The Story:
The premise of this movie was promising. As it opens, three young children are playing together on the island of Shikoku: a young boy, Fumiya, and two girls, Hinako and Sayori. Hinako slips into Sayori's house and sees something that Sayori makes her swear she will never mention. Next thing we know, Hinako is drowning in the nearby river, and Sayori drags her out. Then, it is time for Hinako to say goodbye, for her family is moving to Tokyo.

Flash ahead several years. Hinako, now a young woman, comes back to the island of Shikoku. She quickly learns that Sayori drowned, her father is in the hospital after falling from a mountain, and her mother, an odd priestess, is on a pilgrimage to the 88 temples on Shikoku. Hinako reconnects with Fumiya, and the two begin falling for each other as they realize something odd is happening on the island of Shikoku. Both see visions of Hinako, and others have been noticing dead people roaming around. It appears Sayori's priestess mother is up to no good, practicing some form of black magic at the 88 temples to bring her daughter back to life. Unfortunately, the rest of the dead are arising with her.

No, this is not a zombie movie. It's a ghost movie, and not very scary specters at that. While the story offers a different take on bringing back the dead, the movie just falls terribly flat. There are no scares, no creepy moments, no haunting visuals—in fact, even when the ghost of Sayori approaches Hinako after killing someone, Hinako comes across as not all that terrified. And you have to wonder, what's it all about—the long black hair, the white dress—this trend of making young Asian women evil monsters (calling Dr. Freud!). It's always hit or miss, and this time it's a real miss. Sayori doesn't terrify, even when she's crawling her way out of a pool of water (a staple moment for these types of films). And the end of this movie is particularly anti-climatic. Unfortunately, the description on the back of the DVD case reveals all the high-points you're going to get from watching.

The DVD

Video:
The 1:85:1 anamorphic aspect ratio, enhanced for widescreen TVs, is a very clean print, with just hints of dust and specks. The colors are perfectly saturated, but the overall quality of the film is soft (seems to be the director's choice), and the darks lean towards the pale, grayish side.

Sound:
The DTS 5.1 surround sound is excellent, it's just unfortunate there weren't any creepy atmospheres to exploit. There's also an option for a Dolby 2.0 stereo track.

Extras:
TRAILERS—4 film previews, including one for Shikoku, all with subtitles. These are some of the shortest trailers I've ever seen.

BEHIND THE SCENES—this is about 3 minutes of the director directing one scene from the film. It appears they selected what is supposed to be the highlight moment of the film. No comment. Features subtitles.

INTERVIEWS—The director, Nagasaki-san, talks mostly about the 3 leads. The actress who plays Sayori discusses her character, the book the movie is based on, and that this is her first film after a career in modeling. The actress who plays Hinako speaks of her character, and she describes filming on the island of Shikoku and interacting with the locals. She also discusses approaching her role as if it wasn't written for a horror movie. OBVIOUSLY. 10 minutes running time for all three interviews.

Final Thoughts:
Shikoku is yet another Japanese horror film focusing on what's supposed to be a creepy crawling girl ghost in a white dress with long black hair hiding her face. It's nothing more than a really bad clone of better films of the same style. The DVD itself offers nothing to make it any more attractive. Well, there is the good video and audio presentation…but neither makes this movie worthy of your time.