Another - Film Review

            One of my favorite film genres is the classic Japanese horror flick. I can easily have my mind escape into this foreign world. This is exactly what I was prepared for when I took a chair in Palais C for the market screening of Takeshi Furusawa’s “Another.”

            Set in the 1990s, our protagonist Koichi (Kento Yamazaki) recently moved into a new town and transferred to a new school. Koichi’s assigned classroom is number 3-3. There is a reputation about classroom 3-3, though. A beloved classmate died more than 30 years ago, and to remember her, the class came up with the idea to have a porcelain doll sit in her seat. Logical, right? The students would pretend that the doll was alive and would continue to talk to it. The teacher even encouraged everyone to say goodbye to the doll before going home after school.

            After awhile, students began to not notice the doll anymore. This triggers a series of actions, very similar to “Final Destination”, where no matter where you are, you are going to die. Accidental deaths became very common in this Japanese town. So common, that people do not take notice anymore for any one particular person.

            Fortunately, one man did: the librarian. He discovered that if the class of 3-3 unanimously votes to ignore one student for an entire year, the curse would be lifted and no deaths would happen. Ignore means that they can’t look at, talk to, or even mention the chosen pupil.

            When Koichi arrived at the school, his classmates fail to inform him that there is a student that he needs to ignore. He missed the first couple weeks of classes because of a lung infection, thus missing the “ignoring” ceremony. It goes against the rules for the students to tell Koichi that there was in fact someone he should not be talking to.

            This is when Koichi starts seeing visions of a girl. Specifically, a girl with an eye-patch. Koichi continuously gets his students’ attention, and points at the girl, but no one notices. One day, he was able to reach the girl, and ask for her name. She is Mei (Ai Hashimoto).

            Koichi begins to ask all these questions, and she tries to answer them. Mei informs him that he shouldn’t be talking to her. This prompts the series of unfortunate events. A student notices the two talking and runs toward Koichi. The students then slips on some inconveniently placed water and then into an as equally inconveniently placed umbrella handle that slides right into her head. The student’s remaining words to Koichi were “why?”

            The students of 3-3 all hear the commotion and run to the scene. They notice Koichi with Mei: a horrible sign. The students then hold another ignoring ceremony, only this time voting on Koichi.

            Koichi arrives the next day in class, and sits in his usual seat. That is when he noticed that no one was interacting with him. He sees Mei in the hallway, and leaves with her. Koichi begins to ask Mei more questions, like why she has an eye-patch. The eye-patch, which the audience thinks is the source of all evil in the film, actually is just Mei’s insecurity over an eye-color birth defect.

            They stroll around town for a little bit, providing insight into the cursed doll that lives in the school, as well as the librarian who has put together most of the mystery as to why the doll kills. The librarian says that there is someone in the school currently who has a “spirit” that leaches its power from everyone.

            The next day at school, the principal decides that there needs to be a class field trip to have the students’ minds forget about all the deaths that have occurred. How fitting for the class of 3-3 to go into the middle of the woods and take lodge in an abandoned building. The deaths start to intensify as the most absurd occurrences happen.

            One student died from a tree impaling him in the head. Another student bled to death from his hand being cut off from a knife in the kitchen. Even some students died from just leaning too far over the railings in the stairways. Now the class is going insane and the rumor gets out that one of them has the “spirit” that has been haunting them.

            Now rather than accidental deaths, students start killing each other to rid the spirit once and for all. Now it turns out that Mei has a gift with the birth defect after all. She can see the “spirit” in people’s souls. Koichi and Mei begin to run around, looking at everyone. Mei sees that a teacher is in fact the bearer of the “spirit”; and the bearer happens to be Koichi’s aunt.

            As the aunt begins to explain why she shouldn't be killed, the librarian comes out from the corner and throws her into the fire that was started earlier by homicidal students. The curse has been broken!

            But not so fast! Just like any horror flick, there needs to be a build up to a potential sequel. So when everyone returns (and when I say everyone, I mean the remaining 10 students who didn’t die) to class, the doll is sitting in her seat. The students, including Koichi and Mei, look at each other, and then cut to the credits!

            While I would have wished for more killings from a more “alien object”, “Another” had a mediocre cast that was actually lifted by Kento Yamazaki’s performance. Though this movie won’t be as good as “The Ring” and “The Grudge” predecessors, it will definitely be campy enough for people to enjoy a night of horror.

Written by Sachiko Tanaka, Yukito Ayatsuji, Takeshi Furusawa; directed by Takeshi Kurusawa; produced by Takeshi Kurusawa; WITH: Kento Yamazaki and Ai Hashimoto

Running time: 90 minutes