20131026: Horror Review--The Shock Labyrinth

The Shock Labyrinth (Senritsu meikyû)

1. Production Fundamentals; reception
1. Japanese live action feature length film, 2009, NR, 88 minutes, spoken language is Japanese; English subtitles.
2. IMDB: 4.0/10.0 from 493 users. Aspect: 1.85
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' and 17% liked it from 113 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.7/5.0 from 13,591 audience ratings.
5. Directed by Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on, remade as The Grudge for the USA); screenplay by Daisuke Hosaka.
6. Starring: Ai Maeda as Rin Takeshima, Yuya Yagira as Ken, Misako Renbutsu as Yuki Toyama, Erina Mizuno as Miyu Toyama, Ryo Katsuji as Motoki.


2. Setup, Plot
1. From the opening scene, one gets a brick in the face: this film is loaded with supernatural nonsense.  A stuffed rabbit floats through the air, seemingly of its own accord; the rabbit can proceed effortlessly through solid walls, plural.


2. Rin, Ken, Yuki, Miyu, and Motoki were at an amusement park when they were young, in particular in a mostly dark labyrinth.  Something bad happened there.  In the present, Rin is blind, Yuki is presumed dead.  However, Yuki shows up at Rin's door.  Rin calls Ken and Motoki.  It does seem to be Yuki; she claims she's been in a hospital for all these years.  They find Yuki's younger sister Miyu at the old family home.  While the group was talking, Yuki bolts up to her old room; there they see the stuffed rabbit that was with them in the labyrinth.  The rabbit shows a few supernatural signs, and Yuki bolts out again, this time to fall down the stairs.  The group takes Yuki to the hospital.


3. Sigh.  Twenty minutes in.


4. The rest of the film is about getting to a doctor; well, at least at first.  The teenagers confront all sorts of obstacles after they arrive at the hospital.  Where are the nurses?  Where are the doctors?  Where are the emergency staff, and so on?  Then Yuki runs away and they cannot find her.  What trauma dramas do they need to resolve before they leave this shared nightmare?


5. That is what the last 68 of 88 minutes is about. Layer upon layer upon layer of hallucinatory experiences are dumped on the four teens.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Teens confront abandoning their friend in a haunted labyrinth.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 0/10 In the second scene, the Blair Witch bovine scatology starts. Why the director chooses to go back and forth between trash and splendor (10% of the film is absolutely beautiful) in the visuals is not clear.  The credits and subtitles all look fine and professional.  It is unfortunate that they have to be conjoined to the wretched camera work. 


2. Sound: 10/10 As good as the visuals are bad; creepy and atmospheric.


3. Acting: 8/10 Reasonably good.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 This is a 10 minute short.  Why drag it out to 88 minutes? The endless repeated flashbacks do not add anything except irritation.


5. Special Effects: 8/10 This is a mixed bag, but more often than not, the SFX look fine.