This wasn't as creepy or compelling as "Ju-On" which also starred Megumi Okina, but it was interesting. Nami, a young girl with an artistic flair discovers she has inherited a mansion. She and her ex-boyfriend decide to check the place out with a video camera in hopes of using some of the footage for a video game they are working on, called St. Johns Wort. The huge house is in disrepair and is filled with disturbing paintings, all of which turn out to have been painted by Nami's late father, a morbid genius. As the young couple explore the house, they are monitored by a pair of friends back in the city who map out the mansion and its many rooms on a computer. The exploration turns up many horrible secrets; a photograph of Nami and a missing twin identified as Naomi, a cellar full of the mummified remains of children and a hidden room containing recording equipment. A caretaker who attacks Nami is later found hanging in the kitchen, and a secret stairway leads up to a hidden attic room, a room that Nami has seen before in her childhood nightmares.
This film is very much like a video game. The first half hour or so is spent exploring the many rooms in which clues are found and secret doors revealed. There are some genuinely creepy moments, such as a blue-lit room filled with rotting dolls and some great camera work in the bathroom, where Nami is showering. The climax at film's end involving the identity of Naomi is a little difficult to believe, but as it turns out to be just one ending out of an implied many (just like a video game) it is fairly easy to just go along with it. The characters are all quite likable, a fact which makes the multiple endings much appreciated. All in all, this is a decently clever film with an absence of violence in favor of a creepy atmosphere. It starts out a little slow, so impatient people be warned. The video game obsessed will appreciate this one.
This film is very much like a video game. The first half hour or so is spent exploring the many rooms in which clues are found and secret doors revealed. There are some genuinely creepy moments, such as a blue-lit room filled with rotting dolls and some great camera work in the bathroom, where Nami is showering. The climax at film's end involving the identity of Naomi is a little difficult to believe, but as it turns out to be just one ending out of an implied many (just like a video game) it is fairly easy to just go along with it. The characters are all quite likable, a fact which makes the multiple endings much appreciated. All in all, this is a decently clever film with an absence of violence in favor of a creepy atmosphere. It starts out a little slow, so impatient people be warned. The video game obsessed will appreciate this one.