dakuchonekobing

First of all, I want to say a little about the movie Saiko!, I had to research the opinions of people who have seen the movie to figure out the scenes of the mother standing in the background, those are creepy scenes. But I still maintain my opinion, not only about the movie Saiko! But also about this short prequel episode: if you want to create an attractive mystery horror story, you have to show it clearly to the viewers (the horror details are clearly shown in pictures) and not hide it or make it too difficult for the viewer to recognize. If a movie is scary but no one can detect those details, that horror movie is considered a failure to me. What I really noticed about this episode and even movie Saiko! Is that it's about family issues: domestic violence, the thing about sharing and understanding each other and emotions being released, that's what I can see clearly and completely immerse myself in the story, instead of having to pay attention and try to find creepy details or something like that. I don't like this at all. In this prequel episode, the abusive father is depicted quite clearly through his scenes with Ringo, and a few scenes with Tsukasa, however the origin and nature of this is not shown clearly through the characters. As for the horror element through the haunted photo, the story is clearly quite boring. Although the story of the Ura family is told as a mysterious and creepy story, I couldn't feel it without looking it up online, instead I wanted to remember this family as a family with many incidents and difficulties with children learning to grow up and they need someone who understands and shares with them like Sumio in the movie Saiko. This episode didn't really impress me in many ways.

What is important I want to say 3 times. It is hard to find a famous movie or show that does not have a bit of family element. Everything related to family, daily activities, sadness, the repression and release of emotions when family members open up and share with each other... all of those things are related to everyone's life. I actually watched half of this movie without knowing it was a mockumentary. The life of a Japanese family and the problems within it are presented very realistically and quite interesting. Although there are some scenes that are quite weird and a bit unconvincing, even a bit trashy, even the "Twinkle twinkle" that appears out of nowhere for no reason and the horror elements that are introduced are quite amateurish and useless; the family related elements are well-built and culminate in the scene between Sumio and Rie at the end. I will remember this scene, one of my favorites. The injured scenes involving Ryuta and Tsukasa are quite ridiculous and random, including the thing that journalist Veronica Addison staying at the Ura family's house for months and sometimes secretly filming their life without any explanation, all of which are what makes the movie less convincing. But after all, the camping scene at the end really brings a beautiful message about family, and like I said, when the story completes the family element successfully, the story is worth watching and memorable.

I think if I watched this movie around 2005-2015 I would have called the police thinking it was a real event lol Anyway, it was a fun experience. I want to give credit to the sound editing team. They used bass very cleverly and it worked really well in creating a creepy atmosphere especially at the end of the movie. I really liked the scene in the forest. But if we look a little closer, Noroi still has some weaknesses. Firstly, the visual experience is not good, there are no artistic or metaphorical shots, no beautiful colors or emotional frames. It's just a handheld camera angle. With a pretty good story like this one, but the first half of the movie is a series of unattractive and quite ridiculous events. Many details are overdone and unnecessary, accidentally revealing the director's intervention instead of being found footage. The last scene is also extended beyond necessity and reduces the story's persuasiveness. The characters are also not good enough to go along with the story. But I will miss this movie and its creepy scenes. Imagine a Found Footage movie and Japan created a mystery story in 2005? Respect to Japanese cinema.