Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi Series - Part Three

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE SUPER KOWA TOO! FEAR ADVENTURE: KOKKURI-SAN

(2015)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: WOOF

 

The same year that Kōji Shiraishi "wrapped-up" his Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series with Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi: Final Chapter, things keep right-on chugging along, as Senritsu Kaiki File Super Kowa Too! Fear Adventure: Kokkuri-san demonstrates.  Considered that the world ended in the last installment and everyone teleported to a new past timeline where memories were supposedly wiped, this one barely touches base on any of that nonsense and simply picks up almost where everything began.  Yet apparently in THIS universe, Shigeo Ôsako and Chika Kuboyama's paranormal DVD series is still a thing and is now given a new branding, even though absolutely nothing to the formula has changed to warrant such a new branding.  Ôsako is still the biggest asshole on the planet and even more hot-headed than usual, looking for a supernatural fight and any excuse to beat up women that he can get.  Shiraishi is playing things for laughs at this point if one can actually find Ôsako's misogynistic and rage-fueled behavior "funny", but as far as the found footage spook show moments go, this is easily the lamest assortment of them yet, not to mention some of the most instantly forgettable that the sub-genre has ever produced.

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE SUPER KOWA TOO! DARK MYSTERY: SNAKE WOMAN

(2015)

Dir- Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: WOOF

 

The longest in the now nine-deep Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series was also the last to be produced for almost a decade, signifying that enough was finally enough already.  Judging by the direction that this and the proceeding, (and terrible), Senritsu Kaiki File Super Kowa Too! Fear Adventure: Kokkuri-san was heading, it was looking like we were back to a new urban legend per episode within a formula that had already grown stale with a bombardment of these in so short a time.  Thankfully we were sparred, and the franchise took a much needed break after the dead end that it had steamrolled into.  Regrettably and predictably at this point, Senritsu Kaiki File Super Kowa Too! Dark Mystery: Snake Woman is some pretty horrid stuff, arguably the worst of the lot.  It cannot be overstated how obnoxious and not at all funny Shigeo Ôsako's hot-headed douchebag is in all of these movies, and on top of his usual penchant for screaming at and beating the shit out of anything that he feels like at any given whim, he also comes to one moronic conclusion after the next.  In fact every character here behaves irrationally, which would be hilarious if not for director Kōji Shiraishi's inability to convey a proper comedic tone, if that was even what he was going for.  Instead, it is a painful bore with occasional loud noises thrown in to wake people up, as well as a story centered around a "Huh?" love story between a pathetic peeping tom dipshit and the young snake woman of the title, (as well as her also aggressive and wacky mom).

 

SENRITSU KAIKI WORLD KOWASUGI!
(2023) 
Dir - Kōji Shiraishi
Overall: MEH

 

Why horror mockumentary devotee Kōji Shiraishi decided to resurrect his Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series after an eight year break is anybody's guess.  Maybe enough time has gone by that fans of the series are jonesing for a legacy sequel and in this respect, Shiraishi delivers one.  It may not be the most ridiculous entry in the franchise, but it still probably is since never before was the humor so direct, nor was the piss taken out of the well-worn tropes that each installment indulged in.  Shigeo Ôsako and Chika Kuboyama reprise their roles as the director/co-director duo who openly disdain each other, and as usual, both actors behave as if they are here at gunpoint, physically abusing one another while looking miserable.  Ôsako's character, (easily one of the worst in any horror franchise), is as big of a ranting and pathetic buffoon as he always was, but Kuboyama gives it right back to him, which still does not explain why they are bothering to make a new movie after so long in the first place.  As far as the supernatural shenanigans go, they touch base on the more topsy-turvy motifs that came before, (world jumping, psychic medium badasses, time travel, and arbitrary supernatural rules getting abused and made up on the fly), but the choice to shoot at the same factory location as Shin'ichirō Ueda's also absurd One Cut of the Dead seemed to rub off on the whole production.  Met on its own oddball terms, it is a wild and uneven mess that has no business being taken seriously.

Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi Series - Part Two

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI! PREFACE: TRUE THEORY, YOTSUYA KAIDAN, THE CURSE OF OIWA

(2014)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

The flimsy logic, (or lack thereof), and joyless character traits continue with the fifth installment in Kōji Shiraishi's Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series, Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! Preface: True Theory, Yotsuya Kaidan, the Curse of Oiwa.  After the events of the last chapter where a psychic medium hilariously met her death by a random chair falling on her, the paranormal DVD-making team takes a quick break until their severely-lacking-in-charisma-leader Shigeo Ôsako easily convinces them to renew their recklessly dangerous work because they are making more money now in proving that otherworldly things exist.  Whatta guy.  One could argue that the formula is getting tedious at this point since it is the same ole set up of the crew filming themselves having meetings, getting a new tape to investigate, instant replaying the scary parts, adding scary music, and investigating the mystery while arbitrarily getting angry at people.  On the other hand though, the lore is deepening as Chika Kuboyama is now possessed and they need a new exorcist, (who is also an asshole), to both free her and the world of malevolent forces

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI: THE MOST TERRIFYING MOVIE IN HISTORY

(2014)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: WOOF

 

After establishing itself with a different urban legend monster for each entry, Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi: The Most Terrifying Movie in History is officially where the wheels fall off in Kōji Shiraishi's now preposterous series.  While all of these films follow a linear trajectory thus far, this one most directly follows up its predecessor which ended with Shigeo Ôsako proclaiming to his two person crew that they were going to "make a movie", as if it was the first time and not the sixth time that they have done so.  This one does not have a new video for them to decipher, instead going straight into the cursed village that had been mentioned in Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! Preface: True Theory, Yotsuya Kaidan, the Curse of Oiwa, which was already something that Shiraishi did to wonderful effect in Noroi: The Curse.  Sadly, the results here are more ridiculous than wonderful, as Ôsako's douchebag director goes full on psychotic maniac, beating the shit out of two people with a bat, killing one of them, punching his grandfather, kicking his partner Chika Kuboyama while screaming at her, (again), traveling back in time to kill two more people, and then turning into a tentacle demon or something himself while Kuboyama is decapitated in the embarrassing CGI neather-realm that the cameraman still manages to get pristine footage from.  We are given an explanation to all this which works as well as any in such convoluted world building, but the series has jumped the shark as far as adhering to a found footage framework.  In the meta "logic" of this world, each movie is released to the public, but how the events here could be shown to anyone is simply a pill that is too moronic to swallow.

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI: FINAL CHAPTER

(2015)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

Any time that a horror property utilizes the word "final" in its title, that is only a guarantee that at least six further sequels are still on the way.  For round seven in the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series, filmmaker Kōji Shiraishi tries to both bring everything full circle and dig himself out of the preposterous hole that his universe has dug itself into, opening the film with the one returning cast member who is not stuck in an evil dimension and/or missing limbs, (Kôji Shiraishi), explaining the state of still unsolved affairs.  Japan is on lock-down after a horrendously bad CGI giant was seen hovering in the sky by presumably millions, meanwhile all of the incriminating and otherworldly footage from the last movie was released and still labeled a "hoax" by authorities.  So in other words, Shiraishi only digs himself further in the implausible muck.  The good news is that it is impossible to take Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi: Final Chapter seriously on any level, since Shiraishi has concocted so many "Wait, WTF?" rules, so we are beyond the point of plausibility and into full on gonzo J-horror land.  The initial "monster of the week" trajectory is long gone, but everything has escalated to such an wacky place that Shiraishi can at least be applauded for his arbitrary and reckless inventiveness.  Plus, (finally), Shigeo Ôsako and Chika Kuboyama actually crack a smile and laugh at their toxic relationship and the whole absurdity of the end of the world scenario.

Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi Series - Part One

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI FILE 01: OPERATION CAPTURE THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN

(2012)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

Kōji Shiraishi's on-going Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series kicks off with the first of a two-parter of sorts that dropped in 2012, the elaborately-titled Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman.  The formula is established where Shigeo Ôsako and Chika Kuboyama each play videographer ghost hunters who investigate paranormal videos that are sent to them, hooking up with the original footage shooters, replaying the scary bits in slow motion, returning to the scene of the otherworldly incidents, and editing it all together in a conventional formula.  Before the series would go further into outrageousness and all-out mockumentary parody, it adhered to the more sincere and unnerving tone of Shiraishi's seminal Noroi: The Curse, as well as the other multitudes of found footage movies on his resume.  Fans of his particular J-horror brand of the sub-genre will have enough here to be interested in, even if much of the logic is flimsy and Ôsako's character frequently ruins things with his inexplicable rage-fueled outbursts that everyone else just nonchalantly puts up with.

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI FILE 02: SHIVERING GHOST

(2012)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

Released a month after Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the follow-up Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 02: Shivering Ghost follows an identical route and carries over a plot point or two while exploring a singular narrative of an all new supernatural mystery.  The story is more interesting than that in the first installment, as well as less redundant considering that Shiraishi already tackled the slit-mouthed woman urban legend five years earlier in Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman.  Here we have something that alludes to outer space, other dimensions, characters getting possessed and convulsing on the ground, protoplasm outbursts with flowers in them, people disappearing, mysterious buildings, and weird guys who do not answer any questions that you ask them.  These are motifs that Shiraishi had and would continue to explore with varying success, and a few moments here are effectively creepy, but once again Shigeo Ôsako portrays one of the worst characters in any found footage project.  He hardly says much and when he does, he is bound to go from zero to sixty on the rage scale, physically beating men and women alike while screaming at them and simultaneously putting them in continuous danger.  It is a baffling choice to take with an entire series' main character, but if one can stomach his unnecessary and obnoxious outbursts, this is otherwise a worthy outing.

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI FILE 03: LEGEND OF A HUMAN-EATING KAPPA

(2013)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

For the third Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series installment Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 03: Legend of a Human-Eating Kappa, it at first seems like we are going to be sparred Shigeo Ôsako hot-tempered director character since he is still in a coma and his partner and cameraman are soldiering on with a new case.  Regrettably, it turns out that Ôsako merely has to walk around with a cane for awhile and is otherwise just fine and ready to spring back into action.  That said, he comparatively behaves himself here in the team's new plight to rid a dangerous pond of some pesky kappa creatures that have a history of making people disappear there.  There are several glaring narrative inconsistencies, and this contributes more to the paranormal investigator's laughable lack of ability to keep their subjects safe when venturing into dangerous terrain.  If one can forgive the goofy liberties taken with the material and simply bask in the formulaic found footage set pieces, there are some good moments here, as well as some over-the-top ones that would point the direction that the rest of the series would indulge in.

 

SENRITSU KAIKI FILE KOWASUGI FILE 04: THE TRUTH! HANAKO-SAN IN THE TOILET

(2013)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

 

Four episodes in and the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi series gets around to one of Japan's most frequented urban supernatural motifs, namely haunted bathrooms.  Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 04: The Truth! Hanako-san in the Toilet introduced the concept of time/dark dimension jumping into this universe, and apparently the returning three characters have amnesia and forgot all about it since in later installments, they act just as amazed and excitingly shout the same boasts that they are capturing such phenomena for the "first" time on camera.  Things get more outrageous here than ever before and also more unintentionally comedic, unless Kōji Shiraishi is in fact deliberately going into tongue-in-cheek terrain.  It is difficult to tell since Shigeo Ôsako, Chika Kuboyama, and their never-complaining cameraman still posses no sense of humor whatsoever and have a problematic lack of chemistry with each other that would continue to be the case throughout the franchise's run.  As usual though, any complaints that one can launch against these movies and many of Kōji Shiraishi's wild found footage mockumentaries in general are complaints about things that are there by design.  So a jerky montage into an evil nether-realm, spontaneous deaths by falling desk chairs, lots and lots of running around and back and forth, also lots and lots of screaming, and supernatural rules that are both blatantly ignored and made up on the fly are all here to delight/annoy your senses.