Saki Aibu and Junpei Mizobata to co-star in romance/ thriller/ comedy/ horror "Neck"

by Chris MaGee

That's a lot of slashes in that headline, huh? A romantic/ horror/ thriller/ comedy? Why not throw in some cowboys and U.F.O's to cover all the bases? The romantic/ horror/ thriller/ comedy in question is titled "Neck" and is based on a story by 36-year-old novelist Otaro Maijo. "Neck" follows Sugina Mayama, a young University student, and her quest to "create a ghost" with the help of a contraption she's dubbed the Neck Machine. She's helped in her experiments by fellow student Tomokazu Shudo who has fallen in love with Mayama. Little does he know that he will be assisting Mayama with the Neck Machine by becoming its first victim. Now, hold on a sec... The very first step in creating a ghost is to kill somebody. No such thing as a live ghost after all. Shudo doesn't see this coming?

"Neck" is being directed by Shi Shirakawa and will star Saki Aibu (above left) as Mayama and Junpei Mizobata (above right) as Shudo. The two discuss the film, due out in Japanese theatres in the summer of 2010, on YouTube here (damn disabled embedding!).

Thanks to Nippon Cinema for news on this upcoming film.