Reincarnation

Name: Rinne (Japan
Reincarnation (USA)

Director: Takashi Shimizu

Release Date: January 7, 2006

Introduction:

This movie by director Takashi Shimizu is actually the third installment of a six movie project called J-Horror Theater, which will feature six movies from different horror movie directors (Norio Tsuruta, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hideo Nakata, Takashi Shimizu, Masayuki Ochiai and Hiroshi Takahashi). The first two are called Kansen and Yogen (Infection and Premonition, respectively). Shimizu has directed various horror movies like Ju-on, Ju-on 2, and Marebito (which I will try to find and review ASAP!).

Synopsis:

Reincarnation opens on a movie director creating horror film centered on eleven homicides committed by a mysterious director at an infamous hotel in Gunma in 1970. Nine are hapless victims that just happened to be in the hotel, while one was his wife, and the other was his daughter. One of the girls auditioning for the part of the daughter (who was much younger in reality than the girl cast to play her) keeps getting strange visions of a young girl holding a creepy looking doll. The actors are all led to the hotel in order to get a feel for place.

Another of the girls who tried out for the part of the daughter claims that she would be the most suitable for the job because she is in fact the reincarnation of this young girl. Sadly, strange deaths begin to occur, and the only thing these victims have in common is that fact that they are all younger than thirty-five…

Review:

I guess this movie was a decent watch, but it was nothing too special. The story featured some originality, but I found it to be rather droll and contrived at times. There are, of course, the overused “ghost in closet” and “creepy child” tools used way too often in these movies, though it did feature a decently involving plotline (though after a while, you could definitely see it coming). I guess I found the movie to be rather limiting in terms of character development, and, well, basically characters that we actually got to know. I mean, all the ghosts were so incredibly one-sided, and I guess I felt like that girl didn’t get what she deserved.

The building blocks for a good movie were all there, but instead of coming together in a seamless whole, this movie looks pieced-together and rather flat. It’s not as scary as I expected it to be, and the storyline seemed a bit simple. All in all, it was just plain mindless entertainment. Enjoy, if you’re bored, but it’s nothing special. There’s lots of other good movies out there, though if you want something along the lines of Chakushin Ari, by all means, go for it!

Ratings:
Entertainment: 6
Scares: 6
Gore: 3

*Watch it if you must, but it's nothing great*

Video:

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