Kairo
English Title: Pulse
One line review: freaky Japanese horror.
Multi-line review:
Until Scream destroyed the genre, I was a big fan of horror movies. After Scream, every horror movie was another hip, self-aware and boring vehicle for the latest hot Hollywood chick. They all sucked and I generally gave up on horror. That was until I saw Ju On (The Grudge). That movie single handedly revitalized my interest in the horror movie genre. Of course, my interest is mostly Asian horror, particularly Japanese and Korean. If you like the recent Hollywood horror films, I suggest you watch the original Asian films, (basically all the Hollywood films are remakes).
Kairo is yet another good Japanese horror film. As is typical of many Japanese horror movies, the rules of the world are left unexplained. Why red duct tape? What is with all the dust? You should not worry about these details. They are not important. What is important is the very creepy and freaky scenes. This type of Japanese horror is less about the scary plot than it is about the scary situations and disturbing imagery. One of the scariest scenes in this movie is a shot of a person walking down a hallway. Doesn't sound scary does it? Just wait till you see it.
The problem is, many people don't appreciate this style of horror movie. They want the plot laid out and the background explained. This movie will not do either of those things. The minimal explanation that is given is vague at best. This will frustrate some viewers and I suspect some people will consider this movie bad because it does not lay out an explanation. Personally, I think this is equivalent to judging painters simply by their ability to replicate reality. Sometimes the other aspects of film making are just as important as the storytelling.
If you are willing to watch a movie for the direction, the mood and performances and not demand the film walk you though the plot, the give Kairo a shot. If not wait for the remake.