Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

JoeB131 This ghost story is kind of stylish, but frankly, not very scary, which is what I've come to expect from Japanese horror films.The plot is that there's some kind of curse, or maybe multiple curses, which result in the son of a Samurai watching his wives and daughter die horribly, sometimes at his hands when he thinks he's fighting off a ghost.There are a few effective scenes, and couple that look just plain silly.But I'm never really engaged in the characters. I think the problem is the weak protagonist, whose love life is often the cause of disasters. Let's just say, it's always sad to see a guy lose his head over a woman and leave it at that. Literally.

Claudio Carvalho In the Nineteenth Century, the acupuncturist Soetsu lives with his daughters Oshiga and Osano in the Shimousa Province, Japan. He saves some money, becomes a moneylender and lends his money to the samurai Fukami. Three years later, he visits Fukami to collect his money and the samurai kills him and dumps his body in the Kasane Swamp, where bodies disappear and never return to the surface. However, before dying, Soetsu curses Fukami and the samurai goes crazy and kills his wife.Twenty-five years later, Fukami's son Shinkichi, who is a street vendor of tobacco, meets Oshiga, who is a singing teacher in Edo, and they fall in love with each other. Oshiga is older than Shinkichi and financially supports him. She becomes infamous in Edo and when her student Ohisa flirts with Shikichi, she becomes jealous and decides to give no more classes to her. Shinkichi decides to leave Oshiga and move to his homeland Hanyu with Ohisa. Oshiga has an argument with Shinkichi and he hits her face with the Bachi of her Shamisen. Oshiga has an infection in her face and dies; however, she curses Shinkichi and promises that she will haunt and take to the grave any woman that he loves. "Kaidan" is a great Japanese ghost story about deadly jealousness, curse and doomed love. This stylized slow-paced film combines romance, drama and supernatural genres with a magnificent cinematography. The romance between Oshiga and Shinkichi in Edo shows beautiful locations and the camera work uses angles and movements to show details sometimes in a corner or in another room or space. I believed that Hideo Nakata's "Kaidan" would be a remake of the 1964 Masaki Kobayashi's classic masterpiece, but they are totally different stories. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Maldição do Rio" ("The Curse of the River")

Boba_Fett1138 This movie is not at all what I expected. This really isn't an horror movie but one that is a real costume drama, with some supernatural elements in it. So you could say that it's a positive thing that this movie surprises and tries to do something original but unfortunately the end result is a very mixed bag.I can still say that I was really a fan of the movie its look and style. It's really a beautiful looking movie, that at times picks a more surreal look, which enhances the movie its atmosphere. Most of its money and efforts really went into its visuals but I had only wished they had tried to spice up the story a bit more, instead.The movie really didn't had a very engaging story in it and it seemed to be all over the place at times. It besides just isn't a very exciting story, since you're constantly waiting for something good or interesting to happen. Sometimes there does but overall it's far too little to make this movie stand out.Perhaps director Hideo Nakata was simply trying too hard, by putting in far too many different movie elements and genres together. He needs a good movie again desperately, since his last few movies haven't been received too well, though I'm sure he still has plenty of credit left with movies such as the original "Ringu" and "Honogurai mizu no soko kara" under his belt.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Scarecrow-88 I guess why I thought KAIDAN was such a worthwhile experience is that it seems like a throwback to a bygone era. It concerns Shinkichi, cursed right from birth due to his poor Samurai father's murder of an elderly farmer attempting to collect a debt owe to him. Shinkichi would later become romantically involved with the older daughter of the farmer, and this relationship would link Shinkichi to tragedy for the remainder of his life. On her death bed, his mistress informed Shinkichi that he would never be able to love another woman again..any attempts to do so results in danger for those he involved. But, Shinkichi, returning to Hanyu(..his childhood home before moving to Edo with his uncle after his father and mother's mysterious demises)with a young woman he planned to marry, his life will begin to crumble and despite attaching himself to the daughter of the richest man in the village, misery, suffering, and, eventually, death will greet him in succession.Slow-moving epic from RINGU / DARK WATER director Hideo Nakata, is actually simple in story, but grandly presented. It deals with the sins of a father passed to his son and how fate can align two together which inevitably yields future horror. And, we see how love binds two together, this union never separated even after one of them dies. No matter how hard Shinkichi tries to create a normal life for himself, his past returns to torment him. The symbolic slice on the brow above the left eye, the initial blow his father inflicted on the peaceful man who simply desired what was owe to him. It remains an indelible image passed down throughout Shinkichi's remaining pitiful existence. The mistress remains a vital part of Shinkichi's life and no matter how much he so wishes, he can not escape her presence. His daughter carries the dreaded brow mark and her eyes, always focused on Shinkichi, that he wishes to harm her, as if doing so would force away the mistress' presence. The mistress' ghost often remains close by and we see Shinkichi often stressed and anxious due to the fact that he can not rid himself of her. And, the ending, as his life spirals out of control, that the mistress will successfully retrieve what had been stolen from her in life. The river outside of Hanyu is said to devour the souls of those buried deep within and remains an important part of the movie..it is where the mistress' father was laid to rest, along with the sickle he attempted to defend himself with(..and the sickle returns to actually assist Shinkichi, while the blood-stained weapon also serves as a source of terror for him since he uses it to accidentally murder his potential bride who journeyed alongside him from Edo, defending himself against the mistress who was strangling his throat). Hideo Nakata's film is never overtly violent, mainly at the conclusion as Shinkichi defends himself against a village mob, with lighted torches, seeking his life for the unfortunate harm causes towards innocents inadvertently. I'm pretty sure the final image of a ghost holding a severed head, preciously cradled in her arms, will remain with you after the film is over.