Hiroshi Takahashi, one of the figures that helped shape the Japanese horror scene, makes a movie in 6 days independently and with very little budget and this is basically the result: a pretty interesting idea and concept that's unfortunately hindered by its production values, because it's basically a theatre play of a group of people talking about their supernatural experiences in an unknown location for some kind of experiment.
The movie is 71 minutes and despite the short runtime it feels stretched by the very slow line delivery of the actors. I understand the decision because they're trying to create this slow-burning creepy atmosphere through words alone. To the movie's credit, it manages to do it and because there are some unexplained elements, there's a certain mystique around the movie that feels very oldschool horror. Despite that, it's also 71 minutes of people talking slowly while sitting with the occasional event that breaks the monotony, so it was hard to maintain interest.
The ending was very interesting, and there are a few mysteries around what happens in the tape that left me wondering for a while. I wished the movie had more budget behind it and instead of being a movie with people telling stories, they actually performed said stories like it was meant to be originally when Takahashi wrote it (apparently he had been trying to make it a reality for many years) but I understand it couldn't have happened with the budget it ended up having.
Do I recommend it? It's difficult to say. I liked the concept and the ending a lot, but the execution is what it is. So, if you don't dislike the idea of something closer to a minimalistic theatre play and are interested in Takahashi's work, you will get something out of it. If you're into filmmaking yourself you'll probably get inspired because it's very respectable what the movie manages to do with very little. If not, you'll probably struggle despite the short runtime.
