Re/Member

After watching many Japanese horror films, I was hoping for better. If not for the childish and very unnecessary teen scenes, this movie would have been much better. This movie should have stuck to its plot line and stayed away from the random scenes. These scenes worked against the darkness of the movie and added a lighter element that totally made this movie feel cheap. This could have been so much better. I love Japanese horror movies and I was hoping to love this one too, but for me, Re/Member just fell short of what I have come to love about Japanese horror. With all that said, it was not horrible.

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.

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.

My husband and I thought it was absolute pants, we both enjoy horror and the story line was intriguing, but my goodness was it so badly done! It barely kept your attention even during the "intense" scenes, the characters and dialogue were appalling "hey we're hiding from a monster who is close by and will rip us apart so now's the time to start laughing and chatting" there is no trauma or stress particularly during the day where you would expect them to be somewhat traumatised from the night before, but nope just laughter and friendly bonding. By the end you are indifferent if the monster wins due to the amount of cliched moves and illogical decisions done by the characters who you don't care about due to their lack of character development and unrealistic portrayal of 6 teens stuck in an endless loop of being killed.

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.