MartinHafer
I agree with the other reviewer--when you first begin watching "Curse, Death & Spirit" it does look a bit cheap. It certainly has a direct to video look about it--like it was made using inexpensive home video equipment. But don't let that fool you--this IS a quality product. The film is divided into three stories--each about 20 minutes long and each about the supernatural. Of the three, the first is probably the best (and creepiest) but they are all quite entertaining.The Cursed Doll--A young lady keeps having dreams about a strange doll that seems almost alive. Later, in a weird twist, her parents give her a present--this SAME doll! However, there's much more to it than that--through continued dreams, the young lady comes to believe that she once had an older sister who died long ago. And, when she asks her mother, she learns that this IS true! What's going on here?! And, how is this doll related to her dead sister? The Spirit of the Dead--This segment begins with a father dying from a heart attack. However, the young son sees his father's spirit leave the body and say goodbye--and it seems the boy has some sort of connection with spirits. Later, when the mother takes the boy on an outing, this ability arises again, as the boy begins seeing a dead woman in a pool beckoning to him! Well, the mother doesn't believe it at first, but soon she, too, sees the dead woman calling to the boy.The Haunted Inn--Three young ladies go on a short trip to the country and they stay at an inn. One of the girls begins acting strangely--as if SOMETHING in the inn is calling to her. They soon find out that a young girl died there in that same room a decade ago and somehow it's reaching out to the girl.I could certainly say more about these films but don't want to spoil the suspense. While none of the sequences are marvelous, all are quite good and give the viewer insights into the Japanese psyche and beliefs about the spiritual world. Well worth seeing.
reactorgrits
Along with Nakata's film 'Chaos' which I bought from the Tartan Asia Extreme series came this compilation of 3 horror shorts from Hideo Nakata made for Japanese TV in the early 90s. This is interesting on it's own, since these 3 short features are supposed to be rare even in Japan and were a nice addition to a good Nakata film, giving some extra value to a DVD investment.Of course, these 3 features were about 6 or 7 years away from Ring, the movie which would make Nakata a worldwide acclaimed director, that would innovate the horror genre and put J-horror in the spotlight. Now, the continuous flow of Hollywood remakes of Asian horrors might have never started if it was for Nakata. All in all, a little series of these features is an interesting watch knowing this in the first place.'Curse, death & spirit' runs over an hour representing 3 short stories embedded in the Japanase superstition of ghosts. A little understanding of Japanese (and East-Asian) culture in general is a necessity here, since it tends to look at the supernatural through a very different scope than in the Western world. Hence the fact that many J-horror is centered around cursed spirits which couldn't find peace after deceasing. These 3 features are no exception.The first thing that is important to take into consideration is that the features were made for TV. Basically, this makes it hard to compare with Nakata's films for a couple of reasons. The images of the features look very thin and plastic compared to Nakata's works shot on celluloid of course, but also the stories are much more cheesier and accompanied with weak background music. This doesn't bring Nakata into any discredit, since he was merely the director and therefore it is crucial to look at his directing skills and forget that the features were cheap and plastic; after all, it is Japanese television which is just like most television material cheap and fastly done. That leaves us with the way in which Nakata delivers the shock factor here.Every story is told through the eyes of a fictitious person, to bring the first 'chill' factor to the viewer. The 1st story, 'A cursed doll', is... about a cursed doll (hey you read minds in your spare time?). A girl trying to do a play is haunted by it and learns that it has to do with the death of her sister which her mother tries to keep hidden for her. Like every feature the story starts of very slow and cheesy, giving a 'uh-oh' to the viewer whether it's going to be a waste of time watching the dribble. Then, Nakata comes in. Many elements of style and shooting as seen in 'Ring' & 'Dark water' come to light as early trademarks of the director which he still holds high. Besides that, does Nakata bring a well blend of diegetic and nondiegetic elements, such as the doll screaming through the mouth of the dead sister.The 2nd story is already very reminiscent of Ring in terms of ghosts in the woods, like Sadako and her good ol' well. A mother who lost her husband goes with her boy and another mother and her two kids to the woods to forget about the events of the husband's death. There the boy of the widowed mother finds a ghost dwelling nearby a waterfall which tries to lure him to death. Although the story is very basic here with a very superficial ending, the portrayal of the ghost is well done, even quite scary. The Japanese surely do know know how to make a female ghost look scary, and Nakata surely shows that here.Luckily the 3 stories supercede each other in a rising line, with the 3rd story called 'An inn where a ghost lives' being the best and the closest to Ring. We see an inn like in Ring where terrible things have happened, and 3 high school girls having a girls holiday with a video-camera. Teenagers on a scary holiday, a haunted inn, haunted videotapes... it's all already in here. Also the subject of an outcast in a group rising to evil and vengeance sees the light here, and came back a central subject in Ring and Dark Water. Once again the story is filmed very minimal, with the chills in the right place and some surprising elements.The reason to write this review was when I saw the low scores and little attention Nakata's earliest work has gotten. To me Nakata is a very important director and I felt the need to put these works in the right context, while hoping to have succeeded. These features might be quite cheap and cheesy, but of course there were obvious reasons. Not only did they lead to giving Nakata the chance to film Ring and break through worldwide, but also innovated many elements which developed J-horror and Asian horror in general today. This makes this series of features important on quite some levels, and on it's own they are a good watch. Maybe not that much compared to what would come from Nakata after this, but a great insight in how to film good and innovative horror material with little time and a low budget. And compared to most Asian horror repeating the established Nakata and other Asian horror elements over and over, this was actually quite a thrill.
