[Movie Review] Kisaragi Station 《迷离车站》

This Japanese horror film relies on the retelling of the Japanese city legend, “Kisaragi Station”. In 2004, a thread on the Japanese 2chan textboard recounted a spooky expertise at a prepare station, not discovered wherever on any map in Japan. The submit shortly went viral on-line and nonetheless continues to be broadly debated. You possibly can learn an English translation of the unique submit right here.

Directer Jiro Nagae’s fictionalised tackle this city legend has pupil Haruna (Yuri Tsunematsu), who’s researching folklore, observe down the poster, Hasumi (Eriko Sato), to research the details.

You might bear in mind Haruna from her function as a pornstar within the Netflix collection, The Bare Director.

I’ve all the time beloved horror tales which are primarily based on city legends. They typically do effectively on the block workplace as sleeper hits as a result of everybody who know of the unique occult story wish to know if the film can debunk the myths round it.

The film is shot with a hand-held camcorder type, following the likes of horror classics like The Blair Witch Mission. That is so as to add a component of intimacy to the storytelling, to make the viewers really feel like you might be interacting with the forged straight.

Aside from the 2 leads, the opposite characters within the film are extra one-dimensional, together with the standard bunch of younger delinquents as villains, an innocent-looking highschool lady and an workplace employee:

The particular results look tacky… like badly performed to the extent that the spooky moments look sort of comical. I don’t know if this was deliberate, however it works for me because it retains me entertained and hooked to observe until the tip.

Total, I discovered the film very fulfilling, however extra as a suspense movie than as a horror film. It is a horror flick that’s appropriate for watching with family and friends who often eschew from the style as it isn’t that scary, but nonetheless leaves you sufficiently entertained on the finish of all of it.

There’s a plot twist on the finish which can depart you considering when you would have made the identical resolution as Haruna when you had been in her sneakers – I believe I’d too.

Kisaragi Station is now exhibiting in Singapore cinemas. Go catch it!