Retribution 2006

Kurosawa Kiyoshi is Japan's foremost spookmeister (Cure, Charisma, Pulse) and he expertly applies his brooding and atmospheric cinema of unease to this contemporary ghost story housed in a police procedural about the death of a young woman in a red dress. Regular Kurosawa leading man, the always creased and weary Yakusho Koji, is the detective who discovers that the woman who appears to have drowned in a puddle of fresh water has a stomach full of seawater. Even more worrying is evidence that links him to the scene. Just when you think you're seeing predictable patterns of clichés, Kurosawa spins the narrative into Lynchian territory, with virtuoso story twists and revelations that keep coming until the final moments. Audiences expecting the ‘boo-school' of J-Horror à la The Grudge are likely to be disappointed, as Kurosawa is more concerned with building a measured sense of unease, culminating in some unbelievably powerful moments.