Fans of Asian horror cinema know Hideo Nakata – he has directed some hits (Ringu and Dark Water) as well as some misses (The Ring Two). His latest directorial effort to hit DVD (coming June 30th) courtesy of Lionsgate, Kaidan, unfortunately falls in the miss category.
In what has become par for the course, Kaidan is a ghost story, albeit presented in a different way than one would think (there aren't any creepy girls with long black hair in their face). In fact, I'm pretty sure the film is set a couple hundred years ago, although I don't recall it being explicitly stated in the picture. The film's prologue stylishly presents the history of the curse which is at the film's centerpiece, rearing its head in a conflict between a money lender and a samurai. This is the best part of the film, and the narrator adds a bit of flare to the film that is missing throughout the remainder of the picture.
The picture jumps forward approximately twenty years when we are introduced to Shinkichi, the son of the samurai, and Oshiga, the daughter of the money lender and several years Shinkichi's elder. As you would predict, they soon fall in love. As the relationship develops and eventually strains, Oshiga falls ill after a domestic dispute with Shinkichi. As Oshiga remains ill, Shinkichi becomes interested in a younger woman. Oshiga mysteriously appears following one of Shinkichi's rendezvous with the younger woman to tell him that he can do whatever he wants, but if he marries another woman she hill haunt her to the grave. Just moments later, news come that Oshiga has passed away, with the realization washing over Shinkichi that the warning he received came from Oshiga's ghost.
The story progresses as Shinkichi is haunted by his ex-girlfriend as he falls into new relationships, all of which come to a ghastly end according to Oshiga's warning. The major gripe with Kaidan is that it is more of drama than a horror film. Out of a run time of 120 minutes, only a few sparse scenes lend themselves to being categorized as horror. And the horror is mild at that. The film builds character, but never really creates the tense atmosphere that a film such as this one needs in order to thrive. The dramatic approach to the story just never seems to balanced out with enough terror to satisfy. The ending is rather predictable and the viewer isn't really left with anything memorable, sans a few scenes which display some intriguing camera work. The picture does get a few points for being a convincing period piece, but on the same token a few points are deducted for some sub-par CG work. The DVD is presented with English subtitles, but there are no special features whatsoever.  Overall, Kaidan is not a bad film, it just isn't much of a horror film. Hardcore fans of J-horror may appreciate the alternative approach it takes compared to many of its contemporaries on DVD shelves, but at the end of the day Kaidan just doesn't pack the punch that one would hope for from the director that brought us Ringu.

Overall Score: 1 out of 5 paws