Now available from Arrow Video
A woman who has forgotten her traumatic experience in high school is thrown back into it when a new string of killings starts happening.
Based on the manga by Junji Ito and written and directed by Ataru Oikawa, this late 1990s entry in the J-Horror genre is one that has all the classic elements including girls in peril, the long-haired ghost/being/monster, the mystery that must be unraveled, and the central final girl being a bit lost at times. Here the story is taken from Ito’s work, and it does make a difference in terms of the story being a bit more interesting. The film adaptation here does work but it also has some issues in that it has disturbing elements. Back in 1998 it was more original in terms of story than it is now for those seeing it for the first time after seeing many other J-Horror films. However, the ideas here are interesting and give the viewer a good idea of what J-Horror was back then and where it was about to go. The film here is one that has historical importance while giving some chills but no full-on fright. And for those who do not know, there are many sequels here, so the open ending is to be expected.
The cast here works mostly well, with Mami Nakamura as Tsukiko being the central and best performance of the bunch, followed by the ever slightly off (likely on purpose) performance by Miho Kanno as the titular character. The two of them create a world of their own, one that pulls the viewer in and keeps them interested throughout. They both show an interest in the material and one in scaring the public (even though the scares won’t work on everyone here). They have a good amount of back and forth near the end and the fear one brings to her performance while the other goes for subtly unhinged works great even when the script has issues. The rest of the cast here is a bit uneven with a few performances being eye-rollingly bad at times. Thankfully, the bad performances do not get much screen time so it’s easy to move on from them and onto the better ones.
Tomie plays with themes of revenge, trauma, legacy, and being remembered, giving the viewer much more than just the usual weirdness and scares. While the scares are light for horror fans, they should work better for those who watch horror casually. A few odd choices made here and there in the film add good and weird to everything here, including that truly odd choice of an ending song. While any adaptation of Junji Ito’s work is a good thing to watch, the film is low on scares while giving more young women drama and trauma than anything else.
This new release by Arrow Video is the first time this film sees a Blu-ray release in the United States and comes with good extras including a new interview with director Ataru Oikawa, a new interview with Mami Nakamura, a solid HD presentation, and a new audio commentary by Amber T.