J-horror Rising

Box Set

Running Time: 410

Genre: Feature, Horror

Certificate: 15

Language: Japanese

Subtitles: English

Collection of seven Japanese horror features. In 'Shikoku' (1999), Hinako (Yui Natsukawa) returns home to Shikoku and learns that her childhood friend Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama) drowned several years ago. Sayori's mother Teruko (Toshie Negishi), a Shinto priestess, is acting strangely and as Hinako investigates, she learns about an ancient folk-tale that could bring her friend back to life. 'Isola: Multiple Personality Girl' (2000) is set in the aftermath of the Kobe Earthquake in 1995. Yukari Kamo (Yoshino Kimura) is a psychic who travels to the area to help survivors but when she meets Chihiro Moritani (Yû Kurosawa), a girl with dissociative identity disorder, she realises that the trauma Chihiro has experienced has caused something dangerous to unfurl in her mind. In 'Inugami' (2001) young schoolteacher Akira (Atsuro Watabe) falls in love with with a local papermaker, Miki (Yuki Amami). Miki's family have lived in the same village for 900 years and, unbeknownst to Akira, are the guardians of evil spirits known as inugami. With Miki distracted by her new love, the spirits are able to slip loose from her control and inflict terrible harm on those who challenge them. In 'St. John's Wort' (2001) Nami (Megumi Okina) has been creating artwork for a new video game based on images she's been seeing in her dreams. Accompanied by one of the game producers, Kohei (Yôichirô Saitô), she travels out to an abandoned house that she has recently inherited from her estranged father. As the pair explore the old mansion, filming their expedition with a digital camera and beaming the results back to their company as they go, they make a series of horrifying and grisly discoveries and also begin to realise that they themselves are being watched by a mysterious and malevolent presence through surveillance cameras in every room of the house. 'Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman' (2007) follows Kyoko Yamashita (Eriko Satô), a teacher investigating the disappearances of several children with help from her co-worker Noboru Matsuzaki (Haruhiko Katô). They soon come to realise that the spirit taking the children has ties to Noboru's own tragic past. In 'Persona' (2000) a bullied student adopts a new persona when he begins wearing a ceramic mask at school and soon, other students begin to follow his example. Using the anonymity bestowed by the masks, they act without fearing the consequences of their behaviour. Finally, 'Noroi: The Curse' (2005) follows paranormal researcher Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki) as he investigates the legend of an ancient demon. However, the more he learns, the closer he comes to danger...