Ghost Train (aka Otoshimono) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A young girl seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding an allegedly haunted train tunnel after her sister goes missing.

Review: I've already mentioned this film a few times this month, so here it is finally; oh, and I hope no one was too hyped, because this movie is just so-so. At a glance, this film will appear to be nothing more than the usual gimmicks we've seen a thousand or more times before. Creepy, long haired ghost woman? Check. Ghost kiddies? Check. Cute, borderline hot, lead character that is supposedly a friendless "loser?" Check. Weird supernatural being that predates humanity with vague references to Lovecraftian lore? Che--wait, what?! So just when you think this movie is cookie cutter all the way, you get a curveball in the final act that tries to help this film stand out against the crowd. While this would seemingly be fine and dandy, the film tries to tackle way too much material while never properly seeing any of its many subplots through to their entirety.

The story is that people occasionally find possessions belonging to one Yaeko Aonuma which in turn leads to them being haunted by a cliched ghost girl until they disappear (off to Kayako-land I suppose); not so surprisingly, the ghost girl is Yaeko, but we can get into that issue later. So our lead, Nana, played by the lovely Erika Sawajiri, uses the train station that is being haunted by these items along with her sister, Noriko, as they visit their ailing mother. This whole dying mother plot line is beyond weak, has little association to the story except as a plot device, and to make Nana appear more endearing...I guess. Not learning from her little boyfriend's mistake in the opening scene, Noriko picks up a rail pass that belonged to Yaeko, and, you guessed it, goes missing. I'm sorry, but this was all Nana's fault. Who lets a 10 year old run around the town, boarding trains and such, all by their lonesome? Although, at this point, isn't having an encounter with a ghost girl almost a rite of passage? Besides Nana and Noriko, we are introduced to a conductor, named Shunichi, who has seen the ghost, and Kanae, a dumbass schoolmate of Nana, who inadvertently is given one of Yaeko's items by her douchebag boyfriend. And what do we have here? Why is there a random background character who was also in "Death Train" (from "Hideshi Hino's Theater of Horror" which I already covered!)? Did you get lost on your way to the set, hunny? This isn't a sequel. And she's still overacting like crazy--and she lives too?! What in the hell?

There are many stupid moments that serve to pad out the film like Nana and Kanae's overly sentimental "friendship," Shunichi feeling guilty about pretending not to see a ghost when Nana confronts him, and Kanae's boyfriend who somehow becomes possessed before dying. But, at the same time, some random scenes help to make things appear more intriguing like Shunichi's coworker who has been chronicling the history of the ghost, the realization that the train tunnels had to curve around something mysteriously buried, and the introduction of yet another character, Kumi, a mother whose son also picked up Yaeko's rail pass, played by Aya Sugimoto. Unfortunately, no skin being shown this time from Ms. Sugimoto, but she's still milfing it up. Eventually the group believes the key to this haunting has to do with Yaeko dying and perhaps returning her possessions would end things. This would appear to include a baby since she was pregnant when she died; okay, I'm not even going to pretend that makes any sense nor could that baby have feasibly survived. Kanae is later killed, and Nana, Shunichi, and Kumi go into the tunnels to somehow magically appease the spirit of Yaeko.

This is when things really get interesting as Nana has a vision of Yaeko also being killed by a supernatural force and then stumbles upon some kind of ruins buried where the train tracks had to curve just as Shunichi's coworker mentioned. Nana finds a weird statue that she recalls had been appearing in photos of those that picked up Yaeko's items. She also discovers a massive pile of dead bodies, that we assume were accumulating since the tunnel had been dug up, with Noriko, still alive somehow, at the top. Yaeko's spirit attacks once more, but Kumi somehow kills Yaeko and herself while revealing she was, in fact, Yaeko's child that did survive. Nana and Noriko try to flee, but they are pursued by the mountain of dead bodies that all come to life. When you think surely Nana is a goner, Shunichi saves her, they all make it out safe and sound, and later Shunichi blows up the tunnel. The film then surprisingly ends on a happy note with no final zinger as Nana's mom recovers, Noriko is safe, and Nana reflects on her "friendship" with Kanae. Since the film leaves way too many unanswered questions, I'll throw out my interpretation. Long ago the ruins we see would have been built either by the Ainu (the indigenous people of Japan), or by some human culture lost to time because they were dealing with supernatural forces. Since the film presents some H.P. Lovecraft references, it would appear they were implying the statue may have been alive and I'm going to say was, what is referred to as, a "Great Old One." These are like evil forces of the universe and there is a plethora of information out there if you're interested. I'm thinking the being in question may have been some creature called "Xcthol" who kind of fits the look of the statue, but others could fit the bill. So thousands of years after this temple becomes forgotten, tunnel workers disturb the ruins with deadly consequences resulting in them building tracks around the ruins. Then this force somehow controls its victims and brings them back or takes their form and collects more victims for whatever reason. This would have been the case with Yaeko. Why any of this would occur, well, I don't know--it was all for the lulz maybe.

Overall, this film was mostly mediocre made better through an added twist despite not making much sense and leaving a lot to be desired. Was this film ambitious? Yes. Did it succeed at what it was trying to accomplish? No. This movie was meant to be pretty big too, because it was pitched as releasing in Korea before Japan, which is rare, and its English release even got a dub (which sucks by the way), which is usually reserved for the biggest hits. I think this would have worked better had they broken the material up into two movies rather than trying to squeeze so many subplots into one 90 minute movie. The mystery is engaging, there was originality in spite of the cliches, and the pacing is good even with the corny sentimental moments. On the other hand, the effects were a bit weak at times, too much going on with no clarity, still relied on many cliches, certain plotlines make no sense and involve contrivances, and the vision of the story was not effectively realized. I still think this film is worth checking out, because it offers an offbeat tale that goes in a direction you wouldn't typically expect from Asian horror. It has it faults, however, so be wary of this fact.

Notable Moment: I don't know if they do this intentionally in Japan or it is a lame cliche they fall into, but there is a scene when Nana and Shunichi are talking about what's going on. Nana has a super, high-pitch whiny voice and keeps pushing on Shunichi. You kind of have to see it to know what I'm talking about, but I can't be the only one that has picked up on this situation happening more than once in Japanese film and TV, right?  Where the girl is either sad or mad and gets so fucking whiny and either lightly hits the dude or pushes him? Whatever, I see this shit all the time! Anyway, what makes this scene stand out is that Shunichi somehow falls over from this bullshit and it made me burst out laughing.

Final Rating: 6/10