Hinako, Fumiya, and Sayori were childhood friends. Sayori, the leader, was the daughter and heir to the local priestess, but had big plans that didn’t involve sticking around. But it was Hinako who left for the big city when her father got a job in Tokyo. Years later, Hinako (Natsukawa) returns to find Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama—Gogo in Kill Bill) long dead and Fumiya (Michitaka Tsutsui) still in mourning. She also finds the ghostly image of Sayori, defaced idols, and the priestess gone on a pilgrimage. Hinako and Fumiya set out to discover what happened in the past and how it relates to the supernatural activity of the present.
One thing you can say for Shikoku, it’s not another Ringu clone. It barely fits in the J-horror movement. Instead of following the style of recent fright-fests filled with hopelessness, Shikoku takes its cues from older, folktale inspired Japanese and Hong Kong films of the ’60s and ’70s. The setting is rural, the people are simple, the Shinto religion is ever-present, and traditional village beliefs underlie everything. The plot is also slow moving and linear. If you’re sick of twist endings, you can relax. If you’re looking for thrills and chills, unfortunately, you can relax too. Every film from Asia doesn’t have to be about scares, but some kind of emotion would be nice.
The idea is good. “Shikoku” means “land of the four kingdoms.” If the pronunciation or the kanji (Japanese letters) is changed slightly, it becomes “land of the dead.” What we’ve got here is a Japanese pun. Following folklore, pilgrims who make a circuit of the eighty-eight temples on the island, in the proper order, reinforce the barrier against the dead. So, what happens if someone decides to make the trip backwards? This is a nice little supernatural drama with a pleasant though easy to solve mystery. It also has some interesting characters with an amusing romance (I was concerned that the sudden and unbelievable love story was supposed to be taken seriously; I needn’t have worried).
With all that going for it, this should be a great movie, or an above average one. Instead, it’s dull. Hinako is the main character. She should be the protagonist, but she does nothing. Such passivity is only good in someone sleeping. Fumiya, an introverted nerd-cliché, does the detective work and Hinako just stands next to him. When we reach the ghostly climax I expected her to do something, but nope, she just watches. It’s not much of a climax anyway, but she could have at least moved around and gotten somewhat involved.
At least Shikoku should work as pretty background, showing off the beauty of the island’s forests and mountains, but this is where the movie really falls apart. The cinematography is terrible. Most of the film is overexposed. The colors are muted and glare often hides part of the frame. The night shots, on the other hand, are underexposed. Often it’s impossible to tell what is happening on screen. Worse is the use of a shaking camera, not to raise the tension or show confusion, but just because they didn’t know how to shoot over uneven terrain. When Hinako is calmly walking down a path, there’s no reason for her to wobble around. This is amateur filmmaking.
Shikoku is too gentle and plodding for the horror crowd, too simple for the art crowd, and too poorly shot for anyone. It was originally released as a double feature with Ringu 2; at least it was better than that disappointment, but that’s hardly something to be proud of.