Review: Tales of Terror – Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro (2004)

Directed by: Takashi Shimizu, Norio Tsuruta, Eiji Arakawa, Kei Horie, Hirokatsu Kihara, Ryûta Miyake, Ichirô Nakayama, Ryo Nanba, Shirô Sano, Hiroshi Takahashi, Keisuke Toyoshima, Akio Yoshida | 165 minutes | drama, horror | Actors: Kurume Arisaka, Yôko Chôsokabe, Yûko Daike, Nana Eikura, Chika Fujimura, Ayako Honda, Kei Horie, Horiken, Maki Horikita, Harumi Inoue, Mako Ishino, Maiko Itô, Toshio Kakei, Jun Kaname, Mai Kitajima, Kazuki Kitamura, Megumi Kobashi, Yoshimasa Kondô, Arthur Kuroda, Mei Kurokawa, Tomoka Kurotani, Mika Mifune, Asumi Miwa, Hitomi Miwa, Kenji Mizuhashi, Kaoru Mizuki, Shôko Nakahara, Mari Nishino, Nobuto Okamoto, Yukiko Okamoto, Kaoru Okunuki, Nobuko Sakuma, Yasue Satô, Kiriko Shimizu, Reiko Suhô, Tarô Suwa, Mayuka Suzuki, Mizuho Suzuki, Tomoko Tabata, Misato Tachibana, Yôji Tanaka, Rie Tomosaka, Kanji Tsuda,

The fact that the gates to the spirit world usually remain closed in these modern times does not mean that they will never open again. Certainly not when modern horror directors such as Takashi Shimizu (‘The Grudge’ (2004)) and Norio Tsuruta (‘Ringu 0: Bâsudei’ (2000)) are the gatekeepers.

Japanese horror is hot; all over the world. It often concerns mysterious stories about ghosts with a thin line between reality and dream, and the present world and the hereafter. It often features motionless or wordless children with bowed heads and long hair covering their eyes.

Interestingly, the collection of movies on the Tales of Terror DVD is not just pure horror stories, but also includes dramatic and humorous stories. Less positive is that the quality varies considerably. About fourteen stories can be called substandard. It’s hard to give one rating for this series of movies. In view of the amount of less successful films, the DVD in general is difficult to recommend, although an average score does yield a sufficient. An advantage is that these are standalone films, which do not influence the rest. If almost half of a full-length film is unsatisfactory, the entire film suffers. That is not the case here. You can just watch the videos that are worth watching. So it depends on what you as a DVD owner are satisfied with.

1.Elevator

The first story revolves around a girl who wants to use the elevator in her apartment building when it turns out that the elevator is already being used by some pale residents. The monitor also indicates something strange: the elevator appears to be going up on the screen, while it is actually going down. A reasonably “atmospheric”, although not very remarkable story with an irrelevant introduction. (5.3/10)

2.The School Excursion

This is a straight forward ghost story. We follow two girls having fun in an old Japanese hotel when one of the two, Chiaki, hears the toilet door open. There is nothing to see, and they go off to shop. Chiaki has only forgotten her lip balm and has to go back into the room. Then she hears something in the toilet again. A simple, but very effectively executed (including the editing and camera work) ghost story with some really scary moments. (8.1/10)

3. Kengo Nishioka

A woman is alone in her room and suddenly hears the voice of Kengo Nishioka, her husband’s deceased colleague. Kengo wants to know where her husband is, and gets louder and louder. He makes the sliding doors vibrate and rattle. Simple, but quite effective. (6.4/10)

4. The Visitor

A deceased aunt comes to visit the girl Mika. She knocks on the door and puts her hand in the mailbox. Even inside, she’s chasing Mika. Good casting from Mika, and with some pretty scary scenes. The ending is especially disturbing. (8/10)

5. Covering The 100 Tales

This story about a reporter who visits a group of narrators starts off a bit slow, but gets more and more captivating and creepy as more attendees tell about their deaths and put pressure on the reporter. (7/10)

6. Cassette Tape

A story that deals with more or less the same theme as the film White Noise (2005). Can the dead literally talk to us through audiovisual devices? Some good moments, but too little is done with the idea and the build-up is too long. (5.5/10)

7. Spilled Water

‘Spilt Water’ is not a real horror story, but a moving tale about a girl who has lost her father and with whom she now comes into contact in a special way. Convincing acting by the little girl, and a true-to-life relationship with her mother. Only the music is a bit melodramatic. (8.1/10).

8. The Backward Suit

A somewhat absurd story about the father of a young woman who keeps coming home drunk and after walking down a certain street, wears his suit backwards. Other than this last aspect, this story isn’t really worth it. (4.6/10)

9. Examination Room #3 (Part1)

A couple looks around an old dilapidated hospital. The boy wants to make love to the girl, but she doesn’t feel like it. She gets more excited by the ghost of a doctor in the exam room. She wants to undress, but then her boyfriend comes in and stops her. Fairly exciting. (5.9/10)

10. Examination Room #3 (Part2)

The girl is now back in the conscious examination room and her boyfriend wants to rescue her. He hears her moaning and screaming, but sees once he gets to the room that his girlfriend is having her best time. She appears to be able to keep this up for years. Kinky but relatively boring story. (3.9/10)

