Cinema Crazed

2005

Rated: R for graphic violence, gore, and adult language.

Genre: Supernatural Thriller Horror

Directed By: Takashi Shimizu

Running Time: 1:35

Review by: Felix Vasquez Jr.

Review Date: 5/16/07

Special Features:
"The Making of Reincarnation" featurette
Deleted scenes with optional commentary
"Memories of Reincarnation" interview with director Takashi Shimizu
Introduction by director Takashi Shimizu

REINCARNATION

There are some genuine moments of fright here that Shimizu manages to ace perfectly. The murders of the hotel denizens are often disturbing when replayed in a constant loop throughout the film. And the sight of the hotel victims playing their roles and being killed in their order make for some rather disturbing visuals. One of the best scenes involves the character Yuka in a library, as well as the utterly disturbing events involving the lingering doll in the story. Shimizu pulls these devices off with enough impact to warrant a shiver or two.

From minute one I could feel a sense of anticipation come over me. “ReIncarnation” possessed so much potential, and yet it was so damn ill-conceived. By the hour mark, I felt a sense of impatience come over me, and I just couldn’t stop muttering “Get to the fucking point!” Out of all of the “8 Films to Die for,” Shimizu’s supernatural thriller is the film with the most advantages in its corner, and without any of the delivery. Take a mass murder, pair it with a film crew re-staging the murders, and you basically have a mystery that’s solved in over an hour that persists in beating us over the head with its resolution for a half hour.

We get it, we get it, now can just get to the pay off? Shimizu’s film suffers from poor pacing that can never seem to decide what to do with the concept. Is it a ghost film, a film about spirituality, a film about avenging spirits, or a whole other plain of existence? And did the last frame of film make the slightest bit of sense? Did Nagisa actually know she was being possessed or, was she possessed at all? Was she supposed to kill again in this reincarnated form?

I couldn’t find out, regardless of how much I tried, and Shimizu never makes a case of clarifying anything. Sure, some things are better left for the imagination, but there’s also pure incoherence, something in which “ReIncarnation” seems to strive for. While Shimizu is no slouch in the tension department, the story really doesn’t seem to make too much sense before the premature surprise plot twist, and then it just drags on for as long as humanly possible. And it never did quite get to the point.

In spite of some genuine tension present, Shimizu's supernatural thriller is an often flat lagging mystery, with a resolution that comes much too early, and then it just overstays its welcome. It's just another Asian thriller that I'll forget two weeks from now.

Have something to say about this review? Pop on over to Cinema-Lunatics
and speak your mind in our Answer Back! Forums >>