Marebito (2004)

A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman (Shinya Tsukamoto) investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.

Director:

Takashi Shimizu

Writers:

Chiaki Konaka (novel), Chiaki Konaka (screenplay)

Stars:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Tomomi Miyashita, Kazuhiro Nakahara

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shin'ya Tsukamoto	...	Masuoka
Tomomi Miyashita	...	F
Kazuhiro Nakahara	...	Arei Furoki
Miho Ninagawa	...	Aya Fukumoto
Shun Sugata	...	MIB
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ayumu Saitô

Storyline

In Tokyo, the freelance cameraman Takuyoshi Masuoka is obsessed investigating the fear sensation near death. When he photographs a man stabbing himself in the eye in the access to the subway, he seeks what the suicidal man might have seen to experiment the same sense of horror the man felt when he died. He finds a passage to the Tokyo underground where he meets a mysterious naked woman that does not speak, who he calls her F. He brings F to his place and he tries to feed her, until he discovers that she drinks blood. Masuika becomes a serial killer draining the blood of his victims to nurse F.

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Plot Keywords:

fear | video surveillance | blood spatter | psychopath | female reporter | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site - DVD release [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Seres extraños

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,852 (USA) (9 December 2005)

Gross:

$13,893 (USA) (10 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Adness K.K., AtEntertainment K.K., Culture Publishers (CP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 92 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Takashi Shimizu shot the film in just eight days, between the production dates for Ju-on: The Grudge and its remake, _Grudge, The (2004/I)_.

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Quotes

Arei Furoki: [subtitled version] The feeling that we know as "terror" is actually ancient wisdom, sealed in our subconscious mind.

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Connections

Featured in Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

User Reviews

Blood is soul

This is a marvelous movie.

More than a psychological abyss than a straight horror, this little dagger stabs deeper than most of the pretentious psycho thrillers will ever.

Although this masterpiece is not for everyone. It offers a bunch of pretty disturbing scenes, but one has to watch it at least twice, in order to fully comprehend it's twisted metaphoric.

If you find this movie weird, just stop and think about how weirder is the whole mankind. Instead. Horrible thurths are revealed through this genius metaphor of vampyrism.

Cult director Shinya Tsukamoto (whom I'm a devotee) gives the hell out of a performance. This guy is either crazy, either true genius, either both. I'I'm so very impressed.

And a la fin, a quote from marebito: "Horror, is actually an ancient wisdom that we find deep in the memory of our souls....."