Tomie (1998)

A traumatized young woman is trying to recover her memories with the help of a psychiatrist. During her hypnosis sessions, she repeats the name "Tomie" but is unable to recall where she knows it from.

Director:

Ataru Oikawa

Writers:

Junji Ito (comic), Ataru Oikawa

Stars:

Miho Kanno, Mami Nakamura, Yoriko Dôguchi

Cast

Credited cast:
Miho Kanno	...	Tomie Kawakami
Mami Nakamura	...	Tsukiko Izumisawa
Yoriko Dôguchi	...	Dr. Hosono
Tomorô Taguchi	...	Detective Harada
Kôta Kusano	...	Yuuichi Saiga
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kae Minami
Kenji Mizuhashi	...	Yamamoto
Rumi	...	Kaori
Ikkô Suzuki

Storyline

A traumatized young woman is trying to recover her memories with the help of a psychiatrist. During her hypnosis sessions, she repeats the name "Tomie" but is unable to recall where she knows it from.

---

Plot Keywords:

first part | looking at oneself in a mirror | memory | breasts | head cut off | 

---

Taglines:

Tomie will not die!

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 March 1999 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Tomie - flickan som vägrade dö

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 78 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Tomie: Anrimiteddo (2011)

User Reviews

So-so; Interesting but Mostly Melodrama, not Horror.

I watched this, the first of the Tomie series, after having already seen the second, "Tomie - Replay," which builds on the storyline that's started here. From the reviews of I'd read I expected this, the original "Tomie," to be fairly pedestrian and mediocre and... that's exactly what it is.

This one is not really horror, not really even a murder/suspense thing. "Tomie" is rather an interesting but unambitious murder melodrama - that happens to have a few scenes of gruesome violence, an atmosphere of weirdness and creepiness throughout, and which is based on an understated supernatural premise.

I don't think this is as bad as some are letting on though - the story itself holds together nicely, for instance, and in that respect "Tomie" is roughly 50 times better than that contemptible Korean mess called "Tale of Two Sisters" that so many are raving about sycophantically.

The ending is a little arbitrary but that's nothing new to naturalistic fiction; the characters are all interesting and well-acted; the cinematography is gloomy and occasionally oppressive but the choice of camera angles and composition is very well done. The music is probably the scariest thing about this movie. There's an English-language song that's sung in a voice filtered through an absolutely demented signal-processor patch that conveys a palpable and unsettling malevolence. It's just too bad none of that song's creepiness spilled into the movie's plot.

What's lacking is a needed element of intensity that really grabs you and sucks you in. In that sense you could almost consider "Tomie" to be a lengthy trailer or prologue to the vastly-superior "Tomie-Replay." I have yet to see the third and fourth, respectively "Rebirth" and "Forbidden Fruit." This first one is optional - good for Japanophiles and completists - but "Replay" works as a standalone film with no problem. Do *not* miss that one - it's easily one of the best Asian horror flicks I've yet seen and I was not expecting that at all.