Monday, September 27, 2010

Creepy Hide and Seek - Japan

 
          Director:  Masafumi Yamada
          Year:  2009
          Plot:  "When Ritsuko disappears, her friend Ryoko is desperate to find her. When she discovers that Ritsuko was playing a strange game online of hide and seek, she begins to wonder if it could be related to her disappearance somehow. Ryoko then discovers that the game is more sinister than it appeared at first. It is linked to demonology and the supernatural. Will she be able to get past her fears and superstitions to discover what secrets the game of hide and seek might hold?"


          I have to say, this turned out to be a rather creepy movie.  The basis of it is students playing hide and seek with a ghost.  Now I would so not be playing this game.  Then again, I know enough about the idea of summoning something to know that the outcomes can't be good.  You should never attempt anything without knowing how to send it back.  The kids are told how to end the game, only after playing it once.  Now it is no wonder that someone ends up dying before they know how to end it.
          The movie was rather good.  There were some rather startling scenes that elicited a jump from me, but the movie did kind of fall apart for me near the end.  I didn't find the water logged ghost scary, and I didn't see how the story fit.
          In the movie, to begin the game you have to fill a doll with fingernails and rice, tie it with a red ribbon, stab it with a knife and drop it in a sink or tub.  The problem is, the main character never does this.  Yes this is done to a doll, but not by her.  I didn't quite get how she could be part of the game if she never initiated it.  The boy  whose friend started the game with him watching wasn't killed when he left, because he had nothing to do with the game.  The girl did because she stabbed the doll.


          I suggest giving this movie a shot.  The idea of it and the scenes in the first half are worth you time, even if the ending is a little bit lacking. 
 

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