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Lieutenant Keiko Kirishima is a new transplant to field work, transferred by her own request from the National Police Agency where she worked mainly from behind a desk on organized crime and corruption cases. In an effort to prove something to herself, more than anyone else, Keiko soon finds herself jumping straight into the deep end when she is assigned to a grisly suicide case. Startled by the gruesomeness that she finds herself unprepared for, the case soon becomes a badge of honor for Keiko; to prove she can tough her way through this one would be to prove herself to her new peers. Soon, however, more bodies start to show up, each one a victim to an apparent suicide, and each one more violent and grotesque than the last. The only thread binding all of these deaths together is the fact that each death immediately followed a call to an entry named “O” in the victim’s cell phone. Soon the police are convinced that there is someone on the other line who has the ability to hypnotize or otherwise convince people who call to kill themselves. The weird thing is…they all kill themselves while in a dream state. Soon, Keiko and her team are forced to call on the Akumu Tantei, The Nightmare Detective; a young man who has the ability to enter other people’s dreams and interact with them there. Emotionally ravaged by his gift, which he sees as a curse, this troubled man will not be easily convinced to help the police, and frankly, it will be a miracle if he doesn’t kill himself long before he can be of any help…just to end his pain and torment. Nightmare Detective comes off as one part Nightmare on Elm Street, one part The Cell and loosely peppered with flavors of Dreamscape. Unfortunately, it lacks the linear vision of any of those three films. Chock full of the iconography that has become so familiar in Japanese horror cinema that it is starting to be a parody of itself, Nightmare Detective is full of the “technology turns terrifying” stuff that has turned every camera, computer, and cell phone in Nippon into a menacing evil just waiting to spill out long black hair or gallons of water. Honestly, it is all getting a little tiring at this point. While Nightmare Detective manages to combine these clichés with a few pieces of Western trite thrown in (such as the high speed spooky head spasm business at the beginning) and as such, never truly feels like it is accomplishing either style very well. Of course, there are so many die hard fans of Tsukamoto’s genius (and trust me, he IS capable of it) that they will defend this near miss as “defining his own style”. One of the unfortunate side effects of being so talented…you’ll never get another unbiased review in your life! There are a few things I do appreciate in Nightmare Detective. First, the fact that Tsukamoto is working on introducing a much needed element into Japanese horror…the “unseen” threat. For years in Japanese horror, seeing something terrifying has been enough to induce fright and panic…just watch that YouTube video of the girls from Morning Musume watching Ringu and you’ll see what I mean. But in a Western world, where we have already seen just about everything you can put on film (both fictional AND real life), sometimes a creepy girl with hair in her face just isn’t going to cut it. As Western cinema continues to influence and be wildly embraced, soon J-horror is going to need to start modifying to keep its terror. Unfortunate, however, as their films have a tendency to be so much more artistic and stylistic…but necessary all the same. The second thing I applaud here is the introduction of slasher style gore (complete with prominent butcher knife mayhem!) into the supernatural realm of psychological horror that Japanese directors do so well. More traditional J-horror filmmaking then say Takashi Miike’s perverted, deviant and often overrated mind-freak cinema rarely gets the good gore treatment, but rest assured that there is going to be some serious splatter and spray in Nightmare Detective. The close-ups of a victim plunging a box-knife into his spurting throat over and over again are reason enough for this DVD to continue residing on my shelf. Despite the intense and graphic violence, it is obvious here that Tsukamoto is obviously attempting to expand his horizons; perhaps even to more mainstream projects, as it has been announced that Nightmare Detective is meant to be part of a trilogy…the second film already being in production. Lucky for all involved, pop-star Hitomi (who plays Keiko) has declined the invitation to reprise her role. I am sure this comes as sweet relief for those who simply cannot tolerate any more close up tight shots of her face…complete with her blank stare…apparently the only facial expression she has the acting chops to summon from within herself. Speaking of the acting, I am quite sure that this entire affair could have been made a lot more bearable had any character in the film not been written to be dreary. There is enough moody depression going on in this flick to populate a hundred funerals…only without the moving emotional authenticity of true mourners. While only running at an hour and forty-seven minutes, it feels SO much longer when you are wading through bleak and colorless scenes filled with bleak and colorless actors, all the time waiting for the next does of blood and guts to keep you awake. I can’t even say for certain that the acting was as bad as it seemed (except for Hitomi’s!), simply because everything was styled to be so devoid of range. I wanted to like Nightmare Detective…I really did. And to be honest, I didn’t really dislike it totally. Shave twenty minutes off the run time, drop in a new female lead, cut all the artistic and arrogant philosophy out of what should just be a supernatural thriller and this film could have been really great. Unfortunately, trying to make another Suicide Club with a new and clever dream-state twist just isn’t cutting it here. Truly a new breed in Japanese horror, Nightmare Detective is helping usher in a more rounded genre of horror. It is a shame though, that it may also be the ushering in the mediocrity of Shinya Tsukamoto, a true cinematic legend. -aaron-
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