(1992)
Dir - Hideo Nakata
Overall: MEH
Pure SOV schlock, Curse, Death & Spirit, (Honto ni atta kowai hanashi: Jushiryou), is the debut from Hideo Nakata; a three-part, unrelated anthology collection of made-for-TV J-horror stories. Though each entry has familiar, fool-proof elements such as a creepy doll, ("The Cursed Doll"), a water-bound spirit, ("The Spirit of the Dead"), and a haunted house with a haunted mirror, ("The Haunted Inn"), they are all presented in a neutered, PG framework that is more in line with Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark? as opposed to Nakata's later Ringu, which would solidify contemporary J-horror aesthetics and tone. The Casio keyboard score here is persistently ruining, allowing nothing to play out quietly as to build any sense of unease or tension. Not that such things were entirely possible due to the brisk running time of each segment, the lot of them clocking in at just sixty-five minutes with beginning and ending credits included. Said credits even feature a terrible alt-rock song, as was common practice for Asian genre movies going forward.
(1995)
Dir - Chisui Takigawa
Overall: MEH
Three years before Hideo Nakata's theatrical adaptation of Koji Suzuki's Ringu novel hit the big screen, a long-forgotten television film for Fuji TV aired that was more faithful to the source material, for better or worse. Ring, (Ring: Kanzenban), is limited by its small-screen presentation which comes off as unintentionally campy in trying to convey the type of supernatural menace that Nakata's version had in spades. As typical for the era, a B-movie keyboard score plays through far too many scenes and director Chisui Takigawa utilizes Dutch angles, distorted color pallets, and idiot-proof recalls that do everything in their power to break verisimilitude. Following the book's plot almost to the letter, there is some nudity and gaudy revelations in the third act that may garnish chuckles instead of gasps from the audience; revelations which were wisely jettisoned in later interpretations. Still, it is paced agreeably and even if she comes off as far less terrifying by comparison, the depiction and backstory of the ghost-in-a-well Sadako stands apart from the rest of the franchise, allowing the movie to at least serve its purpose as a curiosity for fans of the series or just J-horror aficionados in general.
(1998)
Dir - Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Overall: MEH
The first theatrical work in horror from television director Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Hanako of the Toilet, (Shinsei toire no Hanako-san, Demon Doll Hanako School Mystery), is yet another cinematic retelling of the urban legend of the title. Though comparatively better than its 1995 counterpart which was directed by Joji Matsuoka and featured a younger cast, the high school-set story here is delivered surprisingly straight for something with such a ridiculous title. In fact, bathroom shenanigans play an inconsequential part to the proceedings, with nearly all of the supernatural occurrences revolving around a shrine that was set up behind the school which holds a creepy doll that is inhabited by malevolent forces. The characters are all interchangeable and only two of them are given any sort of backstory, one being the sister of a missing child who is connected to the Hanako legend and another being some kind of teacher with psychic abilities who is also related to said missing child. There are a handful of bog-standard spooky moments and the final set piece provides a fun bombardment of wailing wind and disturbing, cackling doll close-ups, but the story is both poorly conceived and monotonous.
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