-Overview-

A late-night television hostess who invites viewers to submit heir home movies to be played on her program receives a videotape in which a woman resembling herself is bound and tortured by an unseen madman. Recognizing the location in which the footage was shot- an abandoned U.S. military base- she gathers her crew and goes in search of answers, desperate for a serious news story that will propel her to the journalistic status that she feels she has been unfairly denied. Predictably, the members of the crew become separated and are picked off one at a time by a sadistic killer lurking in the shadows.

The beginning of this movie with the videotape reminded me of two other Asian horror films, Ringu and Guinea Pig: Flowers
of Flesh and Blood, though I'm not sure if this was intentional. The story seemed rather nonsensical and even silly at times. These characters are all quite dense in that classic horror-movie-victim way, and so it's hard to feel sympathetic towards any of them. Several of the murders were very imaginative and intense- one elaborate murder scene was later appropriated by the American thriller Joy Ride. The killer's disguise resembled that of the killer in The Prowler, though this was perhaps coincidental. The ending went a bit long- too many false stop-and-go's- and, while inventive, was inherently ludicrous.

I give this a marginal thumbs-up.

-Sound-

Dolby Digital Mono

-Picture-

Digitally Mastered Widescreen Transfer.
Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1.

-Special Features-

- Japanese language edition with removable English subtitles.
- Audio commentary by director Toshiharu Ikeda and SPFX
Manager Shinichi Wakasa (tried watching it and their poor
English and thick accents render it almost indecipherable).

-Packaging-