Aizu

Yurika lives in a condominium with her family. One day, the letter F appears on the doorplate of her flat. And her best friend dies in an accident. And strange things start to happen. What is going on?

"Eyes" is your run-of-the-mill Japanese horror movie. It has the high schooler, it has the little child (in this case a brother), it has the not very subtle ties to family relationships, and it has some random woman with long black hair. And even if it tries to be original and offer some twists on an old formula, the truth is that the movie can't sustain its flimsy plot. Things make little sense, the mystery is quite lame, and the acting is not crème de la crème.

Some points for atmosphere, though. It will entertain you if you are in the mood, but you will forget it even while watching it. Not the best J-horror.

Yukari lives with her father, mother, and little brother in an apartment. One night someone knocks on the door, and Yukari also finds an F written on the nameplate by the door. After that, spooky incidents accumulate. Simultaneously, the family situation worsens because of economic problems.

This time there is no formulaic curse killing people according to a known rule, there are only bad omens and seemingly random incidents. The lack of knowledge might increase the dread. A first-time viewer might on the other hand think that the plot has a lack of direction.

Most of the hauntings are centered on the introvert schoolgirl Yukari, who barely can take the weight of the onslaught. She also must handle most of it herself since no one fully believes her and it's difficult to find anyone to confide in. No wonder she goes through a lot of emotional suffering. Though she does take some steps to try to solve the mystery, and also gets a bit of help from classmates.

But the most complex and interesting character might be the goofy father. Working hard for the family, but not being adequate anyway. A few times he displays kindness by helping Yukari, lifting the mood. He is so nice you'd want to hug him, but in a dangerous situation he would be too weak to save you.

It is cute how no one is any good at English, so they need to look up English words in a dictionary and overexplain them to each other.

It is certainly a dark and serious movie with barely any humor. The spooky scenes are not too over the top, but that also makes them less memorable. The strong point is rather the gloomy and ominous mood, with hardly any direct sunlight.

Any way you slice it, it is a cruel and terrifying horror movie.