Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

unbrokenmetal Misa Kuroi (Kimika Yoshino) comes to a new school and is challenged by kids dabbling in magic. Her skills in the dark art don't fail to impress the others, but a much more dangerous master seems to be around. Misa can't find out who it is. Soon after, a lot of the kids are trapped at school. All doors are locked, and then mysterious killings begin... Unfortunately, the first movie of the series contains a few blunt scenes of lesbian sex and molestation that should better be left to the tentacle monster flicks. The 3 sequels have hardly anything of this way of exploitation. Apart from that one little complaint, we have an effective teen horror movie here, cheaply shot in the narrow spaces of a few corridors and classrooms, but with vicious shocks and the bizarre surrealism of a nightmare. Voted 7/8/5/6 for part 1-4.

Death_to_Pan_and_Scan I have never read the 70's manga by Shinichi Koga, so I cannot say how well the film follows its source.I first saw this a decade ago on a Japanese grocery store rental tape without subtitles, but this first film had such a straightforward minimal plot that a full translation wasn't really necessary to follow the story. After seeing it subtitled, I feel the same way I felt back then: It's a decent low budget splatter film with witchcraft elements which seems to have spent the bulk of its budget in about 3 minutes of CG SFX scenes at the end of the film. Almost the entire film takes place in the school, but the limited setting doesn't hurt the film.It's a pretty decent low budget film, but as the director stated is basically more of a relationship film with a horror backdrop than a typical horror film. I liked Kimika Yoshino in the lead role and thought she wasn't bad for a gravure model turned first time actress. Miho Kanno plays her new friend who shows her around school. You may recognize her from her role a few years later as the first Tomie. Prolific actress/voice actress Ryouka Yuzuki (aka Kanori Kadomatsu / Ayumi Nagashii) plays a schoolgirl who is having a lesbian affair with the teacher played by Mio Takaki (an actress from a few Ultraman films). The lesbian affair and its resulting nudity seems to be an idea of the producers to appeal to the exploitation audience and really doesn't add anything to the film.STORY: Misa Kuroi is a witch who battle the forces of darkness and tries to protect the innocent, not that she has too good a track record for saving her friends, as she readily admits. Unfortunately for her, the trail of deaths left in her path makes some see her as an evil occult murderer, when in fact she just goes where the danger happens to be. She's somewhat of a victim of circumstance in this regard. She transfers in to a new school where five local murders have made a pentagram of blood and now an evil cult plans to kill off 13 more hapless victims to bring Lucifer into the world to obtain his powers. A group of students has to stay after school to retake a test and is trapped inside, trying to escape what seems to be a certain and rather messy death at the hands of an unknown enemy. The resident 'goth' kid has read some books about magic and decides Misa's knowledge makes her the number one suspect.Sadly, the subtitlers at Tokyo Shock have an issue with consistency as they use at least 2 or 3 noticeably different spellings for the 3rd line of the Eko Eko Azarak chant. Luckily, the DVD is packed with extras.

ayumi_rocks333 I saw this movie on SBS (Australia) two years ago and have scanned the TV guide for it to come on again every week since! I loved it! This movie is the reason that I first became interested in learning Japanese language and about the culture (and I'm still doing it with the intention of becoming a teacher in Japan).I found the end to be, like a lot of movies that build you up, quite disappointing, but the attractiveness of the actors and the relative originality of the plot more than made up for it. Yoshino Kimika's character Misa is captivating - you can *see* she's no normal Japanese high school girl. Yoshino's doubtful earlier movie career must have brightened considerably on the release of this movie.However, Yoshino is not the only star in this production. Miho Kanno plays the submissive sacrificial lamb of the school, and with her plaintive face and doe eyes, you just can't help but go 'Awww' whenever she appears on the screen. The others, and unfortunately I can't remember all of their name, are equally as satisfying.For those of you who can't or won't understand Japanese culture, this movie may confuse you and frustrate you. However, those more open-minded of you who are willing to look past the cover, please see this movie!! I can't guarantee you won't be disappointed, but after all, beauty is in the eye of the movie critic.10 out of 10 for some great work by all involved.

duntrune Outstanding!!!! Smart, well crafted flick with a couple of twists I MOST CERTAINLY didn't see coming! