Friday, April 30, 2010

Longtime horror franchise "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro" gets new feature film

by Chris MaGee

While this week brought us the unwelcome news of the 3D English-language reboot of Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" it also bought us word of the continuation of one of J-Horror's most lasting franchises. According to Tokyograph the latest film in the long-running "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro" series will be making its world premiere at this year's Anime Expo taking place between July 1st and 4th in Los Angeles. No this new "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro", also known by it's English title "Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan", film isn't animated, it's live-action, but it looks as if the Anime Expo organizers see some pretty promising crossover appeal with the anime fans who will be flocking to the event.

"Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro" began as a TV series in 2003 and since then some big names have been involved in bringing its scary stories to life. Such J-Horror luminaries as Takashi Shimizu, Norio Tsuruta, Hiroshi Takahashi, as well as New Wave camp horror directors Yudai Yamaguchi and Nobuo Iguchi have contributed episodes and there have been a number of spin-off feature films. This latest "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro" is being helmed by Makoto Shinozaki whose previous credits include 1995's critical favorite "Okaeri" and the upcoming Natsuo Kirino screen adaptation "Tokyo Island". His film will star 19-year-old pop singer Erina Mano and will cover not one, but two chilling tales. The first will be titled "Tsukimono" about a haunted college student and the second "Nozomi" (above) follows a young woman who is mourning her sister's death and experiencing terrifying visions.

After its premiere at Anime Expo "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro" will get a theatrical release in Japan this fall. Thanks to Sankei Sports for the above promo still.

No comments: