Tormented (aka Rabbit Horror 3D) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After her brother kills an injured rabbit, a mute woman becomes unhinged as she is pursued by a giant anthropomorphic rabbit.

Review: I guess this is a semi-sequel to "The Shock Labyrinth 3D" following many of the same themes and uses most of the same imagery. Although this film isn't a direct continuation (thank god) it is meant to have some weird connection that is hard to properly describe as this film's plot is almost as convoluted! Basically, there is a scene when the main character, Kiriko, played by Hikari Mitsushima who was Sayu in "Death Note," and her brother, Daigo, are at the movie theater watching "The Shock Labyrinth 3D" when it suddenly interacts with them. Even though this film makes so little sense, there is a lot of room for speculation as to what is really happening unlike the last movie with a nonsensical, paradoxical loop with no explanation and full of contradictions. I'm not going to go over what was good about this film this time since pretty much everything SL did correctly continued onward except with improved effects, visuals, and 3-D. But, at the same time, I can't give them full credit because they still rely on the same spiral staircase, the rundown hospital, rain in slow motion, etc. Furthermore, the plot still seems to be about guilt which made this film feel more like a rehash than a sequel.

So what's really going on in this mess? The best way I can explain it is that it is the ravings of someone's mind--presumably Kiriko's head but not necessarily. At face value, the film presents itself about Daigo seeing a dying rabbit and killing it to end its misery, but onlookers misunderstand his gesture and think he's crazy. Later Daigo is tormented by someone in a rabbit costume that morphs, on occasion, to become a real, giant rabbit. It is revealed that Daigo's mom, Kyoko, Kiriko's stepmother, died giving birth to Daigo and he believes she is the one wearing the costume. From a distance, the father, Kohei, is observing Kiriko's behavior and becomes concerned and contacts some doctor for advice that will be relevant later. It won't come as a shock, but there is no Daigo and it is Kiriko imagining everything so far. This leads us to the next twist in which we learn Kiriko believes she killed Kyoko when she was a child because she did not like the idea of a stepmother. When the two were at an amusement park (the same one with the Shock Labyrinth), Kyoko was dressed as a rabbit to get Kiriko to play with her, but, upon learning this, Kiriko somehow freaks out and Kyoko seemingly dies killing her unborn baby as well. Supposedly Kiriko has been so consumed by the guilt it made her mute and block out the entire incident. Then, we can assume, when she killed the rabbit she invented this Daigo persona as a relapse in her psychosis since the rabbit somehow triggered her latent memories of Kyoko. So Kiriko appears to be aware of her hallucinations and visions and things appear to be getting better until Daigo begins to manifest in an attempt to control Kohei. Kiriko goes to the Shock Labyrinth attraction which is portrayed as a real hospital with some unknown connection to Kiriko. There, she climbs the spiral staircase to confront Daigo by stabbing him which in turn stabs herself and she falls down the stairwell to her death. The film ends with Kohei walking off into the sunset with Daigo and the audience is left baffled by what the fuck they just watched.

Okay, now let's really go down this rabbit hole! I will offer a few different interpretations of what this film is trying to tell us indirectly. There is a strong indication that perhaps Kiriko was the one who had been pregnant and maybe even Kohei was the father. First, the dying rabbit that triggered Kiriko to go off the rails was not, in fact, dying but was actually giving birth. Second, we have ample evidence of Kiriko trying to play mother to Daigo in her mind and images of her holding him as a baby. Third, we have a random shot of blood running down Kiriko's leg in her recollection when she was a kid. Fourth, Kohei is clearly guilty about something and is trying to keep Kiriko from the truth and forget the past himself while he's at it. Fifth, Kohei implies that Kyoko is Kiriko's mother and that there was no stepmother; he flat out says this, but I will address the actual validity to the statement later. Finally, the letters to Kohei about what to name the baby might have been from Kiriko and not Kyoko considering they are mixed in with Kiriko's torn and scribbled photos of Kyoko. Clearly Kiriko is crazy, but I suppose it could be more straightforward. I definitely believe the point in which Kiriko is restrained at the hospital is the last scene told in reality, if any of the movie was, considering in the next scene the hospital is empty and she's in different clothes. There is some indication that maybe Kiriko simply accidentally killed someone working at the amusement park who scared her in the rabbit costume or that she brought on the birth and this somehow traumatized her. It's tough to delve into such an unhinged psyche without all kinds of weird evidence supporting different explanations. So my other theory is that the whole movie is in Kohei's mind. Kohei is making a book about "The Little Mermaid" and many of the scenes parallel to that tale especially Kiriko being mute. The film obviously wants you to make some connection here, but I'm not necessarily sure what they're going for. The doctor that Kohei converses with tends to give us the biggest evidence in the film since he greatly implies that Kohei is crazy and lying to himself...but to what degree? Kiriko is probably real but what if she is actually the wife and there never was a daughter or Kyoko? I mean, Kohei keeps stressing that Kyoko is the mother and only wife and the doctor keeps looking at Kohei like he's talking nonsense and brings up the possibility that maybe it's not Kiriko that has a problem but Kohei; he says this hesitantly and carefully selecting his words. Furthermore, Kohei definitely looks directly at Daigo in one scene and we see shots of Kyoko lurking behind Kohei when he's alone. Why would any of these shots occur if it's all in Kiriko's mind when they are counter to her perception of reality? At the end of the day, you're guess is as good as mine. Maybe the whole movie is in the mind of the dying rabbit!

I'll give this film some credit, it really forces you to think even if it wasn't all that good. The pacing, acting, visuals, special effects, and cinematography are all excellent and keep you entertained long enough to get you through the confusion. But, the story is pure nonsense tackling too many ideas at once while never providing clarity or even consistency; although some of the ideas were interesting like a shot of Daigo's shadow climbing a nonexistent ladder. Plus, I never understood what role the Shock Labyrinth was meant to play since the amusement park is there and Kiriko has some bond with it. And what's up with the rabbit doll and rabbits in general?! Rabbits represent fertility? Kiriko and rabbits and babies oh my! Oh wait, rabbits...rabbit in Japanese is usagi...Usagi is Sailor Moon...the movie is about Sailor Moon! There we go, it all makes sense now. Eh, the movie is sort of worth watching and had a few scary moments. But it suffers from SL's problem that it would have worked much better as a straightforward, conventional horror film. And I should stress this movie will make even less sense (hard to believe, I know) if you don't watch SL first.

Notable Moment: When the rabbit doll comes out of the movie screen. Now if this were the actual premise then there could have been near limitless potential for the direction to take the story.

Final Rating: 5.5/10