Shikoku

Starring:Yui Natsukawa, Michitaka Tsutsui, Chiaki Kuriyama, Toshie Negishi, Ren Osugi, Makoto SatÃ´, Taro Suwa, Tomoko Otakara, Haduki KÃ´zu, Shino Kaneko
Director: Shunichi Nagasaki
Studio: Adness
Product Type: DVD

Description

Sagori possesses spiritual powers which enable her to converse with the dead. After she dies at the age of sixteen, her mother attempts to bring her back from the dead. Sagori's friends decide to investigate the history of Shikoku Island which is also known as The Kingdom of the Dead. Will Sagori's friends be able to stop the awakening of Sagori from the dead?

Customer Reviews:

it was ok.................2007-04-02

it was an ok movie nothing great or creepy. a girl returns to the home she left as a child to find out her friend died. she hooks up with the boy she was friends with and together they find out that the dead girl's mother is trying to bring her back to life. eventually the mother suceeds and she is back in the world of the living. the girl does't look very haunting or creepy she is more concerned about the guy she loved who is not trying to hook up with her friend. i had greater expections considering it was dealing with the religion/belief system but it isn't bad just not good.

The dead will rise... or not.......2006-08-18

Asian horror has been the big thing for a few years -- long-haired ghouls, blind girls who see ghosts, and so forth.

But I doubt Hollywood will be rushing to remake "Shikoku," a creepy and pretty movie with too much shakycam. While the star Chiaki Kuriyama does a solid job, the movie is too vague, blurry and full of loose ends that never really get tied up. It feels like they were making up the movie as they went along.

Hinako, Sayori and their mutual crush Fumiya were inseparable as children, until Hinako moved away. Now ten years have passed, and Hinako (Yui Natsukawa) returns to the old hometown -- but she finds that Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama) drowned some years before, and Fumiya (Michitaka Tsutsui) is still haunted by her presence.

But ghosts are rising around the town, and a muttering old priestess is making her rounds, reversing the seals on temples -- and breaking down the barrier between life and death. As Fumiya and Hinako start to fall in love, Hinako begins seeing Sayori's apparition -- and finds that Sayori's mother is determined to bring her daughter back to life.

"Shikoku" is a play on words -- the kanji logogram means both "four countries" and "land of the dead," which sounds promising for a horror movie. But don't expect it to ever be fully played out to its full promise.

It starts off promisingly -- ghosts are rising, a vengeful dead girl, a corrupted friendship, and a cave leading to the next life. Then Shunichi Nagasaki just seems to lose interest in the plot. Half the subplots are dropped, so don't expect any "land of the dead" stuff. And what is retained of the plot never really gets fleshed out.

The whole last act is a rush job, with few explanations, and all the character conflict between Hinako and Sayori left up in the air -- apparently Hinako just forgets how Sayori loathed her. But it is very beautifully filmed, once you get past the nauseating shakycam shots -- lots of misty forests, mountains, forests full of light, and mossy old shrines. As a visual experience, it's absolutely lovely.

Kuriyama gives a solid performance as Sayori, and she's very creepy and amoral. The only problem is that we're expected to feel sorry for Sayori, and frankly she's too whiny and vicious for that to ever happen. Natsukawa gives a decent performance, but her character is too passive and emotionless.

"Shikoku" had the seeds of a good supernatural thriller, but the end result is rushed and full of dropped subplots. It could have been great, but became a lame ghost story instead.

PURIFICATION OF THE IMPURE.......2006-08-06

I like this movie quite frankly. Especially the religious aspects that were put into the movie. The story centers around a young woman [Hinako]who returns to her hometown in Shikoku. She is unaware that her childhood friend [Sayori] died at the age of 16. Hinako discovers that the mother of Sayori, who is a shameness is atttempting to bring her daughter back to life. In order for the mother to do this, she must traverse the islands 88 temples in reverse order. There is a lot of symbolism in the movie, especially some of the ones that the reviewer Zack mentioned. I especially liked the way that water is used in the movie, in which the purification and ritual prayers are utilized. For example, at the mouth of the cavern, we see an obelisk shaped stone with great religous importance, as water purification is important in Japanese religion, and especially during the semiannual ceremonies of purification at Shinto shrines. And although some of the mythological allusions are difficult to grasp unless one understands, or at least has some knowlede of the Kojiki and Nihongi, the image of the oblelisk in the water was not lost on me as a purifying image. This formal ritual of purification is a main theme in Japanese religion. In fact, traditionally, all Shinto shrines provided water for their worshippers. Maybe I have read to much into the movie, but for me at least I really enjoyed watching the movie. And as some reviewers have written, it is about 'ATMOSPHERE', not blood and gore.

Shikoku a good scary movie.......2005-05-30

A story of friendship and about how Hinako finds herself sexually attracted to Fumiya. They're both startled when Sayori's spirit a gateway to a path of darkness a myserious ride of hell this film is dark and forboding and a rollercoaster ride ,it will scareyou that what its about work the story Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama), the daughter of the village's spiritual leader, died in a mysterious drowning accident with leads to downward spiral to get to the meat of the story a scarefest and enjoyable movie highly recommend it.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE.......2005-04-20

This movie had Kuriyama Chiaki from Kill Bill...and this is a very great movie that i had to own it...otherwise...a story that will get you going....

DVD:

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