Tuesday, May 9, 2023

In short: Tokyo Videos of Horror 2 (2012)

Original title: 闇動画2 Yami Douga 2

Don’t worry, imaginary readers, I won’t give its own post to every single one of the ten or so entries into this Japanese POV horror series by Kazuto Kodama, but after the first one, it seems somewhat interesting to at least use a few words on (or if) changes develop.

Well, for one, none of the segments here go the “gore with little budget for gore” route of the first film’s final tale. Even the middle story about a stalker contains a supernatural element, and the film stays completely in the realm of the urban legend, creepypasta and simplified J-horror. The three main tales – about a nightly visit to a school that goes a bit wrong, a woman chased by a rather peculiar stalker with a thing for creepy paper dolls, and a visit to a haunted suicide bridge that ends badly – are all broken up with short vignettes which don’t feature the interview bits of the longer stories now, because clearly, spooky cheap CGI ghosts and ghoulies are everywhere in Japan, at least wherever low res cameras point.

The longer tales here feel slightly more substantial than in the first film, their set-ups and construction a little bit more complex. This does stand them in good stead, and though all of them are still much too simple to go into plot details productively here (you might as well just spend the hour watching all three), this does improve their creep factor nicely.

The series’ generally repetitive structure could become a problem if one mainlines the films as if they were a streaming TV show, but for me, the rhythm of video, interview, video, interview, slow motion and zoom, creates a mood of cosy creepiness I find rather delightful and effective enough to keep me coming back for more.

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