It is probably no secret that I am a major fan of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s work. His use of locations dredges up the creepiest buildings in Tokyo, his direction is impeccable in creating an unnerving atmosphere, his interest in characters disjointed from reality leads to getting hypnotic performances from his actors, his ability to weave the supernatural into everyday urban decay is convincing, all of this makes for compelling stories, modern nightmares that leave me grinning at the imagination and suggestions regardless of the sense of an encroaching apocalypse in every ending. So when Loft’s ending caused me to burst into laughter that should be a bad thing right?
Reiko Haruna is a popular prize-winning romance novelist who is suffering writer’s block and sickness causing her to hallucinate and vomit black liquid. She decides to leave Tokyo and agrees with a move to an isolated house in the countryside, a suggestion her editor Kijima (Hidetoshi Nishijima) comes up with in the hope it will get her to write faster. Unfortunately the house has faulty lights and the previous occupant left all of their stuff after suddenly disappearing, not to mention the fact that there is a spooky vacant building behind it which is supposedly a training centre part of Sagami University. One night she goes to balcony and spots her neighbour unloading what looks like a body from back of his 4×4, taking it to the building. Intrigued she digs around and finds out that he is Makoto Yoshioka (Etsushi Toyokawa), an anthropologist who became famous after discovering a thousand year old mummy named Midori in a nearby swamp. Reiko and Makoto find themselves drawn together, their problems facilitating contact with each other. These problems include Reiko being bullied by her increasingly aggressive editor and Yoshioka having serious misgivings about handling the mummy. Soon both find themselves plagued by disturbing visions as multiple dangers converge on them.
Genkinahito 