Nightmare Detective (2006) Akumu tantei (original title)

Director:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Writers:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Hisakatsu Kuroki

Release Date:

13 January 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Police | Suicide | Suicidal | Cell Phone

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Ryûhei Matsuda	...	Kyoichi Kagenuma
Hitomi	...	Keiko Kirishima
Masanobu Andô	...	Detective Wakamiya
Ren Ohsugi	...	Detective Sekiya
Yoshio Harada	...	Keizo Oishi
Shin'ya Tsukamoto	...	'0'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nobuteru Akimoto
Shinya Amamitsu
Kenichi Arai
Masayoshi Deguchi
Eri Fuse
Keichirô Hasegawa
Kimie Hayama
Takumi Hirano
Seriyu Ichino
Shigetoshi Iida
Sachiko Iizuka
Kimiko Imai
Yuki Inomata
Kiyoshi Inoue
Masako Ishizawa
Suon Kan
Sujin Kim
Kôki Kimura
Shiryû Kimura
Kotoko Kitagawa
Yûko Kobayashi
Yôichi Kobiyama
Asami Komatsu
Hiromi Kuronuma
Shinichi Matsumuro
Masaaki Miyamoto
Kiyoko Miyashige
Eiji Morisaki
Jin Muraki
Akihiko Murata
Hajime Nakamura
Keichi Nakayama
Fumie Nakazawa
Takurô Sakai
Shoko Sato
Tadanori Satô
Masami Sawada
Sachiko Suzuki
Takuji Suzuki
Masuzu Takeda
Masayo Tanaka
Keiichi Tsuda	...	Det. Miyashita
Ayumi Tsukamoto
Kôji Tsukamoto
Shôhei Uno
Juri Yokokawa
Naoki Ôfuji

Directed by
Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hisakatsu Kuroki
Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Produced by
Shin-Ichi Kawahara	....	producer
Takeshi Koide	....	associate producer
Yumiko Takebe	....	producer
Shin'ya Tsukamoto	....	producer
Takuji Ushiyama	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Chu Ishikawa

Cinematography by
Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Film Editing by
Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Production Design by
Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Costume Design by
Hiroko Iwasaki

Makeup Department
Hidemi Fukuyama	....	hair stylist
Hidemi Fukuyama	....	makeup artist
Takashi Oda	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Hidemi Fukuyama	....	production manager
Toshihiro Hanyû	....	production manager
Kazuko Hisada	....	assistant production manager
Shirley Huang	....	overseas manager
Kôki Kimura	....	assistant production manager
Hiroki Kondô	....	assistant production manager
Motoko Oka	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Satoshi Hayashi	....	assistant director
Shin-Ichi Kawahara	....	assistant director
Hisakatsu Kuroki	....	assistant director
Hiroki Sugioka	....	assistant director
Kôki Yoshida	....	assistant director

Art Department
Takumi Hirano	....	assistant art director
Nao Idei	....	assistant art director
Gen Itô	....	props
Kunitaka Kosaka	....	assistant art director
Aya Koshiga	....	assistant art director
Ryûtarô Murayama	....	assistant art director
Machiko Nagasawa	....	assistant art director
Sayaka Oikawa	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Hirokazu Kato	....	sound
Masaya Kitada	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Makoto Funabashi	....	special effects
Mikiya Katagi	....	special effects assistant
Hiroki Maeda	....	special effects assistant
Satoshi Narumi	....	special effects
Hisashi Oda	....	special effects supervisor
Yuki Okumura	....	special effects assistant
Shingo Takagi	....	special effects assistant
Kôhei Tobita	....	special effects assistant

Visual Effects by
Hirokazu Aoyama	....	CGI designer
Hisahito Noguchi	....	CGI designer
Atsuko Nozawa	....	CGI designer
Masahiro Okano	....	visual effects producer
Kensuke Satô	....	cgi production manager
Mari Suzuki	....	CGI designer
Hitoshi Takatsuji	....	inferno operator
Atsushi Takeda	....	video assistant
Yûsuke Taki	....	video assistant
Mitsuhiro Yabe	....	video engineer
Ryuichi Yamada	....	CGI designer

Stunts
Keiji Tsujii	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Shinya Amamitsu	....	still photographer
Santoku Gotô	....	underwater photography assistant
Masahiro Hanada	....	key grip
Noriaki Itô	....	camera operator
Motohisa Kobune	....	camera operator
Asami Komatsu	....	assistant camera
Takeshi Mafune	....	photographer
Kenichi Matsumoto	....	photographer
Tomohiro Matsuyama	....	camera operator
Akihiko Murata	....	camera operator
Takamasa Naiki	....	camera operator
Toshiki Nakamatsu	....	camera operator
Takahiko Nemoto	....	assistant camera
Yuki Okitsu	....	camera operator
Takuma Saeki	....	camera operator
Kenta Sakama	....	assistant camera
Ryôta Sannomiya	....	key grip
Shûichirô Suzuki	....	assistant photographer
Kazuya Tajima	....	camera operator
Kôichi Tanaka	....	underwater photography assistant
Tomoji Tanaka	....	underwater photography assistant
Hajime Tsubouchi	....	underwater photography
Ayumi Tsukamoto	....	assistant camera
Tomoko Ugajin	....	sub-still photographer
Masao Yamamoto	....	assistant camera
Koichi Yanagisawa	....	photographer
Keisuke Yoshida	....	gaffer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Saki Ishii	....	costume assistant
Momoko Kinoshita	....	costume assistant
Kaori Saitô	....	costume assistant

