Marebito - Takashi Shimizu

This movie is ever so confusing in its purpose, and its delivery tends to suffer for it. Watching this film was the result of the nasty habit I often have of just looking at the cover and not reading the back. Having recently finished the Ringu series, I tend to assume that the Japanese horror genre will never disappoint me (with the exception of the original Ringu, the hours I spent watching the sequels and prequels are hours that I will never get back), and, I admit, Marebito made an ass out of me. It is not all bad, there is just no consistent coherence between the scenes and everything appears rushed. Have looked it up on The Internet Movie Database (an excellent site by the way!), it says that Marebito was shot in eight days between filming Ju-on and The Grudge, its laughable counterpart, so now we know that filming three movies within a short span is often self-destructive (even Miike's output of three films a year is starting to affect his genius) and Marebito is a product of that destruction. It is a real shame because I really enjoyed the story as well as the 'reality' feel one gets through the eyes of the protagonists camera, yet is falls apart after while becoming more and more disjointed. The premise has so much going for it, and the ending was one that I did not expect, but in hindsight I should have left the movie on the video store shelf.