Yogen

A typical Japanese family is return home from a visit to the in-laws when the father asks to go back to the payphone that they had passed awhile back so that he can jack his laptop computer into it for business reasons. While in the phone booth, he reads of his daughter's impending death in a mysterious ripped newspaper page. Now, both parents are understandably obsessed with the phenomenon of this newspaper. But the rest of the film can't really hope to live up to the promise of the opening scenes. Yea, the acting is alright, but it works more as a melodrama than a horror film, and as such will likely put anyone off expecting that type of film. Conversely those that think "J-horror" is only synonymous with base "jump scares" are likely not to really give the film a chance due to the marketing. So the movie is stuck in a short of celluloid limbo with it's feet in both genres, but not really belonging totally to either. Which is a shame as the film is an alright for what it is. Just too bad that it's trapped by the perceived connotations, both good and bad, of the genre.

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: 6 Subtitled interviews with the director and various cast members; 6 Making of featurettes; 4 & a half minute clip of a press conference; a 6 minute piece on the visual effects; and Trailers for "Undead", "the Devil's Rejects", "Infection", "Ju-On", & "Alone in the Dark"