7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Akira, the young new schoolteacher in town falls for secretive Miki, an older woman who takes care of her family's urn that supposedly holds a forest wolf-spirit, inugami. People soon start disappearing and the town blames Akira.
Starring: Yuki Amami, Atsurô Watabe, Eugene Harada, Shiho Fujimura, Kazuhiro YamajiForeign | 100% |
Horror | 78% |
Psychological thriller | 15% |
Thriller | 3% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the
J-Horror Rising set from Arrow Video.
When a set like J-Horror Rising offers someone like the venerable Tom Mes freely detailing how at least some elements that combined to
create what is commonly
called J-Horror (at least vis a vis J-Horror as it's about to be defined, below) might be likened to American B movies or even direct to
video or made for television efforts, there may be a bit of a subliminal
warning
to be gleaned,
all of which is to say, perhaps expectations need to be reasonably set when approaching some and potentially all of the films in this set. Mes
unabashedly lists Ringu (the original Japanese Ring film, for the uninitiated)
as
a defining J-Horror
landmark, at least within the context of the films offered here, in that none of these films probably could be imagined and almost certainly wouldn't
have been made without the influence of the celebrated Hideo Nakata outing. It's also salient to note that several of the films in this collection
were
first exhibited as the "down ticket" item on "double features", sometimes not so coincidentally under main attractions like Ringu 2 and/or
Ringu 0. As Mes overtly mentions in his overview of J-Horror included in this set, the wake left by Ringu was wide, but it
wasn't particularly deep, at least as evidenced by how quickly this particular "rage" ebbed, and so as such even the Rising part of the title
of
this collection might be slightly misleading, since as Mes describes, by the time these offerings came along, things may have already been fading.
Note: Those interested in this release may want to also check out Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories, from Radiance, which is streeting the same day as this
collection.
Inugami is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following minimal information on the transfer:
The films in this collection were remastered in high definition and supplied by Kadokawa.This film has some deliberate presentational quirks, including a late sequence in black and white, but on the whole detail levels are generally very good, if occasionally hobbled by location work that tends to be framed in either wide or midrange shots, leading to variances in observable fine detail. There's a kind of curious slightly yellow-greenish cast to a lot of the color material which tends to give things a slightly alien look, but which may help to promote the subliminal "woodsiness" of the story, but which tends to at least occasionally make things like flesh tones look unnatural.
Inugami is presented in 1.85:1 with 5.1 and stereo sound. Additional remastering work was completed at R3Store Studios, London.
Inugami features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 options in the original Japanese. This is another film in the J-Horror Rising collection that benefits from quite a bit of outdoor material, which is where the surround track on this disc probably differentiates itself most noticeably from the stereo track. Ambient environmental sounds, including occasionally spooky dog howls, are nicely placed around the soundstage. I wasn't a particular fan of this film's score, but it, too, resides quite comfortably in the side and rear channels. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
This is another ostensible "J-Horror" outing that may simply not provide enough traditional horror for fans of the genre. Still, this is often a fascinating, if maybe slightly gonzo, combo platter of ideas and interwoven subplots, with a generous dash of folkoristic elements thrown in for good measure. Technical merits are generally solid aside from some passing caveats mentioned above, and both the commentary track and interview with Harada are worthwhile, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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