The Twilight Phantom – Akôkuro (2007)

Directed by: Tsukasa Kishimoto | 90 minutes | drama, horror, thriller | Actors: Takehiro Murata, Nahana, Erika Oda, Shûgo Oshinari, Misa Shimizu, Shôgen, Maki Tamaru, Yû Tejima, Tomoji Yamashiro, Taeko Yoshida, Takashi Yûki

‘The Twilight Phantom’ starts, after a prologue with a few scares, as a fairly neutral, quietly rippling drama that seems to form beautiful characterizations and has a good eye for the mutual relationships within the company on Okinawa where Misaki ends up. Then, after some extreme actions, the film changes into a kind of mix of ‘Deliverance’ and ‘The Grudge’. And, while this doesn’t sound entirely unappealing, ‘Twilight Phantom’ adds little of value to the dilemma of the “perpetrators” and to the appearances of Sanae’s ghost. So, while the film seems to have many directions at first, the story and characters fail to capture the imagination when the horror genre conventions are followed and the film becomes too predictable and empty, when the opposite should be the case. to be.

The guilt issue of the individuals who dumped Sanae into the water is basically portrayed interestingly, as Sanae isn’t a typical horror monster that quite physically haunts the characters and sends them to their deaths. Sanae is presented more as a manifestation of the perpetrators’ guilt. She appears and then simply stands or sits near the character in question, who eventually slowly goes mad and can no longer live with his or her inner demons.

Yet these inner demons are not very stimulating and the way in which they are designed by the actors is not very profound. There is not, as in ‘Deliverance’, a constant threat that hangs over the characters’ heads when they are (would) be discovered, and besides that the murderous act of dumping the corpse is not so morally dubious as to allow the viewer to understand the dismemberment of the corpse. understand the souls of the perpetrators. In addition, the viewer also has little to do with Sanae who practically committed suicide through her reckless acts of violence. You could even argue that it is actually good that she has finally found peace.

But the characters are too small to care about them and the tension, both externally and internally, is largely absent, making ‘The Twilight Phantom’ just a film with dramatic potential and at times effective atmosphere, which, however, is too much. has little news or interesting to offer.