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Inugami Director: Masato Harada Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 105 minutes Studio: Ventura Distribution Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-11-23 Buy from Amazon |
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From Description The Bonomiya family’s women are the protectors of the Inugami (evil spirits). If the Bonomiya women fail to keep watch over the spirits – or worse, if they decide to use them for revenge – then the Inugami will run wild in the village looking for blood. Middle-aged family member Miki leads a lonely life as a traditional papermaker in a remote mountain village. When Miki falls for the handsome new schoolteacher, Akira, her youthful appearance stirs rumors and family problems. But when unexpected tragedy strikes, suspicion and strange events upset the calm community. An eerie fog cloaks the village, but it can no longer hide the secrets of Miki’s past . . . |
 "Creepy Horror Film That Lingers Until the End..."A young teacher, Akira, arrives to a small town in the rural area of northern Japan where he falls in love with the much older papermaker Miki. As Akira develops his feelings for Miki he finds out about her family curse and how deeply rooted these beliefs are in the local population. However, it seems as if the local superstition is more than just a myth when strange and deadly occurrences take place in the small town. Inugami is a horror film that is suspenseful until the end, and leaves the audience with a good cinematic experience. "Dark fantasy drama...but not horror"Masato Harada shows his versatility here--after the solid Yakuza-based thriller drama Kamikaze Taxi--with this intriguing film that integrates elements of dark fantasy and family dysfunction. A fortyish woman in a small Japanese village, who's come back home after living for a long time in Tokyo, is a solitary paper maker, spending countless hours in her home-based paper mill, carefully and methodically crafting paper used for special occasions. Still beautiful, she attracts the attention of a new young schoolteacher who's recently arrived and before long the two are caught up in a tempestuous affair. But the woman, Miki, is a member of the Bonomiya family, who's cursed with the supposed presence of the Inugami, wild dog spirits that emerge when family members engage in forbidden acts of congress. While there is never any overt horror here, there are subtle signs (sometimes not exactly subtle, but not long-lasting) that there may be some real truth to the legends. Harada, the director, does a fine job with character development and unfolding the story. The pacing is perfect and the tragedy, or multiple tragedies, that make up the past and the present of the Bonomiyas are revealed gradually, as they should be in this kind of tale. Nothing here smacks of stupidity; the film is a highly intelligent piece of cinema that knows exactly how much to show and when to show it, and whose dialogue is pitch perfect. The layers of dysfunction that are revealed are truly disturbing but not outside the realm of credibility which is a key element in how effective this film really is. Highly recommended. |
