Jukai Mura

This movie has a heavy emphasis on creepy visuals and there are plenty of them here. It doesn't place much emphasis on tell a coherent story or explaining why any of this is happening.

The movie starts with a video from a vlogger going into Aokigahara. She goes off-trail despite the many warnings signs in the actual forest telling you not to do that for good, if mundane, reasons. Something happens to her, It's not clear what. The main characters find an evil creepy box that's cursed with the curse of the forest. What is that? That's a good question. The characters start dying off in various odd ways. They have to figure out the curse. Good luck with that. I have seen the whole movie and I don't know. Jun Kunimura pops up now and then to say vaguely ominous things about the forest but he's barely in the movie.

This movie sort of explains a lot of things but doesn't actually explain them. Later, we find out what happened to the vlogger but not really. We find out what the box is about but it doesn't really explain anything. This movie isn't big on explaining things.

It's worth watching if you are just looking for some creepy visuals and J-horror stuff. Don't expect a coherent story or any explanation of why any of this is happening though.

This movie offers some sharp direction, with certain angles that instantly put the viewer on edge. It has some unexpected style changes throughout the movie, of which at first, I thought I wouldn't appreciate, but grew to enjoy the differences. The story is fairly unique as far as Japanese ghost related movies go. While I wouldn't call it a scary film, you'll definitely experience some cringe-worthy scenes and the perfect mix of bright and dark cinematography that kept my eyes on the screen.

This film essentially begins with a YouTube blogger by the name of "Akina" (Rinka Otani) recording herself as she enters a thick forest known for the number of people who venture inside to commit suicide. While she is recording, strange things begin to happen, and her screams are the last things anyone hears. The scene then shifts to a teenage girl named "Hibiki Amasawa" (Anna Yamada) watching the video at home and becoming quite disturbed by it. Not long afterward, while helping some friends move into a new apartment, a strange box is found under the house which terrifies Hibiki--and immediately afterward the people around her begin to die in horrific ways. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I was extremely impressed with this movie--for the first hour or so. Unfortunately, the plot began to drag to such a degree that I almost felt like entering this deadly forest myself. It was almost as if the director (Takashi Shimizu) decided to abandon any pretense of a plot and simply fill in the remaining minutes with special effects instead. That being said, while I don't consider this film to be that bad necessarily, I do consider it to be a missed opportunity, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The second installment in the "Horror Village" series by Takashi Shimizu, following "Howling Village." Takashi channeled his Ju-On era by creating a frightening lore surrounding Japan's infamous suicide forest. The out-of-the-box innovative death scenes and a brilliant cast of prettiest girls proved J-horror still got the originality and aesthetics.

I'm a huge fan of director Shimizu, but this is one of his most least interesting and engaging films since he retreads elements he's done better in previous films. This being said, the film still looks amazing and is atmospheric but it will appeal more for those who haven't seen a ton of his films or a lot of haunted location films. It was an inspired choice to do something slightly different with the subject of the suicide forest but not enough to make it stand out. The cinematography and editing are very good and overall, it is a serviceable film.

All the performances are also decent but nothing really stands out or shines.