From what little I've heard about "Suicide Song", I was expecting an uninspired horror film on the lower end of the Japanese spectrum – ala "Shikoku" (1999) or "Death Water" (2006). Fortunately, it's far better than those films and actually carves out a little niche for itself in terms of originality.
The prominent misconception about "Suicide Song" is that it's a straight-up horror movie. Well, when schoolgirls evaluate the power of ghosts by FIFA ranking and an epitaph spells "ugRy", you can be confident that you're watching a comedy. Such is the case here, as the primary intent of this film is to make you smile, not to scare you. The humor is very dry at times, but it's still rather obvious that this is a comedy first and foremost.
I've never understood why some viewers find it necessary first classify a film safely within a particular genre before sitting down to actually watch it. Perhaps these viewers are unfamiliar with genre-bending cinema to the point where they simply must judge films by a set of qualities that reside in a tiny conceptual box. If a film is supposed to be "horror", then the basic requirement is to instill fear. If a film is supposed to be a "comedy", then the basic requirement is to provoke laughter. A viewer who takes this point-of-view will surely be perplexed when they "gear up" for a horror flick and end up with a non-stop assault of dry humor instead. I personally thought the comedy worked, so maybe it's best for mainstream viewers to go into this film expecting a slower-paced comedy with a distinct Japanese style.
So, what's the story about? A number of schoolgirls commit suicide and may have been inspired by a pop song. Yes, the premise is very similar to "Suicide Circle", but this title has almost no blood, choosing instead to pile on quaint satire in truckloads with a pinch of light horror and even some melodrama near the end. Somehow, it works. Even at 125 minutes, it chugs along rather quickly and is actually satisfying when all is said and done. The actresses are charming and well-acted too.
In a nutshell, this is a very cute, family friendly comedy/horror movie with some memorable, chuckly-worthy moments.
