★ 5 / 10
Modestly enjoyable, but it strains too hard to weave its story
I_Ailurophile
Never underestimate the power of good sound effects. In any genre of cinema but maybe most of all in horror, and whether subtle or vivid, creative audio cues…
Never underestimate the power of good sound effects. In any genre of cinema but maybe most of all in horror, and whether subtle or vivid, creative audio cues have made all the difference in giving unexpected power to some moment or creature, allowing them to gain infamy and live rent-free in our minds. The tell-tale skittering noise of the ghost in 'Teketeke,' born of urban legend in Japan, is surely one of the top highlights in the abbreviated runtime of seventy minutes. For that matter, the very notion is ripe for genre storytelling; how many flicks have made an impression even just with the visual design of some facet, or an intangible idea that gets lodged in our imagination? Factor in unnatural posture, and/or movement, and one has a viscerally unnerving trifecta on their hands with strong potential. With Tsuburaya Productions providing some key practical effects, it would seem as if essential elements are all in place for this 2009 release to be a sinister good time. The question does remain, however: beyond a short film of a brisk few minutes, how might the modern myth of the teketeke spirit could be drawn out into a full-length feature?The answer is "with mixed success." Some choices of stylization are outright unnecessary, including the occasional first-person perspective. I very much enjoy Shimizu Mari's music in and of itself, but it sometimes seems too overt and grandiose to entirely fit here, somewhat working against the vibrancy of the primary horror material. Speaking of which, while the entity looks great as designed, I wonder if the conception here isn't too fantastical for its own good; if an urban legend is about a human, to any degree rendering the subject in a more outwardly inhuman form seems a step too far. Moreover, as is too often the case, I think we maybe see too much of the specter, reducing its effectiveness, including at the climax.And the fact of the matter is that try as they might, screenwriter Akimoto Takeki and director Shiraishi Koji were straining way too hard hard to conjure substance for cinematic treatment. The plot is built around the personal life of protagonist Kana, then subsequent efforts to find out more about the spirit. No few shots get repeated to pad out the length, however; some bits of dialogue are revisited with only slight variation as characters ponder the ghost and who she was in life. All additional info and plot frankly just come across as a transparently thin, flimsy effort to dress up something which may after all have been better off realized as a tiny, punchy short that had no excess in the first place. Case in point, within the last twenty minutes Kana and Rie face obstacles so absurdly mundane that the result is almost parodic, and even the climax is one tidbit after another of "are you kidding me?"The cast ably play their parts. I appreciate Akimoto's effort - incidentally, the final scene might bear the best thought poured into the otherwise shaky expanded narrative - and Shiraishi did a fine job with what he had to work with. It bears repeating that the audiovisual rendering of teketeke, in and of herself, is excellent, further including special makeup. The picture is broadly well made. Yet it rather comes off as a cash grab: not necessarily insincere in its intent, but the outcome of latching onto any slight modicum of a thought and stretching it as far as it could go, then further still. We watch this happen too often when a studio picks up a short film to adapt into a full-length movie, taking something brilliant and watering it down; see Bryce McGuire's 'Night swim,' or Andres Muschietti's 'Mama.' And here, too, albeit without a prior short involved. I don't dislike 'Teketeke,' and I commend the work everyone put into it. I just think that it didn't really need to be made at all, and unless you're obsessed with Japanese horror, there's no particular reason to go out of your way for this.
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★ 5 / 10
Watchable...
paul_haakonsen
Given my love of Asian cinema, then there was no doubt about me sitting down to watch this 2009 Japanese horror movie titled "Teketeke", as I happened to…
Given my love of Asian cinema, then there was no doubt about me sitting down to watch this 2009 Japanese horror movie titled "Teketeke", as I happened to stumble upon it by random luck here in 2024. I had never heard about the movie before, so I didn't know what I was in for, and thus also had no expectations. Which meant that writer Takeki Akimoto and director Kôji Shiraishi had every opportunity to entertain me.
Just seven minutes into the movie there is a gory scene. And that definitely was a nice way to start the movie. Thumbs up for that.
Now, I am not familiar with the Japanese urban legend upon which this movie is based. So how true writer Takeki Akimoto was to the source material, I have no idea.
The storyline in the movie was okay. But I've been watching Asian horror movies for the better part of 35 years, so this movie wasn't particularly impressive. Sure, it was watchable, and I suppose if you are a newcomer to Japanese horror cinema then you're in for a treat. However, as a Japanese horror veteran, "Teketeke" was a mere walk in the park. A shame really, because the movie started out so nicely.
I wasn't familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list, which is actually something that I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. The acting performances in "Teketeke" were fair enough, though hardly anything outstanding, if I have to be blunt and honest.
Visually the movie is adequate. There is a bit of gore and blood, which definitely helped to keep the movie afloat for me.
Watchable and enjoyable for what it was, I doubt that I will ever return to watch "Teketeke" a second time.
My rating of "Teketeke" lands on a five out of ten stars.
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Teke teke 2 plis