Director: Hideo Nakata
Year: 2019
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
After finding a lonely young girl, a nurse at a local hospital tries to help her regain enough senses to tell what happened to her, eventually leading to a connection with a local urban legend her brother accidentally uncovered and brings her colleagues face-to-face with a murderous ghost.
Review:
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| (C)2019 "Sadako" Film Partners |
Overall, there was quite a lot to like with this entry. One of the strongest factors here is the way this one utilizes the traditional elements of the series into creating a very familiar atmosphere. The film explores a rather intriguing investigation angle that was central to the original entries in the series where the authorities are looking after the young girl who wandered into their lives. Realizing the connection between her and the mother who died and then trying to understand what's going on by interviewing the girl has some great moments to it by setting off the nurse's interest in the situation. The connection deepens when the brother gets involved and turns up missing with the fateful video of the scene which is analyzed and proven to contain enough about it to make the authorities look at it even further which is a stellar factor of the film getting these points brought up.
On top of that, the film's ghost scenes are quite creepy and generally effective. The opening scene in the apartment where the frantic mother tries to burn the daughter alive believing she's the malicious spirit before the actual ghost shows up and turns it around on her gives this a strong and shocking start, while the scenes at the doctor's office investigating the girl provides some enjoyable moments here. The secret manipulation of the objects in the terrarium which no one but the nurse notices is quite impressive, keeping everything contained inside but still hinting at a powerful figure controlling it and the later scene of her stopping the bullying children is quite fun. This carries into the terrifying encounters at the hospital of the ghost coming to life and targeting the nurses' patient in the corridors of the building which are just chilling and incredibly creepy but also serves a fine purpose of getting the traditional franchise elements into the film based on the emergence of the ghost through the TV set and having the fateful videotape introduced into the storyline.
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| (C)2019 "Sadako" Film Partners |
The other really enjoyable part of the film is the entire final half that manages to make the most amount of connections with the rest of the series. Getting the journey to the island while recapping the connections between the girl and the original figure at the center of the curse through the flashbacks featuring their similar childhoods growing up manages to complete the entire franchise connection. Beyond the storyline setups, the action here is really good with the creepy exploration of the cave where she's holding her victims trapped in an eternal torment which is how this one leads into the final confrontation with the deadly figure. The darkness of the location and the trapped-in surroundings of this one taking place in the confined cave setting is what really helps to give this a creepy finale. Managing to bring in some emotional resonance to the outcome rather than the traditional chilling aspects, there's a lot to like here and are what manage to hold the film up for the most part.
There are still some problems with the film. The biggest issue to be had here is the fact that the introduction of the girl and how the investigation is going to be handled just comes off as sloppy and mishandled. Knowing from the start that the fire was the cause of the mother's death and the rest of the hospital staff finding her is decent enough, but to get the brother involved here through his own investigation of the area as a project for his video channel is extremely lazy. The fact that one disappointing video that still manages a respectable number of views is suddenly cause enough for him to want to abandon the content he's providing and turn automatically to ghost-hunting on that kind of a whim has no connection based on what happens, feeling like a basic method of getting the ghost involved in the series again. As well as some confusing instances of cheap CGI that undoes a couple of the jump-scenes, these are all that really hold this one back.
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| (C)2019 "Sadako" Film Partners |
Overview: ****/5
While there are some minor flaws here with some muddled explanations to things that aren’t necessary and some troubled CGI, the rest of the film features enough great connections to the past entries in the franchise that it fits nicely into the series. Give this a chance if you’re curious about it or a fan of the series or the creative aspects, while those turned off by the franchise or style should heed caution here.
This review ran as part of our coverage of the 2019 edition of Fantasia International Film Festival.
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