It's quite unbelievable how much people are still praising the Japanese horror genre. Let me tell you, as a real horror fan and lover, that there are still far more great Hollywood genre movies than Japanese ones out there. Problem with Japanese genre movies often is that they are all too much alike in story and atmosphere and usually aren't helped by a very high budget.
Problem with this movie is that it presents itself as a mysterious and clever one, while in fact it's being neither really. The movie is only mysterious because it's being told that way but not because the story in itself is being a very interesting or real clever and mysterious one. It actually causes the movie to work out more confusing and messy than anything else really.
It's actually hard to believe this movie got written and directed by the same man who wrote the screenplay for the original "Ringu" movie and most of its official sequels, which I all also personally quite liked.
The movie is also far too slow with its buildup, during its first half. When looking back at it, most of the stuff that happens in the first half isn't even that relevant for the movie and is also quite out of tone with its second half, which is far more horror orientated.
But it's not like the movie is having any real good horror in it though. It's the type of horror that is featuring ghostly figures and lots of computer effects, that just never become scary. The movie also just really doesn't have the right required atmosphere for that.
There is far too much wrong with this movie to consider it a remotely decent or recommendable one, not even for the lovers of Japenese horror (no, I am not saying J-horror!).
4/10
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