Movie Digest
Discovering dead bodies with ruptured eyeballs was a constant incident. The cause of these deaths is heart attacks, and they acted as if they were possessed just before they died. Mizuki is a college student. Her friend dies just in front of her eyes. Haruo’s younger brother dies in the meantime. Mizuki and Haruo start investigating together. They discover that Eiko has the key to solving the mystery. Eiko’s eyeballs rupture soon after, and she dies of a heart attack. She mentions “Shirai-san” before passing away. They learn Shirai-san’s horrific story, though whether or not this is enough to help them avoid her curse is debatable.
The Feel-Good Part
The cinematography is brilliant, setting eerie feels to the movie. One of the more entertaining aspects of this film is the thrilling script from writer/director Otsuichi, which features a compelling core villain.
The Disappointing Factor
The film could be better by devoting more time to character development and, in particular, by providing more context.
In-Depth Analysis
Stare follows the Ringu storyline template very closely. There are few surprises in the way the story progresses. With Mizuki and Haruo steadily closing in on Shirai-san as their time runs out, her curse plays out in the usual urban legend form. The director and writer, Otsuichi, succeeds in instilling a subtle, mysterious eerieness into the narrative’s places from the first minute. The establishment of this achievement is in the effective use of the visual. With clever visuals, the ordinarily mundane narrative space folds with an unsettling mystery. What Stare does brilliantly is manipulate the dimension of vision. The fact that we observe a person watched – a seeing that instills anxiety, a stare that kills – is the primary requirement for the eerie and unpleasant. The execution of flashbacks was beautiful. It was utilized as a technique, allowing for the transition from one character to another. This film uses the setup and premise to create a very entertaining horror work.
Star Power
Marie Iitoyo as Mizuki and Yu Inaba as Haruo play compellingly earnest and convincingly terrified witless characters.
Overall Opinion
If you enjoy spine-chilling and gruesome horror films, give this film a chance!
