Dying For Movies Part Four

After watching today's movie, Reincarnation (or Rinne as it is also known as), I started reading other reviews. I don't do this in order to copy from them. But I do like to see what other people thought. I want to see where I stand, compared to other people that watched the same film. I have already made up my mind what rating I will give, and the other reviews won't change my mind on that. A big thread in these movie reviews, the After Dark Horrorfest, is that people were looking for something too graphic or too scary for the general public, and didn't walk away with that feeling. While I admit the advertising was part of why I wanted to see these films, I didn't truly believe that they would be what the advertising proclaimed them to be. All I'm doing, as well as anyone that is watching these films, is going into each movie hoping to be entertained and possibly, just possibly, be scared by them. It's all I'm asking from a movie, and all that anyone should be asking for.

Reincarnation is a little hard to explain without giving too much of it away. So I will do my best not to spoil anything. Whatever you do, don't read the plot summary on IMDb, because it gives everything away. Ikuo Matsumura (Kippei Shiina) is going to make a horror film based on an actual event. Thirty some years ago, a professor killed 11 people in a hotel. This included the staff, the guests, himself and perhaps worst of all, his two kids. Nagisa Sugiura (Yuka) is trying out for one of the parts and gets it. Before this though, she starts to see a strange little girl holding a very weird looking doll. At one point, the director takes the entire cast and some of his crew to the actual hotel where the murders took place. It has been closed up for some time now and is a bit run down. Matsumura wants the cast to try and feel what the people they are playing went through. During this time Nagisa starts to see strange things, and feels like she is reliving the memories of this event that are now inside of her. What could all this mean?

Reincarnation starts off like a ghost story, at least that is what it reminded me of. But it turns into something much more than that. There is very little blood to be found, but this film doesn't need it. It is a ghost story but with a twist. Many have compared it to The Shining. I will admit that it does remind me of that movie a little bit. But it is different enough to where I think they were paying homage to it, instead of trying to rip off the story. The title of the movie gives some of the plot away. It deals a little bit with reincarnation.

From start to finish, Reincarnation kept me pretty much glued to the screen. Like most J-horror films, a big part of the film is nothing more than the set up for the end of the film. You are probably saying to yourself "but Heather, all movies are like that." Am I right? Most J-horror movies seem to be throw backs to some of my favorite older horror movies made here. By that I mean that there is a slow build up, with maybe a few things happening before the big finish. Of course, not everyone likes slow builds. This was only part of the reason I loved this one. The story itself was interesting. Trying to figure out what is happening, what the ghosts want is another reason. I found this to be a very thoughtful movie.

Does Reincarnation have its faults? Of course it does. No movie is perfect after all. The ending left at least one question in my mind that could have been easily explained, if they had wanted to do so. It's not a big complaint, but it would have been nice if they had tied up some of the loose ends. Also, the creepy doll comes to life at one point and walks. To some it was laughable. I can't say that it made me laugh, but it could have looked better than it did. Some people didn't care for the making a film within a film. It gave them that "been there done that" feel. I rather liked that myself, and it's not like the whole haunted hotel thing has never been done before either.

This one really worked for me. It had me wondering what was going to happen next. It made me try and figure out what was going on. I was also trying to figure out what the twists were going to be before they happened. I can't say I that I managed to do that, but it was fun all the same! This one is subtitled so I will warn you about that. At times, it goes up and off again a little too fast. Because of the slow build up and the events that take place in the movie, this one went by quicker than I had thought. I felt very tense at times and yes I have to say it, even a bit scared as things really got going. It has been a long time since I have done this, close to a year I believe, but it has to be done. This is not the first to get this rating, but it is the first movie not made here in America to get it. If you get any of these films (even though I'm not done watching them all as of this writing) get this one, it is well worth it.
5 out of 5 Glad I never had a doll like the one in this movie