Director: Takashi Shimizu
Year: 2021
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Inunaki mura
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After being brought on board a new case, a woman finds that her charge has been affected by a recent visit to a fabled city in the area that’s home to a dreadful curse that has taken numerous other lives in the past and brings her into a deadly realization involving her connection to the fabled village.
Review:
This one has quite a lot to like about it even with some issues to it. When the film comes off best is a generally enjoyable storyline that merges several intriguing storylines together into a workable and somewhat chilling setup. As we get a strong sense of her bizarre powers to see and communicate with ghosts and the tragedy that brings to her friends and family with the nightmarish events that occur to those around her, it sets up the emotional resonance of the first half nicely. Due to the tragedies that have taken place, the revelations that emerge not just about the source of her powers but the family's connection to the cursed village and the actions taking place there, there's a rather involved setup at play. When combined with the way the local authorities treat the connecting tunnel into the cursed village and the stories surrounding it, there's a lot to like about this storyline.
That gives the chance for this to offer some solid supernatural scares. The opening exploration of the village through the hand-held camera has an immediacy that makes the ghostly figures dancing in the background and the eeriness of the abandoned village incredibly creepy which starts the film nicely. The series of ghostly sightings she sees around the hospital that is eventually revealed to be the birth mother, which is unknown at the time, offers up some more likable qualities before setting up the later fun to be had once the ghosts and spirits are far more prominent. The chilling scene of the spirits stalking the group through the hospital floors while a secondary encounter takes place at a phone booth with trapped victims inside while running water threatens to drown them is a highlight encounter and is highly effective. As well, later encounters showing the ghosts taking out her accomplices during the investigation are somewhat shocking with the focus more on the horrific events that happened and trying to keep it from continuing. It all makes for a thrilling finish and ends things on a positive high note overall.
As mentioned, there are some problems to be had with the film. The biggest drawback is that the story has way too much going on for its own good, oftentimes being incredibly detrimental about it. The idea of the psychologist with paranormal powers investigating the cursed village once her family goes missing is a fine and workable setup for what's going on, yet there's just too much going on here with the need to look into the young boy's background and looking into the rather convoluted history of the tunnel into the village. These just complicate matters unnecessarily when dealing with the investigation into the strange events in the village and extend the running time, much like the flashbacks revealing the discovery of her powers and the realization that she can talk with ghosts which we already know. There's also an issue where the film feels way too dragged down in the mid-section doing these investigations into the town’s history and background information. While it furthers the story by grounding the experience rather nicely, the fact that the energy and scares of the film noticeably dip during this part is quite obvious and noticeable which creates a jarring effect at points. Overall, these factors do hold it back somewhat but just a little from the positives.
Overview: ****/5
A fine return to form from Shimizu although he doesn’t quite hit the over-the-top highs as his earlier classics, this one comes off as just a notch below those earlier films and has a lot to like about it which keeps it up over those few flaws. Those who enjoy this kind of Asian horror feature or are fans of the creative crew’s previous features will really enjoy this one while viewers who aren’t into the style or approach of this one should heed caution.
This review was originally written for Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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