REINCARNATION (2005)
Directed by Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Yuka, Kippei Shiina, Karina
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 93mins

Rating:

Cast to star in a film based upon a massacre that took place at the Ono Kanko Hotel, Suigura is an aspiring actress given the role of the last person to die on that fateful night - the young daughter of the professor who murdered 11 people before turning the knife on himself. However, prior to her casting she is haunted by images of a little girl in a yellow dress clutching at a broken doll, the same little girl who died at the hotel. A premonition? Or are they linked through life and death?

There are two terms that can be used to describe Takashi Shimizu's Reincarnation, either "derivative of" or "an homage to". Taking obvious influences from previous Japanese incarnations from Dark Water to the Ring and Kubrick's The Shining, Reincarnation bears some pretty strong resemblances with its imagery. Yet somehow, Reincarnation works, just.

Shimizu, best known for his work on the Juon series and its American counterpart The Grudge, has proven himself to be very adept at presenting horror tales in a fragmented style creating mysteries that come together like the pieces of a jigsaw in climaxes of sheer dread. Granted the subtlety of this approach was largely diminished in the dire Grudge 2 (US), Reincarnation is a fine example of Shimizu's fondness for labyrinthine plotting climaxing in a surprisingly mean spirited fashion.

Featuring a cameo from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Shimizu's lecturer at Film School) Reincarnation devotes its opening third evenly between scares and philosophy. Unfortunately, it is neither scary nor informative feeling more like the pseudo-science babble spouted during Ring 2. While there are some effective scares, the peephole is particularly effective, all that takes place leading up to the film shoot amounts to little more than a tedious over-reliance on whooshing sounds that blare out each time a little girl walks in the out of focus background.

This over-used scare tactic was effective in the past due to the subtle nature of its inclusion, i.e. without a sound effect to hammer it home. Here however, it's signposted, and with each 180 degree turn around Yuka's face you're just waiting for the "shocking" appearance. However, once the film settles into its film-within-a-film structure the balance is restored somewhat, while still not managing to terrify, the film wisely focuses instead upon gradually peeling away the layers of the story to start answering the burning questions that are present at the back of your mind. What happened to those unfortunate few who disappeared in the opening scenes? How is Karina's story linked to Suigura? And what will befall them?

And it is with the final third that Reincarnation finally comes into its own, as the strands slowly come together and the stories of past and present start to make sense you realise that there is much more to this film than at first seems. Flittering between different timescales Shimizu and editor Nobuyuki Takahashi have created a dizzying and genuinely surprising ending closing with a frustratingly unavoidable fate for its protagonist. Literally saved by its morally dubious conclusion, you can only feel for Suigura's predicament, Reincarnation fails ultimately as a straight-horror but excels as a mystery-thriller.

There are some fine tension ratcheting scenes here, from the stop-motion animated doll, to Suigura's descent into confusion as both the film set and the murder scene worlds collide there is plenty to keep you on the edge of your seat. More impressive is the cine-camera weilding Professor responsible for the massacre. Almost wordless throughout Shimizu continues to infer gore rather than show it and make us feel uneasy simply by the sounds of the cameras motors growing louder as he nears each corner. It makes for truly thrilling material and reminds us why Shimizu is so highly regarded, he has a great eye and ear for creating uneasy moments.

If only he had reigned in the elements of homage (or derivation), and steered the film in the direction it was driving towards from the very beginning then we could have been talking about something very special. But under its genre trappings, Reincarnation suffers from a frustratingly unoriginal opening that threatens to scupper the enjoyment to be gathered from the rest of the film.

Still, a highly recommended film.