Re/Member

I recently watched the Japanese film Re/Member (2022) on Netflix. The story follows a group of friends attending a haunted high school. As they explore the eerie elements of the school, they discover a body part belonging to a spirit trapped there. This same spirit, responsible for the deaths and the hidden body parts, finds the friends and traps them in the school. No matter what they do-even dying-they remain stuck in a loop. Can they find all the body parts and escape, or are they doomed to become part of the school's next haunted tale?

The film is directed by Eiichirô Hasumi (Biohazard: Death Island) and stars Kanna Hashimoto (Daughter of Lupin), Gordon Maeda (Tokyo Revengers), Yamamoto Maika (Deadman: Inferno), and Mayu Yokota (Kamen Rider: Saber).

This film had the potential to be great, but the writing felt inconsistent at times, and the character development was awkward, which really detracted from the overall experience. The CGI and depiction of the spirits were impressive, and the settings and costumes did a great job of pulling you into the film's world. The use of lighting also created some intense moments. The concept of the "monster" and the situation the characters find themselves in was engaging enough to hold my attention. However, the characters were irritating, the dialogue often cheesy, and the ending felt like a bit of a letdown.

In conclusion, Re/Member had a strong concept and solid horror elements, but it falters due to poorly written characters and dialogue. I'd give it a 5/10 and recommend skipping it.

After what seems to be a normal day, a group of students at a Japanese high school find themselves suddenly trapped in a never-ending time-loop by a malicious ghost intent on tormenting them and must find the cause of the curse that's affecting them to break the deadly chain of events.

On the whole, this one has quite a lot to like about it. Among the more likable facets present is the fine storyline that manages to bring about a genuinely terrifying concept. The main point of the film is the engrossing game that's at the center of everything which has a fun urban legend idea taken to a grand extreme. With the whole thing starting with the ghost appearing to the main girl and urging her into finding the various body parts of her dismembered corpse scattered around the school, things take a pretty chilling turn quite quickly. This is only enhanced by the means through which the group goes about getting inducted into the game of following through on the quest within the darkened school which easily manages to fall under the type of easily-digestible urban legend rather nicely. The means through which they find themselves stuck in a time loop as a consequence makes for a fine time as well and gives this a solid bit of tension to ensure the game is played. With this setup in place, this one manages to come off rather nicely with its ghostly encounters. The initial sight of the ghost is genuinely terrifying with the scarred face, blood-covered appearance, and association with the creepy doll leading to a fantastic first appearance in the prologue that sets everything in motion. The later scenes with the massive figure towering over the group while hunting them down through the school grounds and hallways is just as much fun with the incorporation of group battles against the massive being which signals the start of a secondary twist in the storyline that's introduced naturally while adding a nice bit of spice to everything. This adds plenty of frenetic action in the second half where the battle to stop the ghost takes place alongside the intriguing means of finally enacting the means of stopping the curse as well as the wholly effective practical effects for the main ghost-form shown here. These factors manage to provide a lot to enjoy here. There are some flaws with the film that hold it down. One of the bigger detriments is the highly underwhelming pacing that highlights a slew of teen-friendly content at the expense of genre thrills. With the group well-aware of the game to be played, a run-through of the body-finding tactics in the hallways is soaked up as a music video montage taking each encounter with the ghost as a single split-screen shot at once while an obnoxious pop song plays over it. This completely destroys any and all attempts at scares despite the horrific ways the ghost destroys the group and mutilates their bodies during the sequence. Other scenes like the group hanging out in the classroom laughing about dying the previous night or enjoying a beach party also manage the same feat of appealing to the teen crowd while dragging the tempo down and lacking in genre thrills. The last flaw here is the generally tame tone featured, with very little on-screen blood or gore and a reliance on cheap jump-scares which continue the teen feel and hold this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

The premise wasn't anything new, but I wasn't looking for any ground breaking originality. It had a story, so simply tell it in an interesting and entertaining way, and I would've been happy. And, there were definitely good bits to it! So, it could have easily been a fine, enjoyable horror flick, but certain unnecessities like having an internal "I've had enough, so I'm gonna be courageous, ganbarimasu" emotion doesn't just give you an extra boost of power/energy, turning you into a superhero, and allowing you to overcome any obstacle infront of you. Yes, I've heard of adrenaline, but it shouldn't take long to kick in, certainly not a "John Snow standing in the battlefield" moment to doubt yourself, then suddenly thinking of your friends generates the super soldier serum within you" long.

As this Japanese horror film begins a young girl is murdered. Decades later school girl Asuka hears the voice of the dead girl; she asks that the eight parts of her dismembered body be found. They are all on the grounds of the school Asuka attends. That night she, and five other students suddenly find themselves back in the school. A monster known to them as 'The Red Person' starts killing them in gory ways. When they wake up it is the previous morning. It soon becomes obvious that they are caught in a time loop. Each night they reappear in school and look for the body parts to return to a coffin in the school's chapel. Each day they become closer friends, bonded by the events of the night before and s desire to solve the mystery and end the cycle.

I thought this film opened fairly well with plenty of gore and an interesting set up. Unfortunately the sense of danger felt somewhat reduced when the time loop restarted and we learn that those who died have all returned and they seemed less traumatised than one might expect. Thankfully the plot manages to bring the sense of danger back later on. I wasn't surprised to learn that it was based on a manga as it reminded me somewhat of anime like 'Another', Angel Beats' and to a lesser extent 'Dusk Maiden of Amnesia'. The acting is solid enough and the school at night creates a suitably ominous atmosphere. Overall I'd say this is far from being a classic J-horror but it still manages to entertain so is worth a watch.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Good, but most of the watch time I feel like my family was just yelling at the girl to HURRY. When you're handed something important as another character sacrifices themselves for it, you don't just stand there, watching for them to die! You be useful and RUN.

At the start, some of the violence felt a little comical to me. It slowly got a little more serious, but I didn't feel scared at all during this, neither did my 10-year-old sister.

However, it didn't quite make sense for the girl to be evil, because they were helping her find her body. Didn't she want to be found? I thought that was the whole point of the body find thing...

While this isn't the best movie ever, it was entertaining.