In 2004, writer/director Ataru Oikawa, best known for his Tomie trilogy of films, brought genre fans, Tokyo Psycho. Tokyo Psycho is based on a short story by Yumeaki Hirayama and the screenplay was co-written with Oikawa and Noriko Tanimura. The film stars, Seiji Chihara (Keisuke Kataoka), Yuka Hayashi (Mika Nakahara), Sachiko Kokuba (Yumiko Oosawa), Mizuho Nakamura (Moe Masamuto) and Masashi Taniguchi (Osamu Komiya).
Yumiko Osawa runs a small graphic design company with a couple of friends. During one work session, Yumiko sips some coffee as her friend Moe (Mizuho Nakamura) dozes. A banging at the door startles Yumiko and she yells at the knocker, trying to find out the identity of the person on the other side of the door. The banging continues and finally Yumiko looks through the peephole to see a wild looking person on the other side. Yumiko's screaming awakens Moe and the two women reach towards the letterbox only to have bloodied hands reach through the letterbox at them. We then see a giggling, bloodied and eye-patched figure running from the scene...quite an eerie opening to a film. Later, Yumiko is going through her mail and finds a large envelope addressed: 'Attention Yumiko', She opens the letter and finds a note, wrapped in piano wire and the note written in blood exclaims, 'You Were Born To Marry Me'. Later, Yumiko attends a junior high class reunion and after looking at a photo, she suddenly realizes who may be behind the strange letter. A classmate named Mikuriya, who it is said was sent to a reform school after one term at the junior high school they all attended. While still at the reunion, another envelope is delivered to Yumiko and this time, it's a bloodied photo of herself. Yumiko confides to her friend that while in school, Mikuriya had told her he had something important to tell her, but she had ignored him, because she thought it was weird, so he gave her a letter saying that she was supposed to marry him. Once home, Yumiko heads to the computer and begins searching for any information on Mikuriya and discovers that he was to have murdered his parents by strangling them with piano wire. Because of the psychiatric testing, he wasn't tried for murder. Yumiko reads on and finds that the faces of both victims had been peeled off and the youth identified as the killer is indeed, Mikuriya. Yumiko is startled out of her reading by a knock at the door and another package is delivered. Yumiko employs a detective agency, where a friend, Mika (Yuka Hayashi), works to help her track down Mikruiya rather than go to the police and soon the agency tells Yumiko that they have tracked Mikruiya to living back in Japan after having moved to the US for a time. The apartment that Mikruiya had been living in has a shrine set up to Yumiko, surrounded by piano wire. Soon, Yumiko's friends are being murdered in rather gruesome fashion and soon the killer is ready to face Yumiko for their showdown.
Tokyo Psycho is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and looks quite good. The language track is Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1/Dolby Digital 2.0) with optional English and Spanish subtitles. Bonus features are plenty with this disc and include:
- Behind-The-Scenes: The Making of Tokyo Psycho
-Tokyo Psycho Premiere
-Trailers: Tokyo Psycho (Original Theatrical Trailer), Blind Ghost vs Killer Dwarf (Original Theatrical Trailer) and Screwed (Original Theatrical Trailer)
-Posters and Still Galleries
-Production Notes
-True Crime: The Inspiration For Tokyo Psycho By Selwyn Harris
-Bios For Director Ataru Oikawa, Writer Yumeaki Hirayama, Actress Sachiko Kokuba
-English Audio Commentary With Panik House President Matt Keeney and Japanese Licensor Ko Mori
-Spanish Audio Commentary With Enrique Galvez of Cine-East.Com
OK, I fell into a major taboo when I first saw this film title......the cover very much had me immediately interested and usually if one goes for a viewing based solely on what the boxart looks like, you tend to walk away rather disappointed. Such is not the case with, Tokyo Psycho. OK, the cover may lead you to believe that this is going to be a film experience filled with over the top gore and non-stop blood flowing and if you go into this viewing with those kind of expectations, chances are you may be a little disappointed. The film does have a few moments of gore, but not many, the film relies on moods and settings and for me, these all work quite well to make for an enjoyable viewing experience. The film is dark, moody and I think in spite of knowing who is behind the letters and packages quite early in the film, there are still a few surprises for the viewer. There's an obvious lack of music associated with this film, much like classic horror films of the 30s and what little music there is works wonderful with the pacing of the film. The film was shot on mini-DV and so dark scenes tend to be quite dark, but overall, it's a wonderful viewing experience, as long as the viewer goes into the film in the right state of mind and doesn't look for this to be an all-out assault to the senses. I must say, I'm at the point where I'm clearly seeking out more Asian titles just because of the wide variety of scares you can discover in various titles. Some can be in-your-face and some much more subtle in their approach to unnerve you and such is the case with, Tokyo Psycho. If you're an established fan of Japanese films, then chances are you'll enjoy this film, if you're a bit of a novice to the Japanese horror genre and you're expecting buckets of blood and over-the-top gore, this isn't the film you're going to want to grab, but for good entertainment and some unsettling moments, I'd definitely recommend this for a rental and possible purchase.
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