Review: "TOMIE" is Weird as Sh*t - Happy Halloween

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 153 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tomie (1998)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Japan

Running time:  95 minutes

Not rated

DIRECTOR:  Ataru Oikawa

WRITER: Ataru Oikawa (based upon the manga by Junji Ito)

PRODUCERS:  Yasuhiko Azuma, Youichiro Onishi, and Shun Shimizu

CINEMATOGRAPHERS  Akira Sakoh and Kazuhiro Suzuki

EDITOR:  Ryûji Miyajima

COMPOSERS:  Hiroshi Futami and Toshihiro Kimura

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring:  Miho Kanno, Mami Nakamura, Yoriko Douguchi, Tomorowo Taguchi, Kouta Kusano, and Kenji Mizuhashi

Tomie is a 1998 Japanese horror film from director Ataru Oikawa.  It is the first entry in the Tomie film series, which totals eleven films as of 2011.  It is also based on the manga (Japanese comics), Tomie, which was published from 1987 to 2000 and was created by Junji Ito.  Tomie the movie focuses on a traumatized young woman who is haunted by the name, “Tomie.”

Tsukiko Izumisawa (Mami Nakamura) is seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Hosono (Yoriko Douguchi), about her problem sleeping at night.  She also has repressed memories of some trauma in her past.  Detective Harada (Tomorowo Taguchi) believes it has something to do with the murder of her friend, Tomie (Miho).  Trouble is that going back a century’s worth of records, Harada finds Tomie as the name of several victims of horribly violent crimes.  Is this Tomie the same one involved with Tsukiko?  And what about that guy with a severed human head in a plastic grocery bag?

Tomie was the first in a series of popular Japanese horror movies starring the mysterious Tomie and her machinations, and the film is based upon the Junji Ito comic (manga) of the same title.  Tomie isn’t as intense as that most popular Japanese horror film, Ringu, but it’s fairly suspenseful in its own right.  Actually, Tomie is more a suspense film than a horror or a thriller.  Director/screenwriter Ataru Oikawa drenches his film in shadows and the atmosphere bleeds creepiness and weirdness.  It’s an atmosphere that can have the viewer always hanging on for what’s going to happen next.  What makes the film as effective as it ever gets is Oikawa’s use of a real world setting.  He shot the film as it if were just a pedestrian TV drama.  That banality coupled with the pulp madness that surrounds the Tomie character and the eventual revelation of what she is makes the film turn out to be something much better than it seemed a third of the way through its running time.

Tomie is not for every body, but Tomie is perfect for the horror flick fan on the prowl for something real different.  The film also has a frankly bizarre musical score.

6 of 10

B

★★★ out of 4 stars

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