (1998)

"Ringu" is the movie that started it all, the massive influx and popularity of Japanese horror to American audiences. It was also the highest grossing horror film in Japan when it was released. The original Japanese version and the American remake tell the same story but it two very different styles. The two films follow each other almost exactly up to the point where the father figure, Ryuji (Japanese) / Noah (American) is introduced. Once he watches the video, the two versions take their own path in telling the mystery of Sadako/Samara. In "Ringu", Ryuji has the ability of ESP and plays a more prominent role it helping his ex-wife solve the mystery. Together they go to the island where Sadako's mother, Shizuko, lived. Shizuko was considered a seer on her small island and attracted the attention of a scientist from the city. Shizuko had an affair with him and concieved Sadako. After a public demonstration go astray, Sadako is taken away by her father and never seen again. He is the one responsible for pushing her into the well and leaving her to die alone. Sadako's power is so strong that she curses all who see the video tape; the phone call also only happens at the site of her tomb rather than anywhere as it does in the American version. In order to enjoy and understand the Japanese version of "Ringu", the viewer needs to understand, or at least accept the fact that mental powers such as ESP are readily accepted in their movies.

The Booth (2005)

"The Booth" is a Japanese horror film from 2005 that takes place in a haunted radio broadcasting booth. It opens with a scene from a few decades ago when the radio host took a call from a caller who claimed to have committed suicide 30 years ago. Before the producers know it, the host had hung himself in the room. Fast forward to today as a popular night time radio host and his crew are working in that old radio booth while they are in the processes of moving from one office to another. Shingo, the arrogant but charismatic host, is steadily called a liar by a phantom voice that keeps interrupting his show. Shingo begins to have flash backs from his childhood as well as events from the past few weeks and realizes that  his secret is about to be revealed or that the crew he works with is calling him out for all of his rude and patronizing comments.

What is fascinating about this film is how each caller brings up a story or situation that directly compares to Shingo, either with his co-workers or his girlfriend. The writing for this film is top notch and the suspense is carefully built up throughout the movie. I though that too much was revealed within 20 minutes but I was pleasantly surprised.

Hitori Kakurenbo (2008)

"Hitori kakurenbo", aka "Hide and Go Kill", is a low budget Japanese horror film based on the game Hide and Go Seek Alone. Essentially an urban legend, the game is played by following a set of rules that involves removing the stuffing from a doll and then filling it with rice, tying it up with a red string, placing it in water and stabbing it, all before hiding somewhere in your house. After a while you leave your hiding spot, holding salt water in your mouth, then going back to the doll and saying three times "I win". It's an interesting concept to make a movie about but the way that it is presented is boring as hell! The pacing is slow, the game's rules are repeated in detail over and over in each segment, and people keep repeating "Have you played this" or "Will you play this" before taking a slow time to actually play the game. The results all end with horrific results such as suicide, complete disappearance, or becoming possessed. Had the pacing and script been tightened up, this could have been a spooky film but the ultimate result is utterly disappointing.

Junk (2000)

Even Japan wasn't immune from the outbreak of zombie themed horror movies. It could be argued that the Japanese helped usher in the movement with such films as "Versus" from 2000 as well as today's review, "Junk". Personally, I found "Junk" to be more entertaining and ridiculous than "Versus". Labeled as a Yukuza Zombie film, "Junk" pays homage to zombie classics like "Re-Animator" and "Dead Alive". Because of these obvious influences, the zombie make-up is kept cheesy and barely a step above the quality of work that Tom Savini was doing in the early 1980's. But the film does capture a hint of the comedic undertones that both movies had, sometimes to the point that you think that the acting is a bit too much over the top.

A team of four amature thieves pull off a daring jewelry robbery and make off with an estimated 100 million yen worth of loot. They make plan with a local yukuza boss to sell the stolen goods to and begin daydreaming of what their lives are going to become. The trade is to take place at an old abandonded military base. Unknown to these two groups, the US military was using the base to conduct unauthorized tests in reanimation. The tests were successful but the scientists and other personnel were all killed and turned. It's not long before the thieves and the yukuza run into the zombies, and during a fire fight between the two, more zombies are created. Now it's a race for survival until the military can come save the day, led by the co-creator of the reanimation serum.

