My favorite part of this movie is when Eno and Shiraishi watch Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull in a theater and Eno basically says "I was having second thoughts about blowing myself up, but after watching that movie I am DEFINITELY going to follow through with my plan"
This might be my favorite of his films. There's something about the first hour basically just following the sad life of a temp worker in an economic recession, going into such elaborate detail about what it's like traveling, waiting for work, how little money there he was being paid, and him shopping based entirely on a ratio of calories to price point. Seeing this man explaining how he survives such abject poverty is honestly incredibly gripping and it adds so much to the believability and reality of the movie.
I thought the ending was great, personally. The more comedic aspects worked really well because both the characters involved were pretty unhinged at that point. I also liked the very end. It was a bit low-budget, but it tied the film together very nicely.
I might be one of the few people to like the "goofy" effects of the ending. It does look almost funny to some people but i find something so scary in bizarre stuff that i just like the idea of hell being this completely illogical and unnatural realm that does not resemble anything we could ever think of. It's, in a way, some kind of cosmic horror throughout the whole film knowing that a "god" or this entity is moving all of these things to happen and that humans are mere peons. Also (and it kinda surprises me how no one has mentioned this when they talk abt this movie) the bombing reminded me of the 95's attacks of aum shinrikyo in the tokyo subway, a religious group that also believed in the armaggedon and that they woud carry all those who died in the attack to a next life after the world was destroyed. I feel like maybe the director was taking some ideas for this film from that, funny how no one mentions it or related it to it.
I learned about Koji Shiraishi recently via a tweet showing off pics of his movies. I immediately dove in and watched Noroi, Cult, and Occult and I fell in love with his work. I pray that one day that man gets the budget he needs to make those effects he tries to do more convincing because he deserves it.
It took multiple viewings for this one to grow on me, but I like this movie now. I'm a huge fan of this director and I enjoy his nuttier found footage stuff too - even with those atrocious computer effects! I think CULT (2013) is legitimately good though, as is HELL GIRL (2019).
That totally makes, given how whacked out this one was, yet somehow restrained at the same time? And in that case, boy have we got a treat for you. =3 Haven't seen Hell Girl yet, though, we'll have to take a look at that one sometime.
Asian Movie Enthusiast hey man, this sound silly but having literally just finished Occult, could you recommend some more of this directors stuff with a bit more detail? I have seen Noroi too but I'm kind of new to the live action Japanese horror scene of the 2000s onwards
Any fans of 'Noroi' and 'Occult' need to check out Shiraishi's mockumentary film series 'Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi', it follows a group of documentary filmmakers as they investigate several Japanese urban legends and the films just get wackier and spookier as they progress.
11:55 It was actually common for Russian fishing ships to illegally(whether they were aware or not) to land on Japanese coastlines during this time. The towns people usually had to convince them somehow to leave or the foreigner will be put to death.
I seen this film I believe you can watch it here on RU-vid, it has a ridiculously hilarious yet strangely unsettling ending. By the way love the channel please keep it up these videos are very good
Yeah, sadly this is one of Shiraishi's that doesn't have an official release in America, though fansubs definitely exist. It's kinda criminal imo, given how good Occult is. And thank you! We're glad you're enjoying our work!
Corey Chosy hey man, this sound silly but having literally just finished Occult, could you recommend some more of this directors stuff with a bit more detail? I have seen Noroi too but I'm kind of new to the live action Japanese horror scene of the 2000s onwards
I may actually prefer this over Noroi. Noroi might have been a lot better at the time, but so much movies have cloned the idea that it is hard for me to figure out who did it first and who did it best.
I absolutely love Occult! It's pace is slower than most other Shiraishi movies, but it pays off so well in the end. The way the mystery was set up and unveiled had me so invested. I also binge watched all of Senritsu Kaiki, which are some of the most creative and campy found footage j-horror. Compared to Sadako v Kayako which had a bigger budget, I think Shiraishi shines in the analog style, like with Cult and Ura Horror. Although I am still very much looking forward to his new upcoming film, Sayuri, an adaptation of a horror manga of the same name.
The guy from 11:40 is not a portuguesse jesuit, he was northern spaniard. Just wanted to point that out. In the meantime, I also want to take the opportunity to tell you that I really like your channel and that I've found really cool japanese movies worth watching thanks to you. Thanks
Thanks for pointing that out. I've read about Francis Xavier and his work in Japan, so that's a genuine mistake on my part for putting him in at that point. Again, thanks for bringing it to my attention. And for sure, thanks for the support. Glad the channel could help!
