Alter Ego

A Japanese horror, perhaps elevated by the fact the producer later directed Ju-On and others in the Grudge franchise.

A closed location - an abandoned school - makes for creepy atmospherics, and the tension grows but perhaps a little too slowly. Adults are sleazy, and teens not quite as compliant as they first appear. Two of the male characters are unpleasantly lascivious, and the other adults are complicit to some extent. Deaths follow a pleasingly moral arc, despite the questionable subject - exploitation of teen actor / models, and the cynical use of earlier 'Lolita' shots.

Special effects are weak, but disturbing anyway in the way Troma visuals often were. The script is not Shakespeare, as predicted by the obvious low budget, but the version I saw on Amazon Prime had the most appalling subtitling - Amazon's fault, not the film's, but lines were out of order and frequently appeared before characters spoke, so the actual words we could read a girl saying were accompanied by images of a man moving his lips.

Japanese horror films have a recognisable style, and this is no different. A logic perhaps more familiar to native audiences, but some engagingly disturbing imagery. The whole story is framed by a journalist collaring a character in the street a year later, which sets up a satisfying final twist. Not a huge time investment, worth a go if you enjoyed Ringu or Ju-On.