Tomie

Horrorphile

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Tomie

August 6th 2008 06:25

Tomie (1999) is the first in a series of movies centred round a rather nasty young lady who goes by the titular name of Tomie (Miho Kanno). Loosely adapted from a Manga comic by popular artist Ito Junji and screen-written and directed by Atura Oikawa it’s a rather unassuming (bordering dangerously on mediocre) demon-ghost tale that somehow slowly burns its way onto your retina and sears into your mind’s eye.

Budding photographer and student Tsukiko (Nakamura Mani) is receiving hypnotherapy to help her deal with amnesia and a potentially traumatic incident buried deep in her psyche. Meanwhile a detective, Harada (Tomorowo Taguchi), is pursuing a series of murders and finds himself always one step behind the mysterious and elusive killer.

Nakamura Mani as Tsukiko

Eventually Tsukiko comes to the realisation that there is a supernatural force at work that is steadily embroiling her deeper and darker into its demonic void. It is Tomie, and Tomie is not happy, although she likes to laugh and grin and she manipulates people into murdering for her. Tomie is dead-set on revenge, and Tsukiko and her new boyfriend are caught in the middle of Tomie’s quiet storm.

Miho Kanno as Tomie

While watching Tomie I couldn’t help but be reminded of another couple of evil ghost tales from Japan, and ones which are creepier and scarier; Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge. However Tomie is not an entirely ineffective movie. On the contrary it is very atmospheric and it utilises music and sound superbly, especially the re-occuring theme music: a trip-hop track called Bobby’s Song by World Famous (a piece that brings to mind the work of Goblin and in turn brings to mind the supernatural terror of Dario Argento’s movies).

Tsukiko probes a photo of Tomie

Tomie isn’t especially horrifying, but there are numerous images that stick firmly in the mind; Tomie’s hand bursting from the blood-filled photographic developing tray, Tomie’s demonic eyes glinting in the darkness. But director Oikawa is careful not to show us Tomie’s unusually striking face (not especially pretty, but she definitely has presence) early on, instead having the actor’s back to camera, her long dark hair obscuring her profile (yes, is reminded of Ringu, of course).

Ahh, the ol' umbrella through the head trick

Tomie is a small-budgeted movie which moves at a languid (read: sloooow) pace. The performances are good, especially that of Miho Kanno. There are currently six sequels, with trailers for four on the DVD I viewed. The first and second sequels; Tomie: Replay (2000) and Tomie: Re-birth (2001) look slicker, more nightmarish, and less the melodrama that Tomie plays out as. Re-birth is even directed by Ju-on: The Grudge's Takashi Shimazu. I’ll aim to review those over the coming weeks.

A new Tomie head emerges

If you’re a fan of J-horror Tomie is an unsuspecting, disquieting affair, and one to watch. The kind of otherworldliness only the Japanese come up with and the kind that, even when it's ordinary, it lingers in your just dreams long enough to make you realise how forgettable most of what America currently offers. In fact I’m damn surprised Hollywood hasn’t jumped on the Tomie bandwagon. But hey, there’s always time for Tomie … Tomie will not die.

The original Manga comic artwork

Here's the original trailer:

Tomie DVD courtesy of Siren Visual, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

August 7th 2008 05:05

Definitely the sound track has a Goblin influence.
I hope SBS buy this movie.

Comment by Bryn

August 7th 2008 05:12

Horrorphile

Damo, glad you agree, no doubt SBS has or will ... It's nearly ten years old now.

Comment by JohnDoe

August 8th 2008 04:55

Film & TV on DVD

Remeber seeing this one a while ago, but it was during a stauration period of foreign horror films so it didn't leave a distinct mark....time for a revisit me thinks