Today it’s off to Japan, land of the rising sun for our next lil’ fright fest, “Kowai Onna” aka “Unholy Woman”. However, Neko-chan had to get this one out of Taiwan… as the Japanese release was without the ever so important english subs I need and love…….

Are the Japanese ready to scare the beejeebits outta this girl?

Let’s find out!

The film is an anthology piece made up of three separate and unrelated stories all featuring some rather freaky women….the stories are:

“Rattle Rattle” (“Katakata”): Directed by Keita Amemiya. Screenplay written by Keita Amemiya. Story by Keita Amemiya. Starring Noriko Nakagoshi (also staring in Ataru Oikawa’s Apartment 1303), Yûko Kobayashi, and Kôsuke Toyohara. Synopsis: “One day, Kanako hears a rattling sound in front of the red building while walking back to her house. The moment she looks up to check, something very strong hits her hard. She loses her consciousness for a brief period of time, but unhurt, she continues to walk back. As soon as she arrives home, she starts seeing deformed woman, and is haunted by her. Who is this woman persistently chasing her?”

“Hagane” (“Hagane”): Directed by Takuji Suzuki. Screenplay by Takuji Suzuki and Naoki Yamamoto. Story by Naoki Yamamoto. Starring Tasuku Emoto, Nahana, and Teruyuki Kagawa. Synopsis: “One day, Sekiguchi is hurled by a weird person wearing a sack covering its head to waist. His life seems depressing than ever, but then life turns positive by his boss Takahashi’s words, ‘I want you to meet my sister and take her out on a drive.’ Sekiguchi is so excited, and cannot believe how lucky he is. But when Sekiguchi goes to Takahashi’s house, the weird person wearing a sack is introduced to him as Takahashi’s sister….”

“The Inheritance” (“Uketsugu mono”): Directed by Keisuke Toyoshima. Supervised by Takashi Shimizu. Screenplay by Keisuke Toyoshima. Story by Keisuke Toyoshima and Takashi Shimizu. Starring Maki Meguro, Kenta Suga, Shunsuke Matsuoka, and Tokie Hidari. Synopsis: “As a result of a divorce, Saeko decides to leave the busy city with her 7 years old son Michio. Michio feels uneasy about the desolated city and the new life with his bedridden grandma. One day, Michio sees his mother staring at a wooden chest in the shed. From that day on, Saeko’s attitude turns abnormal, losing her temper for something very small. Saeko tends to shut oneself in the shed and one day, Saeko’s thin hand reaches Michio’s throat and….”

Well…… I liked this one, but it’s an uneven mix as most anthology pieces go. The first story, “Rattle, Rattle” is pretty much the most in your face horror offering, with it’s standard “Long Haired Ghost”, this time decked out in a blood red ragged dress and given a hyper-kinetic accelerated speed to allow her to do some serious chasing of our poor heroine……. I really got scared at times as it tore around the apartment building in hot pursuit of Kanako. But the neat thing was the whole explanation as to what exactly hit her in the head causing her to see our spectral woman in the first place….. very much a “Twilight Zone” moment, I can assure you.

“Hagane” was…. er, um…… well….. just plain weird. It continues the whole “Twilight Zone” feel, but without the straight out scares. It’s just an awfully bizarre lil’ interlude that I’m still trying to figure out completely. Small hint guys…..if anyone EVER asks you to date a girl who wears a burlap sack over her head 24/7, JUST SAY NO…… trust me.

“The Inheritance” Is perhaps the closest thing this film has to a traditional japanese “kaidan” story….. you’ll pretty much see the ending coming along long before it arrives. Not really a good story…. not really a bad story….. just an average exercise in the genre.

Overall, Neko gives this one 4 “Meows” out of 5 for at least being different and entertaining for the most part. Only the first story deserves to be called a horror piece, while the others are just creepy, but that’s OK…. sometimes you just want to be entertained.

And of course, here’s the Trailer….