Rinne

Plot synopsis:
35 years ago, a college professor named Norihasa Omori (Atsushi Haruta) visits a local hotel and films himself killing 11 of the hotel guests, employees, his own children and himself committing suicide as a part of his wish to understand reincarnation. Since then, the footage of the murders disappears.In the present day, horror movie director, Ikuo Matsumura (Kippei Shiina), decides to make a film about the massacre. As the date of the shoot draws near, Nagisa Sugiura (Yka), the actress who is set to star as Professor Omori's daughter Chisato (Mao Sasaki), is haunted by the ghosts of the victims. She begins to hallucinate as she is plagued by nightmares of the killings.Yayoi Kinoshita (Karina Nose) wakes up in the middle of a psychology class, in which the professor publicly opposes the ideas of reincarnation and "cryptomnesia". She decides to write an essay supporting cryptomnesia and meets Yuka Morita (Marika Matsumoto), who was shown auditioning at the beginning of the movie. Yuka says she remembers things in a "past life" of hers and reveals a mark that would appear to be evidence of strangling on her neck, which reveals that she has the same vision as Nagisa, but that "had been there since [she] was born."[2] Yayoi and Yuka check out the college library, but mysterious forces drag Yuka away.Meanwhile, Nagisa begins to believe that she is the reincarnation of Chisato Omori. However, during another hallucination, she discovers Yayoi Kinoshita in the cubby where the little girl was slain. Realizing that she is not the real reincarnation of Chisato, Nagisa witnesses the actors (who are appearing as their reincarnations, which they were to portray) being drawn back to the places where they died. With all the victims walking towards her, Nagisa then becomes aware of the truth: that she is the reincarnation of the homicidal professor. Pursued by the ghosts, Nagisa is forced to reenact the professor's suicide, but survives.Sometime later, in a mental ward, Nagisa - bound in a full-body wrap - is still haunted by the souls of her previous incarnation's children. Ayumi Omori (Miki Sanjo), the professor's wife, gives Nagisa her children's favourite toys (which is a ball and a doll). Nagisa screams as they are shoved into her solitary confinement cell, but calms down with a sinister smile on her face as the ghosts of the children close in on her.

Tags: revenge, haunting, flashback

Review:
Wasn't I surprised when I realized  after seeing the film  that it's pretty damn good.I'll keep things vague, so as to not spoil anything for those who haven't seen it yet.
Just when I thought I had the next scene figured out, Takashi Shimizu would pull the rug from beneath my feet and turn the film in another direction.I think that the reasoning behind some negative reactions to Reincarnation is the fact that it was marketed ineffectively.
The movie follows Nagisa, a Japanese actress who gets the part in a horror movie that is based on a real murder spree that took place in a large hotel forty-some years ago.
Her visions intensify when the film's director takes the cast to the real hotel where the actual murders happened, for inspiration.
She may find out the answer very soon...I haven't seen a lot of Asian horror, I saw part of the original "Ju-On", and I've seen the remakes of those films, but that was about it.
"Reincarnation", or "Rinne" in it's original language, is a solid supernatural horror film that rose far above my expectations.
I was surprised and creeped out by the way the entire thing came to a close.Overall, "Reincarnation" is a really good supernatural horror film.
It challenges you because Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on and The Grudge and sequels) has put together something different with characters and actions moving back and forth through filming and the actual location of horror, and you never really know where you are at any time.It is a heavy horror film that has less blood, but more challenge..
Reincarnation takes a philosophical concept, superimposes it on actors filming a movie and creeps them and the audience for a heart thumping and mind boggling experience...
A young actress is drawn to her role in a horror film and also to a hotel from her dreams: a hotel where eleven people were murdered before she was born.
Second, the story is pretty simple and might have been better as an hour-long episode of something like "Masters of Horror" (though by no means am I suggesting it was unworthy of being a film).
There is also something ironic about how the actress is told the director in the film will want lots of blood and gore, while the film we were watching had relatively little (and compared to some of the Japanese films I've seen I thought this was about as tame as you can get).The film also offers a great bait-and-switch I cannot reveal.