Favorite moment - Watching the "zombie queen" in action, clearly more of a video game final boss than a regular old standard zombie!

Kyoko the zombie queen is hungry

Kyoko now has white hair! Whaa?

Yukuza checking out the stolen loot.

Kuchisake-onna (2007)

"Kuchisake-onna" aka "Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman" is a Japanese horror film based on the urban legend from the 1970's about a disfigured woman who kills children after asking them if she is pretty. The film is able to incorporate the urban legend and gives it an origin and expands on it in modern day Japan. The film also deals with the theme of child abuse by having the two of the main characters being victims and another being an abuser. This adds an interesting and deeper element that often isn't seen in horror movies but at the same time doesn't look in to the issue as deeply as it might have been if it was an American film.


Kyoko Yamashita is a teacher who becomes involved with the Slit-Mouthed Woman after the Kuchisake-onna kidnaps one of her students. The matter is extremely personal because Kyoko is trying to make amends for abusing her own daughter by trying to save her student, Mika, from a similar situation with her mother. Kyoko teams up with another teacher from her school, Noboru Matsuzaki, when she learns that he hears the faint words "Do you think I'm pretty" right before a child is kidnapped. The two manage to rescue a boy from the Kuchisake-onna just in time, killing her in the process. But when the corpse of the murderer suddenly turns into a local housewife, they realize that the ghost possesses people and that the terror is only beginning....

Mika and her teacher Kyoko

The Kuchisake-onna kidnapping Mika

Kyoko and Noboru fight with the Kuchisake-onna

The Kuchisake-onna makes an example of her victim

The Kuchisake-onna unmasked

Ju-on 2 (2003)

"Ju-on 2", the full length sequel to "Ju-on: The Grudge", is a surprising improvement over the original film that kick started Americans interest in Japanese horror films. The film has a stronger plot and is scarier than the the original. The effects are more effective and more profound, using photo techniques rather than out right CGI. The story is again broken up into individual chapters that focus on a primary character. The chapters are not in exact chronological order but are presented in a way that is not too confusing and makes sense when the movie is over.

The film focuses on a set of primary characters who are involved with filming a TV show inside the haunted house where housewife Kayako and her son Toshi were violently killed by their husband/father.

Kyoko is a horror movie actress and is set to make a guest appearance on a weekly TV show. This particular episode takes place and is about the violent murder of a housewife and the disappearance of her son. After filming the episode, Kyoko and her boyfriend have a horrible car accident (cause by seeing Toshi). Her boyfriend falls into a coma and she believes that she lost her unborn child; the baby turns out to be ok. While she survived her run in, her mother dies at home under mysterious circumstances.

Others at the filming also have run ins with the ghosts, including the episodes co-star, Tomoka and her boyfriend, the make-up artist Megumi, and the random disappearances of the camerman and sound guy. Only the director, Keisuke, lives more than a few days....

Favorite moment - A chilling scene where Kayako is coming for one of the characters but is stopped by another force!

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

The original "Ju-on: The Grudge" is an excellent Japanese horror film that inspired an American remake, allowing director Takashi Shimizu that chance to go back and tweak his original work. I was surprised at how many little differences there were and yet satisfied that the two films were still alike. The first half is almost identical to the remake with only minor differences. The sound effects and visuals are better in the remake but the ones in the original still do a decent job. The story line in the remake also makes more sense, having an American family seen moving in versus having a family already there. Otherwise, everything is more or less the same.

In the Japanese version there is one additional chapter that is not seen in the American version, and this particular piece is perhaps the scariest part of the movie. It takes place several years later and revolves around a high school girl who, with her three friends, went inside the house. She ran away while her friends were killed, and now she knows that they are coming for her.

