Honogurai mizu no soko kara

This is not a story that could have been conceived in Arizona, say, or the Australian outback.

All of Japan (except for Hokkaido) has its "tsuyu" or rainy season every year in May-June-July, depending on the part of the country. Some years, there really isn't much change in the weather. Other years, Westerners such as myself start to think about building an ark...the rain is that relentless. Humidity is 90% or higher, mold and mildew everywhere, centipedes appear in the bathroom, ...ugh.

Of course if it actually continued to rain the entire movie, much of the eeriness of the movie would be lost--just because one wouldn't think oddly of all that water. Still, I think the original storyline must have come to the writer, Koji Suzuki, one rain-sodden June afternoon....

As with so many films in this genre, top marks for mood and atmosphere. One of the better Japanese occult/ghost/horror movies of recent years.