Reincarnation was a reminiscent of The Shining with the whole haunted hotel and spooky kids thing going on.Reincarnation was less horror and more a supernatural thriller packed with suspense and intelligence.
The film start off with a basic horror movie feel, and for the first part Reincarnation feels like an average movie this unfolds and takes on a different pace as the movie carries on, ending with a very unexpected conclusion.
The movie starts off with different people encountering ghosts, but giving no explanation on it.Through Reincarnation Shimizu seems to be leaning towards the psychological thriller genre.
If you like Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," then you'll definitely love this film as it has similar creepy scenes of a hotel with little kids running around in it as well as visitors getting possessed by former guests at the hotel.
The plot is very difficult to follow but it involves a film crew making a movie depicting the events of a murder.
Well, this one gets pretty close."Reincarnation" is about a young actress who is cast in a horror film, based on a "true story".
The problem is that the story was about a mass-murderer on a killing spree in a hotel.Early on in the film, we get the feeling that the main character has been there before.
This film stands out from the rest of its genre with a truly inspired third act.There's gore, but just enough, the tension lies in the double-world that the main character lives in, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.Highly recommended, specially for those tired of "Asian horror flicks" standard and predictable formulas.8/10.
The Japanese film industry has built up a strong reputation for its chilling horror movies, and many of them have been remade by Hollywood studios whose philosophy goes something like: "Why create something new when so much good stuff has already been made!?" The Ring, The Grudge, and Darkwater are just three examples of Japanese horror films that have been adapted for that Western English speaking market who would otherwise be unable to enjoy the originals.
Reading subtitles can be tough.Reincarnation has the same foreboding atmosphere as the previously mentioned movies: it's a slow-burning, thought-provoking, piece of supernatural horror.
Camera angles, sets, location, & sound play big roles in creating the eeriness & suspense.If you enjoy Asian horror, but are tired of the 'ghost who won't leave a person alone in the house' theme, give this one a try..
I've never seen his other stuff but I guess he was at the helm fro the ground-breaking "The Grudge." This one is about the filming of a movie based on a mass killing/suicide done at a hotel.
The chills are done in the context of the story which makes the movie interesting, instead of it just being a slasher film like American audiences are used to.
A few of the scenes were a bit lame, but to reveal them would spoil the movie so just leave it at: I recommend this for anyone in to psychological thrillers with a bit of horror and violence twisted in.
Really all I have to say with this one is it is on par with all other J-Horror movies and may be slightly better at times.The story deals with the murders that occurred at a hotel back in the 70's and a man who murdered his family (save for his wife) and several patrons and employees at the hotel.
I really wanted to like this movie more but several loose ends are not tied together in the end (as with a lot of J-Horror) and it really takes this from a mildly entertaining film to a middle of the road time waster for this moviegoer.In conclusion if you like J-Horror and its kind there is no question you should check this out as it will deliver for most of you out there.
Reincarnation won't be what you're expecting because Shimizu spins this psychological suspense film by using what we as an audience know about him against us.Just when you think you pretty much think that you have a strong handle on what's going on ...
ANd that makes the whole Reincarnation experience worthwhile.Horror fans may be disappointed by the fact that this movie is more about story-telling than gore.
It's a very simple way of horror film-making; just throw in a whole bunch of scary moments and make the movie mysterious but don't worry having to explain any of it.
There were some decent ghost scene but none of them were really that creepy.Until that doll/girl ghost, that scene was very creepy, if I saw that in real life , I would have pi""ed my pants (laugh Out Loud).That stuff belongs in nightmares, that is one my favourite horror scenes.I liked how the plot came to end , even though I knew when the story was leading.I going to give it a 9 out of 10.
"Rinne" (aka "Reincarnation") was a refreshing change of pace in the Japanese horror genre, that was otherwise flooded with these stereotypical ghostly women in white dresses and with black hair covering their faces.The story in "Rinne" is about young actress Nagisa Sugiura (played by Yûka) who is hired to play the lead role in a movie about a horrible tragedy where 11 people were murdered at a hotel.
