Shibito no koiwazurai

Midori and her mother move back to a village where they lived 10 years earlier. The girls in the school have a favourite hobby, fortune telling, especially about their love life. One of them becomes hostile to the transfer student Midori because of a tarot reading. But the form of fortune telling that requires the most courage is tsujiura, which is done alone at a shrine in the evening.

Rather than a horror movie, this is more like an old-fashioned ghost story. There are fewer jump scares and deaths than usual, but it might be scary anyway. It is intersting to see a Japanese ghost movie that is not based on long-haired grudge spirits, but on a more than 1000 years old form of fortune telling.

The first half of the movie has a slow pace, showing the school life of the characters, with hints of supernatural phenomena. There is not much tension and it is unclear where it will go, since there is no clear enemy murdering people. Then some dramatic things happen.

Of all Japanese horror movies I have seen, Love Ghost has one of the best stories. Actually, the originator turned out to be none other than the notorious manga author Junji Ito.

The characters are natural and, if not deep, at least not too cliché. The acting is average.

The movie is plain and not ambitious. They just wanted to tell the story, and did so. But during the second viewing I noticed some camera shots that are nice in a low-key way.

The worst thing is the special effects. I can barely see what they are supposed to depict.

The coolest thing is the divinations.

Although a title like 'Love Ghost' may fool some viewers into thinking this is a romantically themed feature, in actuality it is anything but, traversing a fine line between drama, thriller, horror and romance. Although the film could hardly be described as 'scary', the scenes with blood will often be more intense than one could have imagined, ideas concerning suicide, obsession and desperation increasing the tense atmosphere. The soundtrack additionally provides the film with a deeper sense of mystery and intrigue, which fulfills the ghostly aspects of the plot, while the pleasant musical scores increase the film's light-hearted climates. Despite the feature's attempt to puzzle the audience on more than one occasion by pulling the wool over their eyes, the film retains a strong sense of predictability, that causes what were potentially meant to be surprises, to be relegated to confirmatory instances. However, these, miraculously, do not take away from the narrative, the few legitimate revelations, alongside the pleasantness of the more romantic and enjoyable scenes, making for a worth while viewing.

Midori (Risa Goto) and her mother return to the town they resided ten years earlier, their reason to leave relating towards Midori's absentee father, this back-story being explored as the film progresses. Arriving at school, Midori is pleased to find her childhood friend Ryusuke (Ryuhei Matsuda) is a member of her class, the two of them beginning to redevelop their connection as though she never left at all. The climate of the classroom has an almost family oriented appeal, many of the class members affiliating outside of school hours, this proximity scaffolding how deeply the class is affected when events begin spiraling out of control, while additional themes of jealousy help cement the feature in the stereotypical school environment.

Upon Midori's arrival, rumors begin to spread of a mysterious boy in black, who appears before anyone that visits a shrine for answers regarding the future of their romantic aspirations. This is accentuated by the romantic atmosphere in the classroom and the community, even one of the teachers promoting classroom romance. The film effectively shows the affects of unrequited love, while additionally conveying how others can spend their entire lives with blinders on to the fact that their close friends in fact want to be more, one particularly popular student being in the middle of what can only be described as a love triangle.

The schoolyard rumors however lead some of the desperate members of the class, who long to be with those they are infatuated with, to attend the shrine, the consequences of interacting with the mysterious spectral entity leading only to bewitchment and death. Finding herself in the middle of the peculiar mystery, Midori begins to investigate, only to discover that some things, are better left unknown.

The film touches upon ideas concerning how the lack or discovery of romance can change a person's state of mind, while additionally revealing how paramount love is in the lives of some, who risk their other beneficial qualities in order to secure its touch. Deliberate changes in the weather, alongside embedding deep shades of red into the atmosphere adds additional darker contexts to the themes, these fitting in smoothly with a feature that is largely easy to follow, while the use of blurring the environment together, especially when from the point-of-view of a character, visually provides the audience with their current perspectives. Though complaints about the speed, or lack-thereof, could be executed, nothing ever feels forced or out of place, the length of the feature appropriately fitting the narrative. Although the lead characters are each provided a thorough conclusion, the other members of the class appear to be forgotten towards the end of the film, a series of questions regarding their destinies remaining largely unanswered.

Love Ghost often employs the slow-paced, subtle climate that many similarly themed features from Japan possess, however at the same time, is also very different in contrast with other traditional horror films from the region. Although the film is not guaranteed to frighten its audience, attention is a requirement when viewing this thought provoking feature, that entertainingly shows both the beauty and the horror of true love.

I watched this having no idea about the story it's based on, and having no expectations. This turned out to be a very weird ghost story, that was pretty bad, but kinda entertaining.

The acting is really bad, but in an almost campy way, so it's forgivable. The plot goes from completely predictable to throwing in the most random plot twist I think I've ever seen. The twists aren't even original, they just seem to be thrown together arbitrarily.

I thought the story was confusing, and didn't really make sense at times, yet I was still interested in what happened next. The ending is meant to be sad, but there were too many distracting elements to the story, which stopped me from getting into the story. It definitely hits all the major Asian Horror themes... including revenge, and guilt.

The main theme seemed to be that women in love can turn obsessive and dangerously crazy if you break their heart. If you thought the title meant something more romantic, you will be sadly disappointed. There is an obligatory "don't do this" curse too, where people of course do exactly what they are warned not to do, and I'm entertained by those horror scenarios, so that was a bonus.

Overall, by horror standards it's decent, and worth watching if you like J-Horror. However, It's certainly not a must see.

Over recent years I've learned that repeat viewings of movies are really important. Most of the time my first impression is the most reliable, but it's not uncommon that I change my opinion of a film after watching it twice. Sometimes the circumstances surrounding the first viewing were not ideal (e.g., illness, drowsiness, etc.) or perhaps more experience with a particular subgenre (e.g., exploitation, cyberpunk, etc.) or director results in a greater appreciation at a later time. My revised ratings are usually slight to moderate upgrades with a few rare downgrades.

"Lovesick Dead" is about a girl who returns to her home town, but recognizes that something is amiss when her highschool classmates commit suicide near a local shrine. My first impression of this film was that it was simply a decent attempt at blending horror and romance. Well, I was wrong. It's actually a very good attempt at blending horror and romance with a tight, well-written script and strong storytelling. The horror sequences are connected with a fortunetelling ritual and are actually more beautiful than frightening, which is consistent with the romanticized mood of the film in general. The final 20 minutes are really good and will reward viewers who have been paying close attention. "Lovesick Dead" almost plays out like a Japanese version of "Whispering Corridors" (1998, South Korea) – a film that also required multiple viewings for me to truly appreciate.

Non-fans of Asian horror will be pleased to know that there is no Onryo ghost here, so you won't have to put up with those ghost girls and their long black hair. However, the slower pacing of Asian horror movies is used so it's not a good idea to watch this if you're tired (which is likely the problem I had the first time around). The characters get some development and the premise is more original and executed better than most "ritual-based" horrors (which typically involve ouiga boards or seances), but the most interesting aspect involves the relationships between the characters that are clarified near the end. You'll need to think a little because they are communicated indirectly, but this is quality stuff.

Very enjoyable and worth seeking out.