Gekijô-ban: Zero

If you're a huge fan of the Fatal Frame series or a huge nerd when it comes to Japanese folk culture you would probably be just as disappointed as I am.

The Fatal Frame series always included the Camera Obscura and several vengeful spirits that have major occurring roles. This movie barely has both except for a few occasional appearances and cameos.

Also, call me biased just because I'm an ex-Catholic, but I didn't really like the fact that Christianity, more specifically Catholicism, plays a role in this film. It just seems very foreign and more akin to western horror stories that have more Abrahamic themes to them. The original game series had a dark Shinto/Buddhist motif to them, even more faithful to the traditional Japanese horror theme it always conveyed. Meanwhile this film had none of that. Not a single torii, or Buddha statue was seen, and those two are even major cornerstones of Japanese culture. Yes, this is pretty much opinionated as I like Shinto and Buddhism more than Christianity, but still.

This movie is an adaption of a novel with the name ~Zero: A Curse Affecting Only Girls~ which is based on the video game series ~Zero(or Fatal Frame in US)~.

I haven't read the novel so I can't really compare them but the story of the film was really interesting and well done.While the plot was moving slowly and sometimes it was confusing it never made me feel tired.I don't remember a scene that was pointless.I liked that the way the story unfolds make u connect all the pieces together.My only complaint is that there was no real climax when the Big mystery was revealed,it was more like an inquisition,listening to the character explaining what happened there and stuff,it wasn't a bad way to reveal the mystery,but i kind of missed the climax that we see in the endings of the games.So overall the story was pretty damn good.I wont get into details because I don't want to spoil anything to you.

The directing was really well done,it drew you the attention and it made an already beautiful scenery even more beautiful.The actors were convincing,they did a great job.The sounds are really good too and the soundtrack beautiful.

I wouldn't call this movie a horror since it's not scary at all.It's eerie at times but not scary.Its more like a mystery movie,thriller is a better way to describe it than horror.

There are many complains that this movie has nothing to do with the games.Well as we already said its not based on a Fatal Frame game but its based on a Novel which is based on the Fatal Frame series(with a storyline and characters completely different from any of the games).The main complain is that there are no ghost fights like in the game which is a key element.But the atmosphere,the story,the characters & their personality,the music,the way the mystery unfolds the feel of this movie makes you feel that you are watching something that belongs in the Fatal Frame universe.Of course this is something that only the hardcore fans of the series can recognize.My personal opinion is that they handled the camera obscure(in the games you can see and fight ghosts with it) really great,there might not be fights with it(God only knows how that would work in a movie) but it plays a key role.

So overall its a really well done movie with a really interesting plot and great directing taking place at a beautiful scenery.Japanese horror/thriller fans and the hardcore fans of the games will appreciate ~Gekijô-ban: Zero~ (aka Fatal Frame : The movie).

Ghost stories are often mislabeled as "horror" and found disappointing by American standards, but once you remove expectations and watch the movie as a cultural exploration of female relationships, it becomes quite beautiful. Yes there are horror elements, but fall into the story of love and female bonding, and find significance in the evolution of feminine roles in Japan. It takes a little while to unfold, and the repetition early on can be discouraging, but eventually it makes sense. We need to see how invasive this curse has been, and how necessary it is to be removed.

Actually quite creepy and haunting when it's not getting in its own way with awkward exposition and weird tropes. Significantly though, I get the feeling that's probably due to being 'lost in translation'.

Recommended regardless for horror hounds.

'Fatal Frame' is a Japanese lesbian coming-of-age Gothic ghost mystery with a very Victorian flair, all romanticism, no kink, all yearning, and no consummation. Innocent love? Yes. But anything but harmless.

To go into the film's plot without missing the point its mysteries (and even its main characters) are a bit too ever-changing and evolving, instead I'll say that the main motive of the film has to be John Everett Millais' 'Ophelia', and the film does justice to that evocative painting that is as beautiful as it is tragically sad and even unsettling. The supernatural element (ghosts) can easily be read as manifestations of extreme (often suppressed) emotions like unrequited (and forbidden) love while also being manifestations of a traumatic past. The mysteriousness and eeriness of the film doesn't just exist for its own sake but serves as an apt reflection of what its teenage characters are going through, with their feelings being new, mysterious or even scary to themselves.

If you want to know what you can expect from this film, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' is probably a good reference point in terms of the Victorian girls' boarding school setting, the ethereal beauty, as well as the eeriness in broad daylight. The plot also involves girls suddenly disappearing, but the way in which this fits into the narrative and its function has much more in common with 'Ringu' and its dooming curse than it does with the inexplicable mysteriousness of nature in the Peter Weir classic. But in terms of the general look, feel and pacing it can be somewhat compared to 'A Tale of Two Sisters'. The way in which the mysteries pile up without ever losing the plot and having everything neatly come together is more in line with Vincenzo Natali's 'Haunter' or maybe a compressed version of a mystery anime series.

Even though its eeriness I thought was at its highest towards the beginning and in the last section the piling up of mysteries and their explanations exceed the film's climactic point, the atmosphere never lets up, nor does the subdued beauty of its visuals (I love the texture and color palette of its 16mm Kodak film stock) ever lose its classical magic. 'Fatal Frame' is conceived in the modern Japanese storytelling mode (teen-centric, lots of emotion-centric voice-overs that never leave you in doubt about character motivations, etc.), which isn't to everyone's liking, but if you are OK with this or maybe even have an affinity for that mode and if my other descriptions also sounded good to you then this one comes highly recommended.