Jûzô Murasaki is a boy miscast in his classroom, being frequently abused, tortured, beaten and humiliated by the bully Tôru Akai and his gang of juvenile punks. After years of repression, re... Read allJûzô Murasaki is a boy miscast in his classroom, being frequently abused, tortured, beaten and humiliated by the bully Tôru Akai and his gang of juvenile punks. After years of repression, rejection and fear without facing Akai, he develops a psychopathic dual personality with a v... Read allJûzô Murasaki is a boy miscast in his classroom, being frequently abused, tortured, beaten and humiliated by the bully Tôru Akai and his gang of juvenile punks. After years of repression, rejection and fear without facing Akai, he develops a psychopathic dual personality with a violent alter-ego. While living in the apartment 13 of a tenement building, he becomes unab... Read all
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I absolutely adored the premise for this film. A child, tortured at school when he was young, develops multiple personalities from it. His dual personalities (one weak and kind, the other strong and sociopathic) are kept well hidden all of his life and don't affect anyone else until, some new neighbors move in. A very evil and cruel bully, who he also ends up working with at a construction site. The bully bullies him, and the stronger personality starts to emerge to protect the weaker one. And that's when the freaky stuff starts to happen.
Good pacing by the director, showing the main character's struggle with his past and slow descent into madness. Great acting by everyone, especially the stronger personality. That guy was absolutely terrifying to watch on screen. He brought an unusual amount of tension to every scene. Well done.
But in the end, I still thought the film was lacking. This movie should have been an easy 10/10, but I have to give it an 8, because more could have and should have been done to help flesh out the development of the main character. I still hope that all of you will go out there and give this film a chance, and hopefully some American producer will see its potential and try and get a remake made, because as good as it was...it could have been better.
Jûzô (Shun Oguri) was constantly bullied by Akai (Hirofumi Arai) and his friends in school. Now, they work for the same company, and even live in the same apartment building. Akai doesn't recognize Juzo, and that is good because he continues his bullying ways, and is going to get a taste of revenge.
But, before that we are witness to some real struggles between Juzo and his alter ego (Shidô Nakamura). This is presented in the form of an imaginary house, and again in cartoon form. Juzo doesn't want violence, but his alter ego is insistent. Apparently, the bullying drove him crazy.
The only think that prevent a higher score is the ending, which is very confusing. I have to chalk that up to the fact that this was a first attempt for both the director and the writers. Other than that, it was captivating -- with blood and gore, I have to add.
Takashi Miike makes a brief appearance as the first victim.
The film is not your standard revenge film involving revenge on those who hurt the victim but revenge on anyone. The action is fairly quick to get going and gets more and more disturbing as it goes along.
Definitely more enjoyable over a few beers since you will get to the point about not caring about the characters that die that much quicker since there is one characters death that does seem a little undeserved, but hey, its a Japanese horror flick! GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!.......NOW!!!
What we have here is a story about a young boy who is abused by his fellow classmates. Due to this abuse he has grown up with a split personality. Which is his bad, vengeful, stronger side. The movie is basically about him coping with the emergence of his Mr. Hyde.
The movie plays incredibly well. Some may have issues with the long scenes, but for me the movie was shot incredibly well. It's this type of movie that makes me roll my eyes at these WB flicks or even TV shows. The cinematography, direction and music was nothing less than awesome. Whenever they show his alter side, it was nothing but pure badass, creepy goosebumps. There really is not much to complain about. It would have been nice to maybe get to know the characters a little more. Maybe to understand why Juzo went so kaka cuckoo. The other slight complaint is the ending. It's a tad confusing, but either way you think how it ended...it works.
This was a damn treat. A serious revenge/horror/thriller flick that delivers on pretty much all cylinders. I think I might start wearing my down vest again.
Storyline
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Neighbour No. 13
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Contribute to this page