I kind of love the cheap vfx in this movie. Even the infamous last scene. It reminds me a lot of how David Lynch will ignore the unreality of his visuals, even pump it up at times. It bypasses the uncanny valley that more expensive and realistic cgi effects often end up with. We clearly see it cannot be possible, so we can jump ahead and react to what is being told through the unreal visuals. I'm not even sure Shiraishi meant for this to be the case. Maybe he would prefer a super realistic remake or George Lucas type Special Edition. I just know I prefer it this way.
me too .... I think the unknown deity is intentionally depicted to look like the Flying Spaghetti Monster in some scenes ... its like a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of religions like Christianity/Islam where believers will discard their sense of logic and morals to do anything to please what they are praying to ....
creepy movie, i found all these films on youtube a long time ago & fell in love w/ j horror. i dont remember if it was this or noroi or the Tomie movie that i saw first
This makes me think: if Hollywood wants to remake Japanese horror films, why not have Japan do the same to American films? Kuroba-Fieldo (Based of the hit American found footage movie)
While the ending doesn't bother me like it did maybe a year ago when we first watched it, I could definitely see this being a solution to make it leas goofy.
@@CinemaNippon I think I’m the only one who didn’t mind the ending haha. It wasn’t necessary but it also didn’t bring down the film either. I enjoyed the film as a whole a lot more than I thought I would. Worth the watch for sure.
SPOILER, kinda. . . . . . . . . Can somebody PLEASE explain the Indiana Jones/voice talking to Eno thing? I found it really funny but I can't for the life of me understand WHY. Why was it censored? What (if at all) is the relevance to the plot? What kind of demented person enjoys the Crystal Skull? This movie really confused me, probably in a good way. Cult is up next.
The point of that was that when they were making this film (occult), the new Indiana Jones movie wasn't out yet. So they didn't know what the plot of it was gonna actually be about. So they pretended to say something about it but censored that out with beeps so that whatever the plot of the film turned out to be, it wouldn't actually matter. They wouldn't have made up something, and then it turned out to be wrong when they finally did get to see the Indiana Jones film
A lot of the beeping out of words. Like how they cobsistently beep out who the voice was throughout, is probably simply done for the sake of mystery. It could be god speaking to him, it could be a spirit, a shinto divinity, or even aliens. Beeping it out lets us imagine what was said. And it keeps us on our toes for clues. It may be (rather, probably was) some inconvenient thing that they said about the Indiana Jones movie that had yet to come out. So just bleeping it out keeps it ambiguous.
! спойлеры ! Почему-то все пишут про дешёвые эффекты и что лучше бы оставили только аудио дорожку... Но какой бы херни я не видела, эта картонность монтажа людей на фоне огромных мерзких существ, многовековая вера племени и тот факт, что главный герой не просто сошёл с ума после резни сумасшедшим, а готовился взорваться искренне веря в свою исключительность и приносимую им пользу, заставляет меня до сих пор покрываться мурашками от ужаса и отвращения. Теперь не могу спокойно вспоминать, как однажды пиявка присосалась к моему колену... Больше ни ногой в реки и моря :) :((
En lo personal pienso que Koji Shiraishi quiso repetir la fórmula de Noroi con Occult, se nota que el director quería más fama y reconocimiento ya que él mismo es uno de los protagonistas en esta película a diferencia de Noroi donde otro actor era el investigador paranormal, al parecer Koji Shiraishi sabe que los "Found Footage/Mockumentary" son su especialidad y por eso saca otra película con una temática similar a Noroi. - SPOILERS - Puntos buenos de la película: 1. El uso del folklore/religión de Japón para crear una historia de misterio 2. Una banda sonora creada únicamente con sonidos raros e inquietantes (en varios momentos los sonidos me recordaron a un videojuego de Silent Hill) 3. Durante 3/4 de la película va creciendo el suspenso y la intriga, especialmente con la información de Hiruko, los avistamientos de los “OVNIS” y la planificación del atentado terrorista. Puntos malos de la película: 1. La conclusión de la historia es correcta pero la escena final destruye toda la tensión que acumulamos durante las 2 horas de duración, la escena final es tan absurda que provoca risa, además la forma en que el director encuentra la cámara y la moneda se pudieron manejar de otra forma más realista. 2. Hay muy pocas escenas de terror en Occult y en lo personal no me causaron miedo o sorpresa, al terminar la película quedé decepcionado ya que Noroi con solo 2 escenas de terror logró sorprender al espectador de una forma impresionante, después de varios años de que vi la película sigo recordando esas escenas.
Hey, sorry it irritates you internally. Unfortunately, that's how our cat Chester (the one flying around onscreen) meows. Science has yet to find a way to beautify his voice, but personally I think he has the voice of an angel. Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad you enjoy the videos with or without Chester.
You know, the ending is indeed terrible and goofy and almost kills the whole movie. And it's still better than the Indiana Jones movie they watch at the end. I'd rather rewatch Occult a million times than Crystal Skull once. Hell, I'd rather be in this movie's version of hell.
I thought it was okay, when showing it to friends I usually stop the movie right after the camera and coin drop in the restaurant. I think the open ended approach would’ve been good but the true ending is still disturbing in a sense.
As much respect as I have for Shiraishi's "Found Footage" films, I'm going to honestly say I hated this film. The characters (especially the chief protagonist and the toady of a cameraman) are so dislikeable to a point of me not caring whatever happens to them. The soundtrack throughout the film is unreasonably loud and at times just annoying. There was a glimmer of a good idea to this story (I liked the Hiruko mythology and the mountaintop scenes), but failed in execution. Oh, and don't get me started on the joke of an ending scene........
