Kokkuri (1997) Poster

(1997)

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3/10
This movie is NOT Dark Water 2!!!
mandiapple20 February 2003
... despite what it says on the cover of my copy. Quite apart from anything else, Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara) was made in 2002, and Kokkuri was made in 1997. However, that said, there *are* definite similiarities in the cinematography, although Dark Water is an infinitely superior movie in almost every way.

I found this film to be pretty atmosphere-free, with dull acting and a half-baffling, half-teen-screamer plot, not even remotely scary. You don't even get to see very much in the way of supernatural manifestations: a few glimpses of a frankly ordinary kid in a red dress is about all. The supposedly climactic final scenes are limp and half-hearted, although the locations are quite nice. I'd save your money for the real sequel if I were you.
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Early "pink"/"J-horror" hybrid
lazarillo12 September 2014
Japanese genre cinema is known internationally for two things. The first is "J-horror" boom that began in 1998 with "Ringu" and lasted about ten years, launching the international careers of directors like Hideo Nakato ("Ringu", "Dark Water") and Kyoshi Kurasawa ("Pulse", "The Cure")and inspiring any number of bigger-budgeted, but usually inferior, Hollywood remakes about spooky, wet ghost girls. A less well-known, but actually older Japanese genre is the "pinku eiga" or "pink" films, which are arty, relatively high-class softcore sex films. Horror films and "pink" intersected somewhat in the 1980's with "ero-grotesque" films like "Entrails of a Virgin" and "Naked Blood". More recently there's been a lot of shot-on-video stuff like "Girls' Swim Team vs. the Undead" and "Big T*t Zombies" where nubile young Japanese girls alternately slay monsters and get *bleeped*. But for the most part (aside from an odd duck like "The Slit-Mouthed Woman") the "J-horror" ghost girl movies and the sex-saturated "pink" films were kept separate.

Tahasha Zeze is actually one of the more well-regarded "pink" directors famous for films like "The Dream of Garuda". But here he is basically making an early ghost girl film (where the girls are wet because they're ghosts, not for other reasons. . .). He wasn't just jumping on the bandwagon though--this was actually made a year BEFORE "Ringu". And while it does have some obligatory "pink" scenes, like a girl in a school uniform getting her perky young breasts sucked and fondled, and it does feature teenage characters more than a little interested in sex (one girl is contemplating giving it up to her boyfriend, another constantly talks about sex on the late night talk show she anonymously hosts for some reason, and the third has a decidedly lesbian crush on one of the other friends), this is much more "J-horror" than "pink" (unlike the aforementioned "Slit-Mouth Woman").

Of course, it doesn't make much sense. The three protagonists use a Ouija board-type thing to try to contact a spirit called "Kokkuri-san", who's kind of a more benevolent version of "Blood Mary" capable of predicting the future. But the predictions turn out to be pretty dire for all three as they seemingly awaken a vengeful female ghost, who may be a childhood friend of the main protagonist who drowned herself after they'd earlier played the "kokkuri" game (begging the question of why she'd ever do it AGAIN), or it may have something to do with the protagonist's recently deceased, sexually promiscuous mother who once saved HER from drowning. Don't expect the movie to answer anything because it doesn't show the slightest interest in doing so, but it does have a pretty effective atmosphere and some startling visual images like a girl in a long red dress floating in the ocean (later used for the cover of a book on Japanese genre films). Anybody, who insists on logical plots will no doubt hate this, but if you prefer spooky atmosphere, striking visuals and/or nubile Nipponese cuties in school uniforms, you'll probably like it alright. . .
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1/10
Bad
katarn111 June 2010
This film is extremely bad. Poorly written, characters are not explained or presented well. Very loose storyline that drags on with no real excitement, climax, or motivation. Really bland and in short boring. Use this film if you need to take a nap.

The fact of using the Kokkuri game never tied into the end. It almost seems there will be consequence for playing the game or retribution for Kokkuri-san herself, but nothing happens. Shots are overly slow, might I restate again that many pointless things happen that do not move the story along, such as a girl's first time with sex and how she feels after, really did not move the story. Furthermore, there were a lot of things in this movie that left me wondering what's the point. Finally when the film ends, I was left saying "So What?" - Please listen to me and skip this film, otherwise you'll be bored and be saying "So What" just like me.
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9/10
shhhhh !! quiet .....
ikonion5 November 1998
Teenage Japanese girls play with spiritism.

This is a beautiful film in every aspect. A clever storyline and a brilliant performance by the actors.

The pictures speaks for themselves. Stunning.
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8/10
A wonderful move.
steinhakasei31 July 2014
This movie was actually really good in my opinion. It wasn't too intense, but still held onto a sort of psychological uneasiness or fear coming from the girls.

While not the most action packed film ever, it was still quite entertaining to see how the lives of the characters worked out. It didn't even need those cliché jump scares or serial killers/monsters, it achieved a sense of dread through it's own story alone.

Great cinematography, atmosphere and a great cast. If you enjoy slice of life, psychological drama or cultural movies, then this is well worth the watch. I highly recommend it.
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