The final chapter revolves around Rika, the character that was later re-written for Sarah Michelle Gellar in the remake. This chapter also takes place several years later. Rika still works for the mental health insitution, and meets up with an old friend who is now a teacher. Her friend is having to make house calls and ends up visiting the same house. Meanwhile, Rika is having visions of the ghost boy and his cat, and when she realizes that her friend is in danger, Rika tries to stop her before it's too late. But this is a horror movie, so it's always too late....

Shikoku (1999)

"Shikoku" is a slower, more spiritual, Japanese horror film from 1999. Shikoku is the name of the smallest of Japan's four main islands, and depending on the kanji used, the meaning of Shikoku is either "four countries" or "land of the dead". This fact is used as one of the primary elements in the story. The film is about ghosts but the scares and gore are minimal while the movie depends more on plot and the building atmosphere.

It revolves around three main characters, Hinako, Fumiya, and Sayori. Sayori and her family perform various spiritual rites and Japanese style seances, and all Sayroi wants is to grow up and and leave the small village so she can live life to the fullest. Instead, she ends up dying while still in school. Fumiya is the boy that Sayori has a crush on; after her death he leaves the small village and works in Osaka for three years before returning home. Hinako, seen more as Sayori's sidekick that real friend, ends up moving away to Tokyo with her parents at a young age. But before she moved, she accidentally witnessed one of Sayori's rituals, and in the next scene she is seen almost drowning in the river but is "saved" by Sayori just in time.

Several years later Hinako returns to the village to handle some affairs concerning her family's old house. She meets up with her old playmate Fumiya and learns that Sayori had drowned in the same river that she almost died in. Hinako asks who is living in Sayori's old house after seeing someone in the window, but no one does. After seeing what could be a yurei (Japanese ghost), both Hinako and Fumiya begin looking into Sayori's family history and wondering why her mother is continuing to go on the "pilgrimage" to the 88 temples that surround the island. When they find out that Sayori's mother is visiting the temples in reverse order, they realize that she might be trying to open the divide that separate the world of the living from the world of the dead in hopes of bringing Sayori back to life.

Hidako returns to her hometown.

Sayori returns to life!

Fumiya and an officer check out some vandalism.

Fumiya discovers a weird ritual site.

One Missed Call 2 (2005)

I must admit that I have never seen the original "One Missed Call" or it's American remake but it's safe to say that any viewer will pretty much gets the idea of what the story is about in the sequel without needing to see them. The theme is the same, a victim will receive a missed phone call and that the victim will receive a voice message on how they are going to die. The cursed phone call comes with a unique ring tone that the phone's owner doesn't recognize. While there are some clues that carry over from the first film, a new set of circumstances replace those and up the ante of the curse. In the film, you discover that the rash of "murders" is also occurring in not only Japan but also in Tawain, where the curse ultimately began. The suspected killer in the first film turns out to be a victim themselves and the curse is older than any one could have guessed. The race is on to fins a way to break the curse as more characters receive the cursed phone call with a mysterious date in the near future....

The Roommate (2010)

"The Roommate" is a low, low budget Japanese film that feels more like an amateurs ode to the genre of recent Japanese ghost films than an original movie. I didn't mind the acting, the story line, or the visuals but the sound effects were sometimes very grating, especially in one scene where there is supposed to me a stabbing sound. (shudder). Even though the film is full of Japanese ghost cliches, the ending was still unique and the movie was overall enjoyable. The short run time of only 70 minutes also helps.


The film follows two women, the pretty and likable Tamaki, and the plain hard working Ayako. They live together in an apartment in Tokyo. You can tel pretty quickly that Tamaki has more than just a crush on Ayako and that Ayako is beginning to feel the same. One night, Ayako is surprised by a phone call from her father, who she hasn't in over ten years since moving to Tokyo. Her father shows up while she is out and Tamaki is mistaken as Ayako. Ayako's father apologizes and admits that it's been too long since he's seen his daughter. In the next scene, Ayako comes home but her father has left and Tamaki says that she couldn't convince him to stay. That night, Ayako begins to have visions of a female ghost; this ghost continues to appear throughout the film. The more that Ayako sees the ghost, the more people around the two women begin to disappear. Will Ayako find out the secret of the ghost or is Tamaki trying to hide something form her roommate?