A Vila dos Suicídios

When I stumbled upon the 2021 Japanese horror mystery titled "Jukai Mura" (aka "Suicide Forest Village") of course I had to watch it. Sure, I hadn't ever heard about the movie, but I am familiar with the phenomena of the 'suicide forest' in Japan and have seen other movies dealing with it. And given my love of both Asian cinema and horror cinema, of course I had to watch what director Takashi Shimizu had to deliver here.

The movie wasn't off to a good start with the video blogger style of footage. I can't take those self-absorbed people serious, and nor is that style of shooting a movie something that entertains me in any way. And not even 10 minutes into the movie I was good and ready to get up and turn off this laughable footage. But luckily the movie switched back to ordinary movie style around 10 minutes in.

But while the movie returned to normal movie style of shooting, then the narrative just was insanely slow paced and uneventful. I grew more and more bored and distant as the narrative progressed, because there simply wasn't anything interesting happening on the screen. It felt like I was watching a tirade of random scenes shot independently of one another and then pieced together to make a movie.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with actor Jun Kunimura. The acting performances in the movie were a bit bland, because the actors and actresses didn't really have anything solid to work with in terms of character gallery, dialogue or contents of the storyline.

For a Japanese horror movie then director Takashi Shimizu failed to deliver anything worthwhile or watchable with "Jukai Mura". And it most definitely is not a horror movie that I would recommend fans of the Japanese horror scene to rush out and get to watch. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Jukai Mura" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, and that is primarily because of the production value of the movie.

This movie offers some sharp direction, with certain angles that instantly put the viewer on edge. It has some unexpected style changes throughout the movie, of which at first, I thought I wouldn't appreciate, but grew to enjoy the differences. The story is fairly unique as far as Japanese ghost related movies go. While I wouldn't call it a scary film, you'll definitely experience some cringe-worthy scenes and the perfect mix of bright and dark cinematography that kept my eyes on the screen.

After finding a strange box in a friend's house, a woman and her sister learn that they've become embroiled in a frantic search to unravel the mystery surrounding a local forest rumored to be cursed with the spirits of numerous visitors that have committed suicide in the area and must try to stop it.

There's quite a lot to like with this one. The film is at its best in detailing the great atmosphere of the forest in addition to the main central mystery surrounding the titular area of the country. There's a lot of folklore given about the use of the forest as a popular site for suicides and strange deaths which serves to entice the girl rather easily into investigating which provides an excuse to investigate the cursed area and uncover the mystery about why it's haunted. This investigation not only uncovers the dark secret of the forests' history with the use of the cursed box and its meaning but also the family legacy of mental illness that crops up. With this section also leading into the backstory of the village and how it got cursed, this all has a lot to like about it, and on top of that, these scenes manage to generate some decent jump-scares including the cursed video call with her friends or the visit to the hospital to visit an injured friend that helps to influence more of the storyline while also giving those jump scenes with the ghosts. As well, the film manages to follow this up with an array of impressive and chilling haunting scenes. The opening video of the Youtube star going through the forest on a Livestream with her fans offers up some startling imagery with the forest seemingly coming to life to attack her live on camera. The later scene where the girls and their friends manage to find the cursed box only to be met with tragedy moments later contains a similarly startling sequence that comes off rather well. A trip through the woods with the group where she's attacked by malevolent trees yet no one is aware of it through the circumstances involved in rescuing a trapped friend likewise has some freaky visuals present, and a later sequence with a crying baby wailing in the distance keeps up the eerieness of the scene. That becomes a prominent aspect throughout the second half of the film where it's focused more on quick chilling setpieces or visuals to denote the curse has taken hold as the environment around the character comes to life in chilling means. The frantic finale, offering all sorts of fun scenes from the group of hikers encountering the deformed bodies left behind, the visions of what happened to the original villagers that started the curse, and the final confrontation with the spirits of the forest all come together to provide plenty of likable aspects here. While there's a lot to like, this one does have some minor issues. The biggest factor involved in the film is the sluggish and drawn-out pacing which offers up several scenes that don't need to be there. A trip to the hospital that centers around the main girl being treated for schizophrenia and other mental issues that sidelines her as the lead character in favor of her sister could've provided something had it been used for anything other than baseless psychological jargon attempting to explain the medical condition plaguing her. Since this section requires her to be under lockup for the duration of the study, switching characters to the less expressive and just generally lifeless sister does the film no favors by bringing her into the forefront rather than the side character she was before. Another factor for the dragged-out pace is the need for several flashbacks explaining the cursed forest and how it came to be known in the present day. A single retelling of the legend involving the locals tormenting and killing the undesirable ones and causing the curse to come into play would've made more sense than stopping the pace three different times to reveal more of it, especially if the only thing the later reveals add to the folklore is more gruesome gore in the tortures shown to be afflicted upon others. With these aspects making the film far longer than it needs to be, they're enough to knock this one down despite the positive features here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

This movie has a heavy emphasis on creepy visuals and there are plenty of them here. It doesn't place much emphasis on tell a coherent story or explaining why any of this is happening.

The movie starts with a video from a vlogger going into Aokigahara. She goes off-trail despite the many warnings signs in the actual forest telling you not to do that for good, if mundane, reasons. Something happens to her, It's not clear what. The main characters find an evil creepy box that's cursed with the curse of the forest. What is that? That's a good question. The characters start dying off in various odd ways. They have to figure out the curse. Good luck with that. I have seen the whole movie and I don't know. Jun Kunimura pops up now and then to say vaguely ominous things about the forest but he's barely in the movie.

This movie sort of explains a lot of things but doesn't actually explain them. Later, we find out what happened to the vlogger but not really. We find out what the box is about but it doesn't really explain anything. This movie isn't big on explaining things.

It's worth watching if you are just looking for some creepy visuals and J-horror stuff. Don't expect a coherent story or any explanation of why any of this is happening though.

I thought this film had excellent acting, really amazing high quality CGI effects, and the scary parts were actually terrifying. It's by the director of "Ju-On", or "The Grudge" which the Japanese version will always haunt me. It even had HBO's "The Last of Us" vibes and the overall storyline was excellent. It is slow in some parts but like I said, when the scary scenes happen they make the movie. I actually cringed in fear a couple times which it takes a lot for me to do! Not sure why it got some negative reviews, maybe they wanted more action, but to be a truly scary film, it has to have subtle fear that really digs into your soul. I've watched countless horror films and this was something definitely different and refreshing.