I don't know why all these people I know think that this is "the scariest movie they've ever seen" I saw it, and was totally bored by it. As several people have already reported, the acting is bad, there is no discernible plot, and we never have anything resembling closure. All we see is a man and woman who keep seeing appearances and disappearances of a dead, wet girl and a small naked kid. Whoop-ti-doo! That's it. Oh, and we keep hearing this stupid noise over and over again -- a noise that simply sounds like a person making guttural utterances with their throat. You never get to see what significance this sound has in the film. You never see what makes it or why. After the 20th time hearing it, and still not seeing anything scary accompanying it, you will like just start ignoring it, like I did.
Then there is this bizarre "hair torture", which I think must be some kind of Japanese cultural thing, because I don't get it at all, even though I've watched lots of Asian cinema. What this hair-torture amounts to is seeing long, black hair, usually messy and unkempt, creeping around corners or stairs, as though the women to whom it belongs is just out of camera range, and we only see the hair. Does the hair act like a snake, and try to choke people? NO! Does it attack people and cut them or whip them? No! All it does it just creep down the stairs, AND NEVER DOES ANY HARM TO PEOPLE. Apparently the Japanese are horrified by dirty, unkempt hair. Whatever.
Sure, the atmosphere is occasionally creepy, with earthy ambient sounds and such, but the film itself fails to creep or horrify. In the end, all we have is a disjointed, plot less, conclusion-less collection of scenes, with a naked boy and a dead wet girl. and a couple of people reacting to it all with expressions of fear, and screams. It's not the artsy, avant guard film that fans rave about. It's just a dull mess of a film that has fewer scares than the average Ed Wood film.
Horror does not have to be gory. Horror does not have to have blood or gruesome makeup effects. For example, The Blair Witch Project had no gore or makeup, and managed a few good scares. This film only succeeds in being weird and incomprehensible. If unkempt hair and white-skinned wet girls scare you, then knock yourself out. Otherwise, avoid this boring, pretentious trash.
Then there is this bizarre "hair torture", which I think must be some kind of Japanese cultural thing, because I don't get it at all, even though I've watched lots of Asian cinema. What this hair-torture amounts to is seeing long, black hair, usually messy and unkempt, creeping around corners or stairs, as though the women to whom it belongs is just out of camera range, and we only see the hair. Does the hair act like a snake, and try to choke people? NO! Does it attack people and cut them or whip them? No! All it does it just creep down the stairs, AND NEVER DOES ANY HARM TO PEOPLE. Apparently the Japanese are horrified by dirty, unkempt hair. Whatever.
Sure, the atmosphere is occasionally creepy, with earthy ambient sounds and such, but the film itself fails to creep or horrify. In the end, all we have is a disjointed, plot less, conclusion-less collection of scenes, with a naked boy and a dead wet girl. and a couple of people reacting to it all with expressions of fear, and screams. It's not the artsy, avant guard film that fans rave about. It's just a dull mess of a film that has fewer scares than the average Ed Wood film.
Horror does not have to be gory. Horror does not have to have blood or gruesome makeup effects. For example, The Blair Witch Project had no gore or makeup, and managed a few good scares. This film only succeeds in being weird and incomprehensible. If unkempt hair and white-skinned wet girls scare you, then knock yourself out. Otherwise, avoid this boring, pretentious trash.