11. A Forgotten Item

Fairly innocent, mild story about a girl who is called by the ghost of the previous occupant of her apartment. It turns out he wants something in return. Entertaining. (6/10)

12. Videos

Girl comes to visit sister, where she sees apparitions. Apart from a few effective moments, a fairly meaningless story that has a somewhat long build-up. (5.2/10)

13. A Drop Of Blood

The only video in black and white. Girl goes to apply for a job at a clothing store, but suddenly appears to arrive two hours late (although she left on time). The interior looks ominous. The store is completely empty, with only racks of suits on both sides, and headless mannequins. Pretty suggestive. She also hears the sound of a falling drop, which turns out to be blood. Red blood (contrasting with the black and white). Nice style and mysterious story, but with little substance. (5.4/10)

14. Enlightenment

Boring story about a young woman who is getting married, but reminisces in an old diary. There is a strange page in the booklet that suggests parallel timelines. Nice premise, but poorly executed. (3.3/10)

15. Waiting Time

A businessman follows a girl who suddenly appears in his office building, who later laughs hysterically and may well be someone who is known to the main character. Not exactly scary, and not interesting either. (3.9/10)

16. Off The Shelf

Father comes home after being away for three years and goes a little crazy. He’s constantly talking to himself, which is quite annoying, and nothing cinematic or interesting happens. Some shots towards the end are exciting, but can’t save the movie. (3.5/10)

17. Stones

A folktale about foxes and raccoons that can appear in human form. A fisherman in the forest is tormented by apparitions and stones thrown at him out of nowhere. Nature strikes back Interesting premise, but the execution isn’t exciting enough. (3.2/10)

18. My Sister’s Room

Semi-successful story about a girl who can’t sleep and suddenly sees a man with long hair hanging upside down in her room. Her parents attribute their daughter’s behavior to puberty. Her brother seems to want to help her, but is behaving very strangely. (5.4/10)

19. The Train

Three young women keep hearing a train passing by late at night in an apartment, while there is no track at all past the apartment. Fairly tantalizing story despite some mediocre acting and a languid structure. (5.8/10)

20. The Lover

Part horror, part (absurd) humor, and part drama. A woman tells about her husband who committed suicide. We literally see the man’s behavior just before his end. Or are they visions of the woman at some point? We also see how the woman (psychologically) copes with her husband’s depression. Weird, but quite captivating story. (6.6/10)

21. Take Good Care Of Him

Unsympathetic yup has to visit his colleague’s leukemia-stricken mother, Yamada. Yamada is a bit of a pathetic man, but when the mother dies, the yup suddenly gets an assignment from her. Strange film with a nice idea but with annoying main characters and few scary or interesting moments. (4.1/10)

22. Let’s Play

Visually and substantively fascinating story about a child who seems to live in different timelines. She is always asked to come out and play by her friends, by means of notes. Mysterious story, with beautiful camera work and interesting sound effects. (8.2/10)

23. A Motel

Scary story about two women who stay in a motel with creaky floors and strange voices behind the door while they sleep. A straightforward ghost story that shows it can work really well when done right. (7.8/10)

24. The Garden

Effective and scary story about a garden and a house where disturbing things happen. Beautiful, scary frame compositions in the scenes where a woman investigates in her bedroom. Beautiful tension generation and a symmetrical script (with the ending referring to previous questions or setups). The color palette of the film is almost monochromatic. (8.3/10)

25. Don’t Ever Open It

Nice, atmospheric story about a girl who one day is not allowed to open the family altar, but of course does so. Someone she hadn’t expected appears. With good acting. (6.9/10)

26. Getting Closer

Very scary story about a girl who has to look after her aunt’s house, but suddenly sees something strange on TV. Spots from the house appear on the screen, and soon she sees herself again. She keeps waking up, thinking it was a dream, but then turns out to have ended up in a kind of Droste construction, with a reality in a reality, in a reality. Is it a dream now? (8.4/10)

27. Please, don’t

The first in a series of three films about a family ravaged by a poltergeist. The first has an interesting structure. The information is slowly introduced to us by means of a home video camera, making it easier for us to go along with it. (6/10)

28. No More, Please

Some extreme events are actually taking place in the house right now. For example, the TV falls over, and the microwave explodes. An expert is called in, who says it has to do with the nearby traffic point where many people have been killed. Little news. (5.1/10)

29. Come, If You Dare!

The family is protected here through a scientific approach based on electromagnetic flow. The scientists solve the problem. Or not? Documentary style, with talking heads of the family. Unsurprising conclusion, and again: the idea was already known (see Spielberg). (4.2/10)

30. Fox And A Bath

An innocent and somewhat strange story about a man who is bad for his fellow man and his environment and therefore appears in a bath as punishment. Funny. (6.3/10)

31. An Interrogation

Story with some pretty scary moments. Man in car gets into accident when woman runs towards him. She later appears to him in various ways; including during a police interrogation. (7.4/10)

32. Family Crest

Interesting and complete-looking story about a woman who just got married and lives with her in-laws. Her mother-in-law wants nothing more than a grandchild. at night the woman is harassed by a strange ghost that has something to say about her unborn child. Scary and dramatically satisfying. (7.8/10)

33. Handprints

A somewhat pointless movie. A tired, desperate man wants a loan but can’t get it. There is a knock at the door, but no one is in the hallway. Then he gets a call and hears his daughter screaming on the phone. (5.5/10)