Kidan Piece of Darkness

As someone that's used to Japanese horror, it takes quite a bit to scare me. Yet I has quite a few jumpscares watching this.

And yes, this man even shrieked out loud a couple of times. If you are a fan of Japanese horror, you will understand *why* I did so. Anyone that reviews this movie badly obviously doesn't understand Japanese horror. Easily a 7/10!

Continuing with J-horror anthologies, I've stumbled upon this one that seems to have flown under the radar for many. It reunites some directors from Dark Tales of Japan (like Koji Shiraishi and Yoshihiro Nakamura) but this time they're joined by other notable names such as Mari Asato and Eisuke Naito.

The film consists of 10 short segments, each lasting between 5 to 10 minutes. They all share that suffocating mood that J-horror is chiefly known for and, with a few exceptions, revolve around ghosts. I don't want to break down each of them, as that way I could spoil their magic, and I think they should be seen with as little knowledge as possible. I'll say that the most notable entry (for me) is an early one called Shadow Man, and boy is it creepy. If you ever had a nightmare of someone randomly banging on your door, you'll definitely be chilled by this one.

As I mentioned, the atmosphere is heavy and I appreciate that they didn't try to break the flow with forced humor or elements from other genres. These short vignettes really benefit from the sustained mood. I would have liked a bit more variety regarding the spooks, though. Also, predictably, a few of the shorts aren't quite satisfying like the rest but that's what you usually get with anthologies. In general, I enjoyed them all anyway, so I'd definitely recommend this one to J-horror afficionados.