Marebito Review Score: 9/10 | Date Posted: December 5th 2005 In: Movie Reviews Starring: Shinya Tsukamoto, Shun Sugata, Kazuhiro Nakahara, Tomomi Miyashita, Miho Ninagawa Directed by: Takashi Shimizu Produced by: Tatsuhiko Hirata Released by: Tartan Asia Extreme Marebito Review by Vince D’Amato | HNR Contributing Writer The new film by Japanese horror director Takashi Shimizu must be a very welcome relief to this talented filmmaker, who was blessed and cursed with having to shoot his famous horror film Ju-On (The Grudge) five times! After an independent student film, a Japanese television version, two Japanese theatrical versions and an American remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, director Shimizu finally gets to explore a new story. This time, Shimizu brings us a very original spin on an age-old theme (and one not explored too often in recent contemporary J-horror): The Vampire. Shimizu’s film opens up with a completely unnerving Blair Witch-inspired style, where we get to know the lead character – a news cameraman – and his brief voyeuristic tendencies through various video camera points of view. From this, the film goes from unnerving to simply creepy, and ultimately to utter unsettlement and discomfort as the story itself switches into the revelation of an urban legend regarding underground passageways and ancient cities, then into a very different type of Vampire story when the cameraman brings a young, naked, chained female vampire up to the surface from the tunnels beneath the city – and into his own apartment, where he proceeds to treat her like a pet. As a horror story, Marebito is not gory –though there are a few bloody sequences- rather, it’s beautifully lush with symbolism and undercurrents of sexual and violent allegory, with the story consistently being told through an increasingly complex series of consumer video and media shots serving as the film’s building blocks, this vampire story is the most original and clever take on the theme I’ve seen since George Romero’s 1974 experimental vampire film Martin – and this is sincerely intended as an enormous compliment. It’s at the hour-mark where Shimizu then takes the film and throws it into a surprising spiralling twist, and though the payoff may not ultimately explain all the intricacies of the plot and its visuals, Shimizu still retains the subtle power of horror throughout the entirety of the story, right up to the very last frame. This film just goes to show that there’s plenty of originality left out there in the world of cinema (and the horror genre as well), thanks to master filmmakers like Shimizu. Release Dates: Limited North American theatrical release starting December 9, 2005. Check out the Official Movie Site

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