Moview Review: Reincarnation (Rinne) - 2005

Tedious

On paper, "Reincarnation" would seem a routine job for director Takashi Shimizu, who became famous through the "Ju-on: The Grudge" movies which are now considered classics of J-horror. However, the movie turned out so exceptionally boring that it nearly put me to sleep.

As for the story, a young actress gets the lead role in a horror movie based on a massacre that happened many years ago in a hotel. Soon though the horror gets real as she finds herself tormented by ghosts and visions of the past indicating that she witnessed the crime in a former life.

The movie's main problem is that the main character isn't interesting enough to connect to. She is passive and solemn. Most of the time, she is either staring absentmindedly, not listening when others talk to her, or slowly walking through corridors looking scared. Making things worse, she is played by an actress who is too self-conscious to act naturally and fill the role with life.

Another problem is that most of the time nothing special is going on. Watching a film crew make a film isn't really exciting to begin with. And it becomes tedious when all scenes the crew is filming are basically the same: The lead actress slowly walking corridors, looking scared. Did Takashi Shimizu really believe this would be interesting to watch? There are occasional images of ghosts and flashbacks, but that barely helps reanimate the story. I always felt relieved from boredom when the film switched to a secondary parallel plot about a girl student.

These flaws would ruin the film even if it made sense. Which it doesn't. The concepts of ghosts and reincarnation are mixed in a way that is nonsensical. The only interesting and scary thing about this film is a creepy doll. But it got too little screen time to save the show.

Rating: 2 out of 10 corridors to walk down looking scared.