Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Models and their crew are doing a photo shoot at a school when mysterious doppelgangers crash the party.
Review: You may be wondering how does a movie, from 2002, boasting to be made by "Ju-on" creator, Takashi Shimizu, have no rating on imdb and no wikipedia page? For one, Mr. Shimizu's involvement is questionable at best. For two, this film has been collecting dust in Japan for the last decade and has only recently been released to international audiences. Unfortunately, it should have been left collecting dust. At a glance, the production quality is extremely low, even for this time period in Japan, appearing to be from the '90s in both visuals and sound. But hey, there's more to a movie than that, how's the story? It's shit! It makes no sense and ends just as senselessly. To make matters worse, it's barely over an hour long with the credits, although, I'm sure some may see this as a relief. How do you not effectively make use of your time? Killing me here!
I'll try and explain the story the best I understood it. It starts off with a reporter hounding a girl for her version of the events of the movie. You may recognize this girl, as well as a few of the other actors, but that's about the most interesting thing going on. We cut to the past when the girl, Mizuki, and two others were modeling at a school for a photo shoot unlike any I could possibly imagine. I'm sorry, but these girls aren't model material; one is sort of cute in the right light I suppose. Anyway, one of the girls conveniently mentions some urban legend about putting two mirrors together and creating a third reflection, or whatever, and of course this becomes relevant to the plot. There's also a camera guy, an agent I think, a production assistant, and uhh...some other guy. I don't know. This other guy and the agent were creeping me out with implied talk of kiddie porn photos, and this also serves as a throwaway plot point. Early on you may notice the same character in multiple locations as everyone begins to realize something is not right. Sure enough, doppelgangers of each person appears in an attempt to kill their real self; the way this works is a bit shaky. If you kill the doppelganger it kills the real person anyway, so it's virtually impossible to stop them except by running. Besides this, there are, of course, shenanigans as the doppelgangers occasionally can separate individuals from the group without them realizing it.
There is a point when Mizuki figures out that a doppelganger doesn't like to look in the mirror and it reveals their true self. In other words, they discover some of the group is actually doppelgangers already. The effect of a doppelganger reacting to a mirror is horrendous--a weak image blur on the screen. I was also disappointed, because they could have played up the paranoia and toyed with the audience in a manner similar to "The Thing" where you aren't sure who's who. One of the girls, Maya, reveals the urban legend about the mirror is real, to a degree, and that when she saw the third reflection it granted her wish to get rid of people she hated. This included her stepfather that made her do the kiddie porn photos, but it would seem she's lost control of the power and it will kill anyone. Once Mizuki and Maya are the only ones left alive, they try and make a new wish with mirrors to end this as their doppelgangers close in. Mizuki sees an evil reflection, but the mirrors become smashed and now there appears to be a clone army. The emperor would be proud; this effect actually wasn't too bad thankfully. Maya then decides the only way to end everything is to kill herself which does destroy the clone army. As the only survivor, Mizuki walks off into the sunset as we cut back to the reporter from earlier. The reporter doesn't quite believe the story, but says he'll word it from her perspective. Apparently Mizuki doesn't like being called crazy, I guess, and sends a doppelganger to kill him. Oh no, she's evil now! The end thankfully.
Imagine this film as an edgier episode of "Goosebumps," if you will, with effects as flimsy as the story. If this were genuinely a part from a TV show it wouldn't feel as bad, but as an allegedly full-fledged film, it's terrible. I'm annoyed it's so short, because this DVD is kind of expensive for what little you get; this is either due to it being a recent release or limited supplies or it's a ripoff...you pick. While there were some interesting ideas, like not knowing who was a doppelganger, nothing stands out in any shape or form to make this memorable. Even the urban legend used to explain the events of the film is severely glossed over leaving the audience with little reason why any of this is possible or why it's happening. Hell, they could have said the school was haunted and it would have made more sense without any other explanation. I would highly advise anyone thinking about buying this to wait until the price comes down or find it free. This was a major letdown.
Notable Moment: When the girls are ridiculously comparing bust sizes only to be put to shame by the production assistant. Time to separate the girls from the women!
Final Rating: 4/10
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