When I think about things that are universal in experience, Ouija boards are not the first thing that spring to mind, but until I saw this film I had no idea that in Japan there is a game called Kokkuri which immediately brings the Ouija board to mind. The dvd comes with a helpful guide, "how to play Kokkuri" that outlines how you write out the characters on the "board" (actually a piece of paper) that a coin, upon wich each player rests a finger, scoots across the board.

In the world of the film, the playing of this game is a kind of hot fad, but I'm not so sure how popular the game actually is in Japan.

Shortly after the film begins, three young Japanese girls -- shy Hiroko, bossy Masumi and Kio, decide to play the game after a popular late-night radio personality makes it trendy to do so. Hiroko is doubtful about all this -- she is the only skeptic when the game is first played in the film -- but Masumi decides to use the game to dig up dirt on the other two girls, such as the identity of Hiroko's boyfriend. Needless to say, once the boy's identity is out there, the game really is afoot.

There was also quite a bit of family dirt to find out as well. There are deaths, perhaps not so accidental, of parental figures. This may tie in with the drowning a short time ago of a young girl in a public bath. Before you can say "creepy dead kid with long dark hair" things take a turn for the surreal as visions of the drowning girl mesh with memories of Hiroko's mother.

There's nothing really wrong with Kokkuri, but there's really nothing special about it either. A competently made, fairly atmospheric film, if this is the first Japanese horror movie you ever see you could have done worse, but if you're familiar with the new wave of Asian horror films there's not much here that's going to stick in your memory. If films like "Pulse" are the Japanese equivalent of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", then think of "Kokkuri" as the "Toolbox Murders" of Japan.

Urban Entertainment is releasing "Kokkuri" as part of its "Asian Vision" line of releases. Presented in a 1.78 letterbox transfer, the film's pastel color palette (courtesy of cinematographer Shinchi Hayashi and designer Hisayuki Kobayashi) is well captured, although I did see a few instances of artifacting, particularly in scenes with bright white elements. The sound is also extremely faint, and you'll want to crank the volume on your tv if you want to hear this one.

Special features are limited to the aforementioned "how to play Kokkuri" feature (a text feature that does provide a little bit of background if viewed -- or rather read -- before viewing the movie), and trailers for the other films in the Asian Vision line.