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Reincarnation aka Rinne
Running time: 96 minutes
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Nagisa Sugiura
IMDB rating: 6.2
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456630/
It could be argued that there are only 2 types of Japanese horror film: The type that has you thinking "WTF?" throughout, but where everything ends up making sense in the end, and the type that has you thinking "WTF?" throughout, and leaves you thinking that even after the credits roll.
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh with that assessment, and on the bright side this falls into the first category, which is a good thing.
The film starts with a man driving a truck and accidently running someone over. He gets out to try and help the guy, and ends up being surrounded by spooky figures. This isn't explained or referenced at any point in the next 45+ or more.
The main characters are Yuka, an aspiring actress, and Vanilla Fudge Ponytail. Actually that wasn't her real name, but she had a ponytail and it said 'VANILLA FUDGE' on her T-shirt. The ponytail girl was better looking, if you were wondering.
Yuka gets a part in a film which is based upon a massacre that took part several years beforehand, and she starts to have flashbacks/delusions (we're not sure which at first) that convince her that she was one of the victims in a past life. Vanilla Fudge Ponytail is a student who also believes in reincarnation, and is introduced to Yuka due to their common interest.
The film was decent and held my interest for the first hour or so. After that though, it moves towards its conclusion, which leads to an overly long final part in which a girl is stalked and strange things happen. This goes on for about 20 minutes, maybe more, and felt pretty tedious by the time it reached the end.
If you're looking for a J-horror film to watch, this wouldn't be the worst place to start, but the genre has several better offerings than this.
6/10