Kokkuri
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Quija boards are just not very scary. Witchboard (reviewed elsewhere on
this site) was silly and with so many board games and now video games, the idea
of an evil spirit being connected to one and coming to life makes it harder
than ever to suspend disbelief, unless you turn to an old Night Gallery
episode. Takahisa Zeze’s Kokkuri
(1997) offers an equivalent that unleashes a spirit that can give one the
truth, until it decides to go on a killing spree.
Three young girls decide to create the game after hearing
about it on a radio show and after they cover all their bases, have established
a perfect recreation of the game.
Unfortunately for them, there will be a price for their curiosity and
with dead bodies being suspended in water all the time, even the cats will not
be around for long. Though done with
some competence, the nearly 90 minutes becomes problematic in the first third,
not coming up with anything original or intriguing. The result is what we have seen done better in dozens of such
Japanese films. It is different enough
for diehard fans to look at once, though, and that is because of its technical
flaws.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image exhibits weak colors and
poor definition, as well as poor Video Black, yet that does not hurt this as
much since it is a supernatural Horror genre work. However, it gets on ones nerves and eyes after a while, though
Shogo Ueno’s camerawork is not the clichéd “shaky” type. Too bad the editing is the tired quick-edit
style we have seen in too many Asian Horror flicks. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no Pro Logic surrounds, but is
simple and effective. Extras include
stills, trailers for other Asia Vision titles, weblinks and how to build and
play the title game.
- Nicholas Sheffo
