Water is the central symbolic image of Dark Water, so we have to ask ourselves: what does the water represent? My view is that the water symbolizes strong emotion/trauma, particularly the trauma which comes from divorce and being abandoned by or separated from a parent.

In the story, we have three young girls: Yoshimi (as a child), Mitsuko, and Ikuko [and the motif occurs again at the end when Ikuko sees another preschooler whose mom is running late]. In all…

First time watching in 16 or 17 years...wow. Time really flies. I think it's actually aged really well and I enjoyed it more than I did back in the day. Partly because I have more understanding of the lineage (Cronenbergian influence, for example). There's obviously a huge Starship Troopers influence as well, but I knew that even then because SST was one of my favorite movies as a kid. This is basically a love letter to practical effects genre film…

Similar in style and substance to Scary True Stories (1991-1992) and indeed has the same primary title: 本当にあった怖い話. Though, these are (I am assuming/reasoning) not the same series, the former being released by Japan Home Video and this one being released by Nikkatsu. On the whole, I enjoy Scary True Stories (the entire original trilogy) more than 呪死霊 (jushiryou, if my onyomi rendering is correct).

Having said that, this is a very important release for the development of J-horror. It…