Reincarnation (2005) Horror Movie Review

by Jason Spector
(Tucson, Arizona)

Release Date: January 7, 2006

Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Written by: Takashi Shimizu & Masaki Adachi
Starring:

Yuka as Nagisa Sugiura
Karina as Yayoi Kinoshita
Kippei Shiina as Iku Matsumura
Tetta Sugimoto as Tadashi Murakawa
Shun Oguri as Kazuya Omori

What if you had a life before this one? What if in that life you were murdered by a madman? What if the ghost of your previous life wanted to possess you? This is the basis of Takashi Shimizu’s Reincarnation. I saw this movie as part of the 1st Annual ‘After Dark Horrorfest’ and while some fell short and others didn’t even scratch the surface, Reincarnation rose to the occasion and made for a great horror flick! This Japanese foreign film not only gives you the creeps and moments of terror, but it has a very original and creative plot.

It starts by showing a couple different people in their everyday lives, including a school girl and a truck driver. These people end up being watched and cornered by ghoulish people and what happens to them is left in the air for now. The movie then focuses on the production of a movie called ‘Memories’, based on a true story about a man who murdered everyone inside a hotel, including his son and daughter, and committed suicide after the slaughter.

An aspiring actress named Nagisa gets the main role in the movie as the little girl that was murdered last in the hotel. After getting the part, she starts seeing visions of a little girl, a hotel, and a man in her dreams and out in public. She later finds out that they are all the people that were involved in the hotel murders, including the mass murderer himself. She keeps having visions as the movie continues being made, only they grow more frightening and frequent.

As the movie nears its conclusion, it’s discovered that all these people being haunted and eventually possessed were the reincarnations of the victims in the massacre, which leads to an exciting and surprising ending.

Reincarnation gives you so much. Throughout most of the movie, it gives you an eerie feeling. There’s a scene where the truck driver gets out of his truck to check what he hit, and upon looking under the car, he sees a man who looks exactly like him looking back at him. That alone gives you an uncomfortable feeling. Startled, he sits up to see pale faces floating in the dark woods off the road all staring at him. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Shimizu uses a toy box of creepy items throughout the movie as well. The dead boy plays with a little red bouncy ball, which is constantly seen bouncing around halls. The murderer carries an old miniature film camera with him and films the murders. The noise of the camera makes you want to run and hide. he creepiest of all is a doll that the little girl carries with her. It already has a scary look to it, but that wasn’t enough for Shimizu. He went ahead and made it walk using stop-motion filming, and it is by far the scariest stop-motion filmed scene I have ever seen.

Outside of the scariness, the plot is well done. I always applaud original ideas even if the movie is bad, but rarely do you find one with a completely new idea that is this good. The one flaw in the movie is that the reincarnation idea can be confusing at times and may go over some people’s heads. But if you pay attention, you’ll be able to grasp it enough to get the surprise ending. And if not, well then you’ll still get scared out of your mind.

Japan has always been a major contributor of horrifying supernatural films. While it may not be an Audition or a Ringu, Reincarnation still deserves to be watched and feared by horror film lovers. It will creep you out and then for the finale give you some great scares.

I give it a 9 out of 10 on a scare scale and a 7 out of 10 overall.

This movie is not well known but I encourage you to see it. If you like it, scare some friends with it. After finding it, I’ve always been able to terrify friends and family with it.

P.S. A little tip. I would watch this and all foreign films with subtitles if you don’t already. The dubbed English actors often ruin the feel of the movie. This goes for non-horror movies too.