Shikoku (1999)

 

Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayuri, died several years ago and that Sayuri's mother, who used to perform seances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief.

Although this movie offers some visually good settings, it does disappoint as a rather formulaic horror flick with hardly any genuine scares.

 

 

Shin Gojira (2016)

Japan is plunged into chaos upon the appearance of a giant monster.

Likeable resurgence of the original Godzilla monster successfully combines old-fashioned and modern digital effects, but is quite talkative and without much of a focus on a central cast.

On rewatching: indeed quite talkative, but the monster scenes are grand.

Shin Gojira (2016)

Japan is plunged into chaos upon the appearance of a giant monster.

Likeable resurgence of the original Godzilla monster successfully combines old-fashioned and modern digital effects, but is quite talkative and without much of a focus on a central cast.

Akumu tantei (2006)

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares.

Something like a Japanese A Nighmare on Elm Street, so it's a more mature cast and setting, but a more incoherent plot; the movie is marked by the director's visual inventiveness and darkness, but he has made better efforts.