Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Dave Boyle
Starring: Moeka Hoshi, Kento Kaku, Kurumi Inagaki, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Bokuzo Masana, Tae Kimura
With his recent supernatural thriller Presence, Steven Soderbergh introduced the notion of a ghost travelling back in time to a point when they were still alive. Japan-based writer/director Dave Boyle takes this idea to the next level with Never After Dark. Unlike the ghost in Presence however, the spook here is far from well-meaning.
Moeka Hoshi, whom western audiences may know from her role in TV's Shogun, plays Airi, a medium who makes a living travelling Japan and exorcising unwanted spirits. She is accompanied by the ghost of her sister Miku (Kurumi Inagaki), who died as a child. Airi's latest job is to get rid of an intrusive spirit from a former hotel that has recently been acquired by a new owner, Gunji (Kento Kaku), and her son Teiko (Tae Kimura). While Gunji places her trust in Miku and displays a fascination for her skills, Teiko views the young medium as a fraud.
Airi is left alone in the hotel to perform her work and encounters the troublesome ghost, a man with a hideously shattered jaw (Mutsuo Yoshioka). Despite his gruesome appearance, Airi isn't all that bothered by the spirit; she's seen it all before. But when the same man turns up very much alive and behaves in a very creepy manner, Airi begins to suspect that something awful is about to happen in the near future.
What's most interesting about Boyle's film is how intricately it details Airi's work, which is second nature to her but novel to the rest of us. She has a unique way of travelling from our world to the next via a ritual involving lighting a candle and burning a strand of her hair while staring at a hypnotic phenakistoscope in motion. To return to our plane she must extinguish the candle, and this is exploited for suspense as Airi later finds herself in situations that require her to get back to reality before she is killed by the sinister spirit on the other side. Hoshi's committed performance goes a long way to selling the movie's fantastical elements, playing the role like a woman who has become trapped in the only job for which she's qualified.
Boyle shuns digital effects, relying on old school tricks like Miku only being visible in reflective surfaces. The layout of the hotel with its many rooms and corridors proves perfect for initial skulking that later gives way to a full-on chase.
After a slowburn build, the climax verges on Evil Dead theatrics, complete with hurtling steadicam shots, but it lacks the invention of the film's build-up and plays out in predictable fashion. There is an unwelcome throwback to the torture porn era late on that jars with the more understated tone of the film up to that point. But this is mostly a well mounted chiller that will likely lead to Hollywood offers for its writer/director.
Never After Dark is on UK/ROI VOD from November 2nd.
