Chime

Renowned Japanese horror filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa returns with a distinctive and chilling addition to the genre. The story centers on Matsuoka, a former chef who conducts cooking classes while he seeks new employment. One day, a student voices his distress over an inexplicable sound that he cannot escape, which appears to be altering him internally, leading to a loss of self-control and even violent outbursts. The particularly unsettling aspect of this noise is its ability to propagate from one individual to another without any forewarning, rendering each moment of the film fraught with unpredictability and tension.

In a mere 45 minutes, Kurosawa employs a myriad of techniques from his extensive repertoire, crafting a film that achieves a level of creepiness and intensity in just a few scenes that surpasses the efforts of many horror films released this year.

"Chime" does not conform to the typical jump-scare format; rather, it evokes a lingering sense of dread that may resurface days later, leaving viewers with an unsettling image from the film etched in their minds. Watch this film of a filmmaker that's at the top of his game!

I thought I'd give it a try. A 6.8 on the IMDB is pretty good for a horror movie, and I am a vivid Horror fan, but boy was I duped! It started OK. A Japanese town is shown in quite a depressive looking view. But then...... a knive, and another knive, and lots of cans in plastic bags. Why are there so many cans in plastic bags? I just didn't get it. Did I miss the story somewhere. The movie is 45 minutes, so is the story in the missing minutes. What happened? Why. A teacher who hears a noise, am I deaf. What noise. What the f.... did happen in this movie. Yes, a beautiful tree outside the building. Oh that's the end....what happened. What was I watching?

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest psychological horror is a masterful exercise in suspense and terror.

Provided you can get onboard with its enigmatic (and nearly incomprehensible) plot, there's much to enjoy here for fans of the director. The running time is short (only 45 minutes), making this something of a compact version of Kurosawa's usual, subtle horror filmmaking. There's a lot of atmosphere and intrigue present throughout, but little to no answers to some of the film's central questions.

While this is certainly a violent little film, it's not focused on gore, but rather its capability to disturb by mere suggestion. It's pretty great to see Kurosawa back at directing unsettling films that turn the mundane into terrifying, and Chime shows he's still got some interesting ideas to share with the rest of us.

Recommended.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Chime" is a chilling 45-minute psychological horror film that masterfully blends mundane settings with a growing sense of dread. It tells the story of a middle-aged school teacher who is haunted by a recurring sound, a chime, that fills him with a strange sense of foreboding. As the film progresses, the teacher's life begins to unravel, and he becomes increasingly obsessed with the source of the sound and its unsettling implications.

Kurosawa's signature style is on full display in "Chime," with its deliberate pacing, unsettling atmosphere, and focus on the psychological state of its protagonist. The film's minimalist approach, with its sparse dialogue and focus on visual storytelling, creates a sense of unease and leaves much to the viewer's imagination. The sound design is particularly effective, with the recurring chime serving as a constant reminder of the unseen threat that looms over the teacher.

The film's ending is ambiguous and open to interpretation, leaving viewers to ponder the true meaning of the chime and its impact on the teacher's life. Some may interpret it as a descent into madness, while others may see it as a reflection of the teacher's own inner turmoil and anxieties.

"Chime" is a powerful and thought-provoking film that stays with you long after the credits roll. Its exploration of fear, paranoia, and the fragility of the human mind is both unsettling and unforgettable.

Unsettling from start to finish. Despite how heavy this film is on mystery, there is enough to latch onto and to make your own interpretations from.

Synopsis: Chime is a 2024 Japanese horror thriller film about a culinary school teacher who is disrupted by a chime that brings him a sense of dread: Plot: The film begins with a scene in a culinary school classroom where nothing seems out of the ordinary. However, a student named Tashiro says something strange, claiming to hear a chime and that half of his brain has been replaced by a machine. The school administration warns the teacher, Matsuoka, that Tashiro is a little strange.