St. John's Wort

Nami's is creating a video game with the images from her dreams. While visiting her estrange father's abandoned house that was inherited to her along with her workmate/ex-boyfriend Kohei, she discovers the dreams that she has seem to match that of the house and some hidden secrets too. It's basically a mystery/horror film about a creepy house and its dark secrets.

This was one really SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW film, with nothing really exciting happening at all… actually to be honest nothing much did happen. Though you might say it was slowly building up the psychological terror that was about to come- but towards the end it turns into somewhat of a bloodbath of graphic images that doesn't really gel. All it was about was two teenagers wondering around a dark creepy house and Nami discovering secrets about her family… it's too bad because it came across as very atmospheric- but it was really tedious sitting through this drag-fest.

The film looked great- but that's it, I had trouble trying not to fall asleep, as there was nothing engaging and mysterious about the story and characters. The plot doesn't make much sense at all, it was truly incoherent and all over the place as one scene slowly dragged onto the next without any real urgency, then you get a twist that you see coming- but then it would twist back on itself and your left scratching your head… fancy that? But this final twist lacks logic, as it's not fully explained and therefore is ridiculously laughable.

What I can't knock is the sinister and chilling atmosphere, with a misty house that is truly atmospheric and unnerving, especially the paintings on the walls, the menacing shadows, dim lighting and dark corners. The colours stood out as well and become somewhat of an impact, very bleak and depressing colourings of greys, browns and black, created a real emptiness. The flashy camera-work (something you would associate with Sam Rami) is quite out there and very arty at first- but it was over-used to a point that it became real choppy and distracting, because at times you couldn't tell what was actually happening.

The performances were the same as the plot, really flat and uninspiring. That's because they're given nothing to work with and they don't do anything of any interest. Therefore… who cares!!!

When the outlandishly grim conclusion happens and we start learning where the film is actually going, you couldn't really give a toss, as you were bored to death waiting for an hour for something good to happen. Instead for that hour we get look at dark rooms and more rooms, in many different stylish ways- but then something actually happens and it picks up in the last 15mins, though people might have given up already and I wished I did. To make matters worse the film ends with a very absurd and unsatisfying conclusion… *Shaking head*.

Like some fellow users have typed, the film does play out like a video game. Though I admit I'm no video game fanatic- but the problem is it's like your watching somebody else playing the game, which isn't that fun... I rather be playing it!

Just expect to see the usual harrowing images, a creepy house with spooky noises and things lurking. Oh don't forget an evil looking girl with long black hair in a white dress. I bet you didn't see that coming.

Looks visually good, but this yawner lacks punch as nothing much happens!

1/5

This was my second run at Oriental horror films and unlike the first try (some movie about spirals) I actually enjoyed this one. I have a hard time trusting anyone who says they knew the ending, it was pretty well disguised through most of the movie. In addition it was a unique blend of video game and movie. Things going against it were the colors and the fast-forward thing that both of the Japanese horror movies have had. I would highly recommend subtitles over the dubbed in English as the subtitles seem to make more sense and the dubbing gives the movie an undesired godzilla effect. A little on the artsy side but definitely accomplishes good suspense. 8/10 for an enjoyable time watching the movie.

This movie is like a video game, Elvira style, if anyone remembers it :) Girl inherits spooky house, goes there, finds out about her family and childhood and "the terrible secret". The fact that the whole thing was done in order to create materials for a video game added an element of obvious to the movie.

I liked the actors, they played well for their parts, you might recognize the girl from Ju-On The Grudge, cute as ever. I felt that the starting idea was very promising and if the movie would have drifted in the "asian horror" area, it could have been a very interesting movie about teenager enterprise. This way, the film wasn't serious enough to be called a horror, nor was is funny enough to be called a comedy. And I have come to dislike movies that increase their level of complexity by mirroring themselves (let's do a movie about making a movie about...).

In the end it was OK, but nothing special. I would rather play Elvira again.

Excellent production design within a tight scope that had enough room to breathe that the view should never feel cheated. I enjoyed the abundant MAC, Quick Time and Lycos product placements, a nice now to the media savvy. Some other nice touches, like a great video game level maker that is a Japanese go girl with blonde mane instead of the expected 20-something white male hacker stereotype.

Aesthetically I was enthralled with the stacks of amazingly, nay, beautifully disturbing paintings all about the home.

There is lots of playful stuttered editing, stylistically playing heavily on multiple planes of perspective (filmic reality vs. hidden cameras vs. the hand held camera one character is toting around). Reminds me at times of the aspects that I liked of the classic horror games like Seventh Guest. I think that really was why the film was nifty for me, a former video game artist / designer. The layers of real vs. game in the making and the tight interaction between the adventuring couple inside the mansion vs. the go girl artist and pensive programmer back in the design studio. The inter-cutting of the two locations combined with the playful changes moment to moment in virtual film stocks and perceived point of view really took this tidy, cute little yarn to a new level. Minute details like the miscellaneous brass keys helps convey the parallels as well; the keys seemed like level objectives true to genre. The design of the film further seems to question the movie's very existence as a construction in all as well as in layered fictional elements, wrapped up nicely with a sense of choices being explored without undermining the integrity of the narrative.

Admirably, throughout the film the narrative toys with the notion of linear versus interactive, which tends to parallel the comparison of film to video games respectively. This film actually approaches a sort of implied interactivity, a new perspective for the viewer in a time based medium to the proverbial backbone of the narrative that I've not previously seen, at moments both inside the story and as well a voyeur to the story. As linear progression without options is an abstraction of reality humans accept far too easily, this film did a splendid job of perverting the linear and can at least be viewed as a solid indication of the potential of newer technologies applied to film projects yet to come.

Nami has been creating artwork for a new video game based on images she's been seeing in her dreams. With one of the game producers, she travels out to an abandoned house that seems to match her visions. As they explore the old mansion, Nami begins to have more visions of a forgotten childhood, until at last she comes across a photo of twin infants, labeled "Nami" and "Naomi". As Nami and the producer go from room to room, an unseen person seems to be watching them from a hidden room. "St. John's Wort" (Not the most appealing title ever) is NOT, by any means, in the same league as "Ringu", "Ju-On" or "The Eye". It lacks the subtle suspense and substance that made those films so great. This film IS, however, one of the most stylish films I've seen. Director Shimoyama Ten went all out with wild camera angles, a slick look and a great atmosphere, which, unfortunately, he fails to sustain into the films second act. There are some truly hilarious plot twists--I won't give them away, but there so unintentionally funny that they almost make the film worth renting for that reason alone.

Don't come in expecting a suspenseful masterpiece. it isn't. Think of it as, say, the most stylish home video of all time, and you'll enjoy it.

6.5/10.