Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: East meets West in this horror anthology made by Americans but starring an all Japanese cast speaking Japanese.
Review: This is one of the most unique films I've had the pleasure to get a hold of in recent years--an American made Asian horror movie. This is the kind of dream project I'd want to be working on myself, although, I would have cast my darling Rika in it for sure! Actually, I think they missed an opportunity to have each segment feature a different culture (ala the "Three Extremes" movies) but that's fine; this film focuses on a Japanese cast. The stories are greatly inspired and modeled after "The Twilight Zone" with each segment possessing this, certain, nostalgic vibe while involving twist endings where the characters get their comeuppance; the wraparound is even in black and white. I really liked the approach to everything, but there are some noticeable flaws that bring down the, otherwise, original experience. First, the attention to detail is severely lacking in presenting a genuine Japanese tale. I understand the budget limitations were probably playing a major part in this respect, but there were aspects that could have been worked around. For example, we see shots of the houses, the architecture, the cars, etc. and it is clearly not Japanese. Some random guy has a pistol on him--uh, highly unlikely. The police literally have "police" written on their jackets and their uniforms are way off. The local police have weird badges to boot. Japan doesn't have giant, wide open cemeteries with big ass headstones. Eh I could go on, and I am nitpicking, but I'm just some white American guy and I can clearly see the flaws (granted, I am a dork who has probably watched more Asian movies than most Asians but still)...the Japanese cast didn't think something was wrong? My main gripe is that you can use filming techniques to mask these inconsistencies...unless this is supposed to be some magical world where everything is the same but all humans are now Japanese. Hmm...
Wraparound/Shoko the Widow: Surprisingly the wraparound is the best segment of this film. I really loved the idea behind how to connect the stories, the gradual buildup between each segment, and, as I mentioned, that black and white-look works wonders. The TZ sensation is definitely the strongest during these cutaways and it added to the intrigue. When the movie begins, we see a woman, named Shoko, ardently watching a news report about some woman getting away with murder. Later Shoko is shown to be stranded in the woods when she is picked up by a girl, named Tamika, who claims she has the ability to converse with the dead and offers some tea for Shoko to drink. As the two drive along, Tamika relates various tales to Shoko that all have some little lesson to be learned. Tamika typically tries to explain the morality behind the stories whereas Shoko takes a more pessimistic attitude. Eventually Tamika reveals that she isn't taking Shoko where she wants to go and has one last story that she thinks Shoko will like. We learn that Shoko was a part of some pact with a bunch of bitches to murder their husbands and take their money; yes, because it's just that easy to get away with murder you can openly admit it in front of tons of people. Shoko apparently was the last one left to follow through with this scheme, and, in turn, this motivates her to finally muster the courage to kill her husband who appeared to be a nice guy. Tamika explains that the husband's ghost came to her and said he wanted to be with Shoko forever, so Tamika obliged and put poison in the tea. The film ends with Tamika asking Shoko's ghost to tell her own story. Despite being predictable as hell, there was just something so satisfying to the wraparound and it felt original enough in presentation.
Home Sweet Home: This is probably the second best of the group with a cool twist and ironic circumstances--just the way the TZ would have handled things. A family that has recently found their son, in a mysteriously catatonic state, moves into a new home and begins to notice ghostly occurrences. Somehow this family contacts Tamika and her sister, Manami, as they try to get to the bottom of the situation. I wish more time was spent establishing the adventures of Tamika and Manami since they are ghost hunters of sorts, but I guess you can't have everything. Anyway, the previous owners of the home were murdered a year ago, and the current family would like Tamika to resolve the haunting. Tamika has a vision of the original home owners as a miserable couple prepared to murder each other: the husband has a gun and the wife has poisoned the husband's drink. But before the mayhem can commence, a thief or tweaker or whatever comes to the home and takes them hostage. The wife swipes at the thief's face and he stabs her to death; the husband runs and is shot. We discover that the thief was, in fact, the current family's son. As the son was about to make his escape from the home he drank from the husband's glass and was poisoned, leading to his catatonic state. Tamika tells the current family that the ghosts simply love the home and will go away on their own except, in actuality, the ghosts will torment the catatonic son. A just fate and fitting end for the story; this segment should have also led the viewer to understand the way Tamika would use her ability in the wraparound.
Chalk: This is probably the worst of the segments since its entire premise would appear to be a continuity error. Detectives are investigating a murder at a seedy motel that looks absolutely nothing like what you would see in Japan. The one douche detective is apparently a former member of the yakuza and there's something about the guy that was murdered knowing about this fact or whatever. The murdered guy had a flash drive with information on it, and, after stalling the investigation, the detective tries to recover said flash drive later that night. Supposedly after the detective murdered the guy, he drew a lame chalk outline of the body as if to be some kind of calling card although we never get an explanation of why, and he seems genuinely confused by this at first too...so uhh okay. This is made more nonsensical when we see a flashback of the detective murdering the guy, and a maid hears the gunshot. So the detective would know police were coming and he needed to get out of there, yet we are to believe he spent time to draw that chalk outline?! Yeah, okay! The story ends with the detective about to leave the motel when he becomes engulfed in the chalk and crumbles to dust; later the other detectives figure out what was going on. I understand what they were going for with this segment, but they failed to deliver in pretty much every regard.
The Dirty Business of Time: This segment was so-so but could have potentially been more interesting; also, I don't know if this segment even understood its own rules since nothing makes any sense. We are introduced to a cliche, down on his luck, kind of guy, named Yoshi, who is on the brink of suicide. Earlier Yoshi was rescued by an unusual man and then this same man intervenes when Yoshi intends to shoot himself; you see what I mean with all the guns...Japan does not have guns this readily available to the public. The shady man offers Yoshi lots of money for the time left in his life. Yoshi agrees with this deal, for some odd reason, and immediately buys lots of random crap. The only problem is that Yoshi starts to lose the actual years from his life which makes any money pointless if you can't enjoy it. Yoshi learns his old love interest has been married and his mother died; then, after talking to some dead schoolgirl, he has rapidly aged into an old man. This segment ends with Yoshi using his remaining money to buy other people's time so he can live longer...I guess. Like I said, this doesn't make a lot of sense and was not entirely thought out, and who the hell was the mysterious man? I can appreciate the definite TZ feel, with weird bargains and learning a harsh life lesson, but the TZ episodes usually made sense.
Overall, I'm mostly rating this movie as high as I am due to the originality in the concept and using the TZ as the inspiration for the stories. The wraparound was a really cool idea and a fun way to tie the entries together with cohesion and intrigue. Obviously I am fan of Americans trying to tell their own Asian horror stories, but things could have been done better. The low budget is clearly visible and that amateur feel to the direction and presentation certainly wasn't helping anything. I'd love to see another attempt, maybe even a sequel, and this time apply more cultures in the process to spice things up. I mean, America is supposed to be known for its diversity, so let's have an anthology series with every kind of culture offering up horror tales. Either way, I would say check this one out merely to show support for the ideas, but understand that this isn't exactly going to blow you away.
Notable Moment: During "The Dirty Business of Time" segment when we see, perhaps, the worst striptease ever. I mean, that chick had a nice ass and all, but I haven't seen such lackluster dancing since my 6th grade formal. And she has on way too much clothes for me to believe it.
Final Rating: 6/10
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