Although this is a horror movie, the movie doesn't really play on scaring and spooking the audience; it is more of a suspense and thrilling story, one that slowly seeps in and broods, and then takes a twist towards the very end.The people hired for the various roles in the movie were also doing good jobs with their given characters.If you enjoy Asian horror cinema, and have had a bit too much of the stereotypical ghosts, then perhaps give "Rinne" a chance.
With GRUDGE director Takashi Shimizu at the helm, viewers have every right to expect a treat, but this is a film that offers more of the same than anything remotely new.While I appreciate some of the directions that the storyline takes, for the most part REINCARNATION plays it safe.
Come the umpteenth twist at the end, I was feeling a little weary.The scare sequences are highly familiar to anyone with the slightest experience of watching Asian horror, Japanese in particular.
This movie is highly recommended for one who wants to watch a more unique film.
"Reincarnation" is a severely engrossing but not entirely exciting entry.**SPOILERS**Returning from an audition, Nagisa Sugiura, (Yuka) learns from her agent Tadashi Murakawa, (Tetta Sugimoto) that she has landed a part in director Ikuo Matsumura, (Kippei Shiina) new film about a real-life murder case in Japan.
Arriving on the set to start shooting, she begins to have strange feelings of deja-vu over the project, and eventually starts to think that she has actually experienced reincarnation over one of the guests in real life, the character she's actually playing in the movie.
Other good scenes include the fantastic moment in the beginning where she alone keeps feeling like ghosts are walking through the abandoned hotel behind her, and turns to look at each of the three levels merely moments too late to have her prediction come true, a ghost disappearing from view just a split-second before she can see them, and the long, single take is what makes it feel really creepy.
Otherwise, the confusing end is the film's only flaw.The Final Verdict: With a lot to really like about it and only a couple of minor flaws, this one manages to score very highly and comes off as really great.
It's very different from the previous films and that made it interesting and more sophisticated to me.The great challenge moviegoers will have with this film is that it is not a typical scary horror movie.
Japanese director Takashi Shimizu has done it again with his newest horror film Rinne or Reincarnation in English.
She is chosen to play the lead role in a horror film that is re-telling the story of a mass murder that took place in a hotel some many years prior.
The movie that is being made within the film is re-telling the story of a professor who goes on a killing spree in a hotel.
I consider myself retired from modern Asian ghost films after having been stung by the likes of The Grudge, The Ring, The Eye, A Tale of Two Sisters etc...but I decided to give this one a chance anyway because it was a part of the Eight Films to Die For series (which I've been slowly making my way through) and because the plot sounded rather interesting.
It's not long before the actress begins to be haunted by the malevolent ghosts killed at the hotel.The film is very slow and takes a while to get going.
Once it does finally get going (over halfway through the film), things do get a little more interesting and director Takashi Shimizu (who directed The Grudge, its sequels and remakes) even manages some really creepy sequences; one taking place in a library is the best, but the ending is rather well done too.
"Rinne" tells the story of the filming of an horror movie, but also of of the murders that occurred in a Shinning-like hostel thirty years ago, or of an actress who's too involved in her part.
There's maybe way too much to tell to find coherency in all that, and what the movie wins in abstract fear, it loses in unity.But if Takashi Shimisu fails to tell us a linear story, he archives to make us fell the deep fear of his characters : some scenes are incredibly frightened and beautifully directed (especially the ones with the ghost-father and his creepy camera-eyes).
For me, this film spilled the goods far too early.The moment the second girl with memories of the hotel is introduced, you're left to ponder if the little girl was reincarnated twice or if the main character in this film is, in fact, the killer.
Ghost stories always bug me a little if I think too hard about what possible motivation the ghosts have for acting like jerks all the time, but it takes the cake in this movie.
This movie, Rinne, also known as Reincarnation, is truly a psychological horror.
As the story progresses, she's hired to act in a horror film that is based on a true story, where a crazy professor has killed eleven people in a hotel.
