It is strange indeed how people dismiss sequels on the sheer basis of them not being 'distant' from their original! And to top it off those very same people repeat over and over that the only sequel that could surpass its original is Godfather II.
Talk about shamelessness.
Chakushin Ari 2 is a very powerful example of such cases. Even for a Miike Takashi fan such as myself, I cannot but bow to Renpei's unique entry.
Renpei Tsukamoto's style, at least here, does very much remind me of M. Night Shyamalan. It should be noted that I find it quite uneasy to endure 90 minutes of Shyamalan's viewers-are-mentally-challenged- and-my-mission-is-to- sing-them-a-lullaby 'technique', which, thank god, is not the case with Renpei. Rather, he uses Shyamalan's dream-like/fairy-tale atmosphere mixed with the harshness of classic Greek tragedies, as well as 'hidden' complex personae for his characters. Renpei also pays homage to the infamous Franco-ish nature-loving crossover, which sucks! Daira Minako provided an intriguing screenplay where each character's actions end up uncovering aims that might even contradict with what had appeared on-screen (note Ho's character as Nozoe Takako's husband). This device is taken to the extreme with the vengeful Li Li, whose reaction to others' compassion towards her past life ordeal is a merciless, cruel indifference(!), together with an utter hunger that makes her accept even replacement sacrifice.
Beautiful Mimura, with her cute accent, puts up a so-so performance, occasionally tainted by J-Horror clichés (one of them felt as if it had been ported scene by scene from Honno Gurai Mizuno Soko Kara) and the annoying turn-slowly-to-scream-at-some-ghastly-presence. The most noteworthy of all though was Yoshizawa's performance as Kyoko's boyfriend-- he could actually create something good out of a god-awful, flatly-written Hollywood-style character.
Seto Asaka (Nozoe Takako) was mediocre, while all the others were extra-ish more or less.
Plot devices taken from the original, i.e. the ring-tone and blue-skin ghost appearing in unlikely places, were used almost to the point of perfection despite the apparent excessiveness of the former.
The plot itself felt a little distracted and moved a little out of control as the Taiwan act starts; however, it soon manages to tie its knots and form a satisfying narrative. Ending was brilliant in a way, even though it clearly shows that Renpei wanted more space for his vision to be realised, and hence it is more of a cliff-hanger rather than an open ending like in the original.
Summing up, this picture is one of the most artistically-satisfying "mainstream" J-Horror titles, clearly surpassing its initial entry while introducing a Japan-made cross J-Hollywood taste to the genre.
Talk about shamelessness.
Chakushin Ari 2 is a very powerful example of such cases. Even for a Miike Takashi fan such as myself, I cannot but bow to Renpei's unique entry.
Renpei Tsukamoto's style, at least here, does very much remind me of M. Night Shyamalan. It should be noted that I find it quite uneasy to endure 90 minutes of Shyamalan's viewers-are-mentally-challenged- and-my-mission-is-to- sing-them-a-lullaby 'technique', which, thank god, is not the case with Renpei. Rather, he uses Shyamalan's dream-like/fairy-tale atmosphere mixed with the harshness of classic Greek tragedies, as well as 'hidden' complex personae for his characters. Renpei also pays homage to the infamous Franco-ish nature-loving crossover, which sucks! Daira Minako provided an intriguing screenplay where each character's actions end up uncovering aims that might even contradict with what had appeared on-screen (note Ho's character as Nozoe Takako's husband). This device is taken to the extreme with the vengeful Li Li, whose reaction to others' compassion towards her past life ordeal is a merciless, cruel indifference(!), together with an utter hunger that makes her accept even replacement sacrifice.
Beautiful Mimura, with her cute accent, puts up a so-so performance, occasionally tainted by J-Horror clichés (one of them felt as if it had been ported scene by scene from Honno Gurai Mizuno Soko Kara) and the annoying turn-slowly-to-scream-at-some-ghastly-presence. The most noteworthy of all though was Yoshizawa's performance as Kyoko's boyfriend-- he could actually create something good out of a god-awful, flatly-written Hollywood-style character.
Seto Asaka (Nozoe Takako) was mediocre, while all the others were extra-ish more or less.
Plot devices taken from the original, i.e. the ring-tone and blue-skin ghost appearing in unlikely places, were used almost to the point of perfection despite the apparent excessiveness of the former.
The plot itself felt a little distracted and moved a little out of control as the Taiwan act starts; however, it soon manages to tie its knots and form a satisfying narrative. Ending was brilliant in a way, even though it clearly shows that Renpei wanted more space for his vision to be realised, and hence it is more of a cliff-hanger rather than an open ending like in the original.
Summing up, this picture is one of the most artistically-satisfying "mainstream" J-Horror titles, clearly surpassing its initial entry while introducing a Japan-made cross J-Hollywood taste to the genre.