Joyû-rei

I really enjoyed this debut by Ring director, Hideo Nakata. If you've seen Ring beforehand then you'll be familiar with the style and idea of this flick. It's got a subtle spookiness about it that works better than the constant (and predictable) stingers that infest most mainstream movies of this genre. If you like films that give you the chills, then you will probably like this one. A good, creepy debut by Hideo Nakata. 8/10

This Japanese horror film, originally called 'Joyû-rei' and was one of the first films directed by Hideo Nakata of 'Ringu' or 'The Ring' fame, has its fair share of truly creepy and unsettling moments. However, the ending was way too rushed and unfulfilling for this film to merit a higher ranking, in my opinion.

Having said that, I still believe that this spooky Japanese film ought to have more recognition not only for historical reasons because of the similarities to 'Ringu' and as the director Hideo Nakata's first real film but also because it gets some things better than modern horror films.

A worth-while watch for an introduction to the origins of modern J-Horror. As a Freshman directorial effort some aspects show through as "need improvement,"; continuity of story, backstory development, score, lighting - however, the concept of this film became the backbone of J-Horror and the foreshadowing of many of what we now call cliches in Asian Horror. That being said, by today's standards not a "scary" film nor one that will be memorable for younger audiences.

Not on the same level as Ring (or Ring 2) but still a good Japanese horror flick nonetheless. I wish North American horror producers would take a page out of the Japanese horror template and put more 'spookiness' and less cheap shocks in their flicks. Lots of good examples in this one, scenes where a whited out face is scene staring behind a young actress, photographs on a wall are suddenly glimpsed smiling, just for a second, and more. Worth checking out if you like the genre.

Lots of effective, creepy moments building up in the first 2/3 of the film, but seems to putter out after that. Solid performances and great handling of the "movie within a movie (within another movie?)". Still, a good first effort from director Hideo Nakata ("Ring").