The actress Nagisa Sugiura (Yûka) is selected for the cast of a horror movie about a professor called Norihasa Omori (Atsushi Haruta) that killed eleven people, including his family, guests and staff in the Ono Kanko Hotel thirty-five years ago, to prove his theory that people's souls are reincarnated after death.
Some years later, a horror movie director decides to make a film about the massacre.
That is, until she goes to the place where the young girl was killed and finds someone else there instead...The thing I like best about Japanese horror is the sense of atmosphere.
With this in mind, Reincarnation (2005) is really one of the best "J-horror" films I've experienced so far, which is probably to be expected given the fact that it comes from the esteemed producer of The Ring (1998) and the highly acclaimed writer/director of The Grudge (2000).
Alongside this set up we also have further allusions to Stanley Kubrick's watershed ghost story The Shining (1980), with the use of the old abandoned hotel acting as the central focal point; but with an added texture given to the proceedings with the notion of a film crew capturing the action; creating something of a film within a film motif.This is something that director Takashi Shimizu developed with the original Japanese version of Ju On: The Grudge 2 (2003), which also involved the supernatural goings on that occur during the shooting of a film about a horrific murder.
There is a also a great deal of doubling going on here; doubling of character and events that we would expect from a film that deals with spirits and reincarnation, as well as more psychological ideas about paranoia, insanity, fear, etc.Like all the great Asian horror films, or any great horror film in general for that matter, it is the story that pulls us in, but the great use of atmosphere that keeps us enthralled until the very end.
The scene in Ju On: The Grudge, in which the wife crawls down the stairs with that truly horrific look of torture in her eyes is one of the defining horror moments of this decade for me, and Reincarnation comes incredibly close to topping that with a truly intense final thirty-minutes; in which the character's back stories are revealed and retribution dealt out!
For me though, Reincarnation is probably the best of the bunch, with Shimizu creating a fine little horror film with a cool Kubrickian approach to direction and mise-en-scene, and a slow building and genuinely quite creepy atmosphere of dread and uncertainty.If you're already fond of Asian supernatural cinema, from classics like Kwaidan (1964), The Face of Another (1966) and Kuroneko (1968), right the way through to recent hallmarks such as The Ring trilogy, Dark Water, The Grudge/The Curse series, The Eye trilogy, The Quiet Family (1998) and a Tale of Two Sisters (2003), then Reincarnation is one film that is well worth checking out..
"REINCARNATION", another Japanese horror flick by the director of "THE GRUDGE".
These restless spirits begin to appear when she signs on to star in a horror film which tells the true story about a crazed, local professor whose murderous rampage at a hotel left 11 guests dead, including his young son and daughter.
The director of the film is making the movie at the actual hotel where the murders happened, so it's not long before Nagisa starts to witness them more and more.Rinne (Reincarnation) isn't actually that bad of a movie.
I know a film can't be just full of scenes like that, but you can't help wishing that it had more to make it that much more gripping.There are some elements that reminded me of Ju-on (which was a much better film), but considering the director of that movie and this are the same, doesn't surprise me.Overall, it's not too bad of a movie to watch, especially if you like pretty creepy Japanese horror films, but there are better ones out there..
While this movie has a few jump moments and some truly creepy ghost moments, it's more of a psychological, supernatural thriller than a haunted house film.A young woman is starting out on a career as an actress.
The film gets somewhat confused and esoteric at times, especially in the first five or so minutes, but when it gets down to business just watch out!Making a horror/suspense film about a bloody massacre that took place back in 1970 at the now abandoned Ono Kanko Hotel outside of Tokyo top Japanese movie director Ikuo Matsumura, Kippei Shiina, cast actress Nagisa Sugiora, Yuka, in the leading role.
Reincarnation takes the cake for this year's most rewarding horror film.
Reincarnation was not the scariest horror film I have ever seen, but it might be one of the bloodiest.
Having never seen a Japanese horror film before watching Reincarnation, I can honestly say that I would forget about seeing American horror movies if I knew all Japanese films were as good as Reincarnation.
If your going to see anyone of the 8 movies featured in this years horror Fest, make Reincarnation it..