Kurîpî: Itsuwari no rinjin

I'm not often terrified at movies anymore. Popular horrors are proposed to have their own logic to them, which robs them of their teeth. And the supernatural, too often, condescends to our level to torment us. But Kurosawa's best work squeezes the horror out of the everyday, the familial, and the banal, like blood wrung from a dirty towel. By the end, I was absolutely horrified - but not because this was creepy.

Novel spin on the serial killer genre is elevated by Kurosawa's excellent direction, perfectly establishing the 'normalcy' of the establishing scenes before the plot takes a seriously demented turn in the final third. Kagawa is the highlight of the cast as the sullen, withdrawn neighbour and, while the film arguably drags on too long (with a prologue that really amounts to a red herring), it's hard to spot any fat to trim.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a competent director and builds a menacing atmosphere in this film largely taking place in Japanese suburbia; I especially enjoyed his use of music. Actors do a good job with their roles as well, but the story doesn't provide any real surprises and loses steam once you see where it's heading. It also requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, and contains some ridiculous police work. At 130mins it's seriously overlong which seems to affect a lot of recent Japanese thrillers.

A rather impressive and well-made spin on the serial killer genre. It looks great, but the strong point is probably the acting which is compelling enough to help overcome the somewhat challenging narrative. Unsettling and, well, creepy.

KK is a classical auteur, working with goofy genre material but always stamping and elevating it with his singular thematic obsessions and incredible skill in framing and blocking (probably THE modern master of negative space). i agree more or less with lawrence garcia's take (who's probably sick of being called the rich man's mike d'angelo at this point but, well)

A very polished and well-directed film, bolstered by top-tier acting and compelling imagery. Or it would be if the script wasn't occasionally drawing insipiration from Lifetime channel dross with its characters making inexplicably idiotic decisions.

If you type "Creepy" into the IMDb search bar, the top result is Conan O'Brien. This is not a joke, but is hilarious. Macabre Month of Horror review: https://youtu.be/gwMvTbtiKWg

I'm guessing Hitchcock because fewer corners are cut, and illogic is a function of genre rather than form. I don't know what the fuck I just typed. So, the central "mystery" is solved in minutes, and the only thing grounding the horror in reality is the protagonist's profession in the social sciences. It's a success as a horror film, but kind of a letdown as a thriller. Also, this is the second K. Kurosawa flick I have seen, and the second where a "party quart" of beer is present at dinner.

What seems like a fun little thriller for a while runs off the rails long before the denouement, and any points about contemporary society the filmmakers may have had in mind to make (say about the disconnection between neighbours) are drowned in an overwhelming tide of narrative silliness.

never invite Mr Nishino to dinner. The ex cop is a fucking moron. His wife is a fucking moron. The Japanese Police are fucking morons. Why is everyone in horror films a fucking moron?

A broken couple moves to find a new sense in life and has to face a serial killer that happens to live by destroying homes by drugging people and making them both accomplices and authors of the mayhem of their own homes -- of course, by mind games too. A neat thriller with moments of pure crazy filmmaking -- the light shifting to dark and bright during the detective's first questioning with the teenager, the green rooms, the "seductive" travelling with Nishino and Yosuke.

This movie reminded me a lot of Speak No Evil (2022), and the fact that I had already seen Speak No Evil helped me better understand the sinister nature of the characters. I liked it; it's a film that takes its time, makes you a bit frustrated, but the ending is satisfying on some level and also quite scary. It's a solid Japanese movie.

A very inconsistent, flimsy storyline.

Didn't find it all that creepy. The creep was actually kind of likable for a murdering psychopath. Found the writing lacking to make this a exceptional murder mystery, even if it had it's moments intrigue. Production wise it was as polished as could be. No complaints there. Just had hoped for more suspense for a otherwise quality thriller.