Detective Kohei Kanzaki is investigating a series of murders; in each case the victim is a young woman and her heart has been removed. The next victim is his fiancée Mina, killed moments before their wedding. He determines that he will find and then kill the person responsible. Meanwhile Mina finds herself at the 'Gate of Retribution' in the afterlife. She is told that because of how she died she has three choices... ascend to paradise before being reincarnated; return to earth as a ghost or torment and kill the person responsible, at the cost of going to hell afterwards. She has twelve days to decide during which her ghost can return to Earth. While her husband uses more conventional methods to identify the killer she quickly learns the identity and motive of the killer but has no obvious way of telling anybody living. Ultimately both Kohei and Mina will have to face her killer to prevent his supernatural plans coming into effect.
From the artwork and description on the DVD cover I expected lots of blood-splattered action but it isn't that sort of film at all. In fact its genre is rather hard to define. There are action elements, including some fine, highly choreographed sword fights; there are also elements of the police procedural as Kohei investigates the killings. There is also the supernatural element; this is well set up with an interesting mythology concerning the choices offered to the dead and the Gate Keeper. We also get a surprising degree of emotional content; not just that involving Mina and Kohei; the killer also has an understandable motivate for his unjustifiable acts. The cast does a solid job and director Ryuhei Kitamura gives the film a fine look. Overall I'd recommend this even though it wasn't quite the film I was expecting.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.
From the artwork and description on the DVD cover I expected lots of blood-splattered action but it isn't that sort of film at all. In fact its genre is rather hard to define. There are action elements, including some fine, highly choreographed sword fights; there are also elements of the police procedural as Kohei investigates the killings. There is also the supernatural element; this is well set up with an interesting mythology concerning the choices offered to the dead and the Gate Keeper. We also get a surprising degree of emotional content; not just that involving Mina and Kohei; the killer also has an understandable motivate for his unjustifiable acts. The cast does a solid job and director Ryuhei Kitamura gives the film a fine look. Overall I'd recommend this even though it wasn't quite the film I was expecting.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.