i LOVE when a horror movie draws on the very simple premise: there is a box. it looks completely innocuous, no one would even think to open it, but the box has a person inside
Boring, slow, and sad! Seriously, this was just two (2) people making poor decisions and then the movie ends. I can make poor decisions in my own life without wasting an hour and a half. Ugh, this could have easily been a disappointing short film instead of a disappointing movie.
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Trigger Warning Suicide Discussion, Child Abuse, Child Death
Our story begins with talk about paranormal sciences and the unknown (or underknown), we meet a psychic, Junko, who can not only see ghosts but gain information from personal items. She is asked to help with a kidnapping case while her husband, who works for a sound effect studio, is in the woods getting sound samples. The woods her husband, Sato, are in, happen to be the same woods that the kidnapped little girl are in and she is actively running away from her captor. When she happens upon Sato she doesn’t ask for help, she just climbs into his equipment trunk… But here is where the logic of the movie breaks down for me. That case had to have had something inside of it, right? So, why did Sato just lock it back up and throw it in his car when he was going home? He wouldn’t have brought that big of a case if it was empty, right? That doesn’t make any sense! He also doesn’t notice the weight difference when he lugs it in and out of his car. So bizarre! A very thin piece of plot that is vital to the movie working. It is a day or two (2) before Junko touches one (1) of the little girl’s items (that she was given by the police) and she gets the psychic vibe that the girl is in their garage! Sato is ready to call the police, or the hospital, but Junko makes him stop… How ever did this girl get into their possession? I saw how it happened and even I don’t believe it! But the girl is actually alive which is good and now Junko and Sato hatch a plan to make Junko a famous psychic.
When Sato informs Junko that the little girl saw his face, Junko is immediately angry, as if Sato should have known to wear a mask or something (like a criminal)… There is something hilariously absurd about Junko’s rage but I’m also more interested in the safety of the little girl… Can we just get her to a hospital where her parents can meet up with her? This is the second (2nd) movie in a row where the main characters suddenly come into possession of a child and I find that interesting. Junko has a “come to God” revelation about her relationship and living situation but… Now is not the time for that? When they were in the kitchen together and she was whining about him “not letting her dream,” someone whispered for him to stab her. Now, who could that have been? Certainly not me (it was absolutely me). Anyway, the plan is for them to leave the girl’s shoes in an abandoned building. They go, literally just toss the shoes, then Junko calls and tells the police she has cracked the case, her psychic abilities lead her to know the location of the little girl… OR AT LEAST an item of hers. BULLSHIT, lady. In the beginning I really liked Junko but now I’m just worried about the girl. When the fuck is she going to get medical attention?
Sato goes to check on the girl while Junko fields a visitor but the girl isn’t asleep anymore, she is wide awake and clearly wants to leave. Sato does some more smothering. Either that night or the next day the little girl straight up dies and they bury her in the woods, which doesn’t make them murders, just accessories to murder (or maybe they are guilty of manslaughter?). Either way, they let that little girl die and I hope Junko is haunted by her spirit for the rest of her life and afterlife. Fear is no reason not to help someone in need. It didn’t stop the hikers in A Lonely Place To Die but it immediately stopped Junko, and Junko was in the comfort of her own home. Funny how some things pan out. Or maybe not so funny as it is peculiar how some will sacrifice everything for a stranger and others won’t lift a finger. Sato holds her and tells her it’s okay but it isn’t okay, they allowed a child to die because they wanted fame. Plain and simple. “Get haunted, bitch.” I heard myself saying as the little girl’s spirit started to appear in both Junko and Sato’s lives.
At first Sato fights the ghost (physically with a stick), which is wild (and rude). Then Sato blames the LITTLE GIRL for dying, saying it was HER FAULT for sneaking into his trunk… Yeah! How dare she try to escape the man who had kidnapped her in the first place! Let’s gang up on the little dead girl, huh? If you can’t tell, I’m being extremely sarcastic, this is outrageous that he is blaming the child for dying. SHEESH. After fighting the child ghost Sato sets a doppelganger of himself on fire (kill your double). After getting his house blessed, Sato tells the priest that, when it comes to him and his spouse, “No couple is more ordinary.” This is coming from a man who sits in the woods collecting sound samples with the wife who communes with the dead… Also, Junko doesn’t question that Sato is also seeing the little girl’s ghost (even though he isn’t psychic). The police come to their house to ask more questions about the girl, they ask to do a Séance which Junko obliges. She puts on quite a show, “channeling” the little girl’s spirit then telling the police that she (the girl) is somewhere underground, buried. The police catch Junko in her lie, they already found the girl and she is at the morgue. The final nail in the coffin is what Junko holds in her hand, a hair clip that had fallen out of the girl’s hair.
