Paranormal Activity Dai 2 Sho - Tokyo Night パラノーマル・アクティビティ 第２章 TOKYO NIGHT [movie]

what... the f*ck... and i doing... watching this... on my own... at night...

I watch endless amounts of asian horror films. well, from this blog alone i guess you can tell that i watch movies and drama shows in general almost every day. I don't often get particularly freaked out by films anymore, i can just enjoy ghosty films without being scared stiff. But, uh, well... Tokyo Night was fully freaky.

Someone's genius comment on asianmediawiki about prefering the american counterpart for the 'realism' made me laugh in confusion - what the hell kind of american horror movies does that guy watch?! realism my ass.

The thing that freaked me out about Tokyo Night was likely the lack of music and lack of screaming and lack of stupid over acting - so, uh yeah the so called 'lack of realism' im sure was a cultural ignorance issue as this movie was - i will say again in case it wasnt clear - fully freaky.

Koichi - Nakamura Aoi (beck, hana kimi 2011, shinigama no ballad)

Haruka - Aoyama Noriko (zenkai girl, salaryman kintarou 1 & 2)

What this movies lacks in its cast list length it makes up for in scarey ass atmosphere. I find the set up so creepy - we basically spend the whole film watching these two being filmed while they are asleep; doors creak open and covers move... dear god it strikes right at the heart of anyone who grew up with night terrors or those who froze at the sound of pipes and floorboards.

The movie is made up of Koichi's footage (shot with his unlimited supply of digital cameras - i swear that guy has more cameras than my dodgey city has cctv) at first shot through his main camera, then as ghosty things start to happen, also shot with his secondary stationary cameras set up in the bed rooms.


Haruka comes home from a trip in the US with two broken legs - we later find out she had a car accident - Koichi (Haruka's younger brother) has to look after her as their dad f*cks off on a business trip overseas.


After going to bed one night, with no abnormal events to suggest the likelyhood of the impending nocturnal paranormal activity, Haruka's wheelchair ends up half way across the room by morning. Koichi freaks her out a little by supposing it may be ghosty reasons and pours salt on the floor to see it if will disperse over night. At this point you dont really like either of them very much yet as all they do is whinge at each other and we have had no character development to explain anything. It works well because you are drawn into the idle conversation and behaviour - almost forgetting what type of things are about to happen.

We watch chunks of this night time footage from the rooms over the course of the movie but it isnt appropriate to get bored a look away - these are the best bits. As the clock counter rolls on we see it speed up (Koichi is fast forwarding through the video to show Haruka) then it returns to normal speed and you think oh god, ok, that means something is about to happen any second then, if he's slowed it down to show her... so your eyes dart about from the door to Haruka in bed, to the curtain, the mirror, the door again - is anything moving? is there a ghost? waiting... waiting... OH GOD the door is opening...

and breathe. that was it. we are now back to the other camera where he is talking about b*llocks again and she is all grumpy. It goes on like this for a while, which doesnt sound scarey but that video footage is way creepier than seeing actual ghosts and stuff.

over the main portion of the movie we see the door fly open, a glass smash, and Haruka get dragged off the bed by her hair - that was nasty. Koichi runs around with his camera a lot (sort of using it as a torch) and it becomes a little bit blair witch project. except actually scarey.

 If you are into blood and gore and long haired girls crawling out of the tv to eat your face, cut you up and sew your limbs back on with vampire-blood-animated screws... then maybe you should watch something else. I like that stuff too but this movie was made for everyone who ever had that feeling that they heard someone come into their room but was too scared to turn over in bed to see, for those who get creeped out being in the house alone at night, and for those who still jump when things go bump - even in the daytime.

to get the screenshots for this review i had to watch the movie a second time (the next morning) and i was still really freaked out by the look and feel of it all. i still jumped at the few sudden im gonna make your heart leap out of your throat moments, but mainly just waiting for something to move in her room while Haruka was sleeping... that was proper creepy.

I dont think you really even need to like either character much - it is the atmosphere that pulls you in. It is by no means the most intriguing or aesthetically interesting film in the world, but it does feel subtle enough to be realistic. That is the thing most horror films dont have, that realism is usually pushed away by the epic musical score or overactive sound effects, the constant explanatory dialogue, and behaviour from the characters that you just cant imagine yourself doing in that same situation. 

Tokyo Night doesnt have any of that. The characters are both suitably normal, they dont really know what's going on so they dont explain endless amounts of plot out of nowhere, there isnt mch screaming or running about, well she cant even walk until - i'm not even going to say anything about that actually, its so f*cking creepy i dont want to spoil it, i was hiding under my covers.

I had to watch an episode of boku to kanojo no xxx afterwards to break out of severely freaked out mode - it worked really well actually. It is completely stupid enough for a good change of pace. It reminded me of the first time i watched Steven King's Misery when i was a kid; I turned over after she hobbled the guy and watched some crappy football match for like an hour.

I like that it isnt a savage movie. it plays on the paranoid thoughts you have in the night. I wouldnt advise watching it when you live out in the middle of nowhere on your own like me. I was so thankful for having my dog with me that night - and also having speakers. no music to sleep to would have meant no sleep for me.

This movie is not the sort of horror you want to get all your mates over for. There is no real epicness to it that would make it approriate for communal viewing. but having said that, im not gonna watch it alone again. This is a one to show to one of your friends when neither of you have to go home to an empty house afterwards.

Watch with an open mind, forget about all the asian horror stereotypes you may want to see, dont expect silent hill type monsters at every turn, and you may enjoy this movie.

movie poster:

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