Editorial Department
Yuji Ambe	....	assistant editor
Norimasa Ishida	....	color timer
Masaharu Oomi	....	color timer

Music Department
Shinichi Kawahara	....	composer assistant

Transportation Department
Auto Maeda	....	transportation
Hiroshi Yamaguchi	....	transportation

Other crew
Naoya Fujita	....	cooperation
Takamasa Furuya	....	cooperation
Kimie Hayama	....	cooperation
Kôichi Hirano	....	cgi director
Maiko Kaneko	....	studio engineer
Takeshi Kase	....	advertising
Minoru Kawabata	....	cgi producer
Yuka Kitagawa	....	cooperation
Jun Kuriyama	....	smoke operator
Wataru Matsuo	....	marketing producer
Kiyohide Ohtani	....	cooperation
Naoto Okamura	....	unit publicist
Ayako Okuno	....	publicist
Hiroki Ooba	....	optical recording
Hideko Saitô	....	production marketing manager
Kazuaki Satô	....	publicist
Hiromi Suzuki	....	lab coordinator
Teruo Tsuda	....	title designer
Akira Udagawa	....	optical recording
Hiroko Yukawa	....	publicist

Production Companies

• Kaijyu Theater
• Movie-Eye Entertainment

Distributors

• Cinema Without Frontiers (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Golden Village Entertainment (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Group Power (2007) (Taiwan) (theatrical)
• Minerva Pictures (2006) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Movie-Eye Entertainment (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Weinstein Company, The (2007) (UK) (theatrical)
• Weinstein Company, The (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Dimension Extreme (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Happinet (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Raro Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Reel DVD (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Gonzo Revolution

Also Known As:

"Akumu tantei" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

Japan:106 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Italy:VM14 | Germany:16 | Taiwan:R-18 | Japan:PG-12 | Australia:MA (2008) | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Kaijyu Theater

Movie Connections:

Followed by Nightmare Detective 2 (2008)

Soundtrack:

Gymnopédie No.3

A very good comic book-ish film, and nothing more.

First of all, I've never seen a Shinya Tsukamoto movie before this. I read reviews commenting on how this is his most unoriginal work, and I really can't confirm or deny that. As a standalone piece, however, I can say this is completely unlike any other detective movie I've ever seen—and it does so without cheese. On a technical level, does that make it original? Not necessarily, but it certainly isn't unoriginal either. Either way, it's very entertaining and interesting, and as I just said, lacks the cheese that the majority of supernatural horror films have lately.

The reason it lacks cheese is because Nightmare Detective builds up layers of gritty reality through mainly being a comic (but not comical) detective mystery. This gives a lot more weight to the supernatural elements, and creates a lot cooler tone. I've seen people bash the detective elements of the story, but I personally thought they were genius. The idea of having two detectives, one a police detective and the other a dream detective working together was very cool. Like I said, the idea isn't wholesale original, but it's certainly different and very well done.

Shinya Tsukamoto's camera-work and cinematography left me in awe more than once. The man knows how to direct. The entire movie has the best production value I've ever seen in an Asian movie, and I've seen a lot of Asian movies. The detail is crisp, and sometimes with color washout that completed the gritty, dirty comic book tone. The dream sequences are not all-out surrealism as would be cliché, but have subtle nods at surrealism while being otherwise realistic. Once again, genius.

I've read reviews that trash this movie for not being scary. Simply put: what movie IS scary anymore? I've seen hundreds of horror movies, and I can count the ones that were honestly scary on one hand. I can't compare this to Shinya Tsukamoto's other works, as I said, but from what I take, this is a step down on the level of terror. Fine. Why is that bad? A movie that exists only to be scary is just like a movie that exists just to be gory—it's hallow. The Exorcist is quoted as "the scariest movie of all time", but when I watched it I wasn't scared once. The thing is, the level of terror in a movie is mainly relative. Is Nightmare Detective scary? Some will think so. Did I? To an extent, yes.

As far as the acting goes, I didn't notice it being good or bad. As for the level of boredom, it isn't very fast paced but it will keep your interest until the end, which is something I can't say about many movies. Dialogue is standard, and never too excessive, which is another plus. The music is unoffensive and unnoticeable, except where Shinya Tsukamoto uses some really cool mellow songs to underline the mood, and it works very well.

Overall, it's very much worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of mystery graphic novels, because it carries the same feel and flow. I'd even go as far as to say it's worth a buy. It did what it wanted to accomplish, and even if Shinya Tsukamoto's other works are better than this, I don't see how anyone would be disappointed.

4/10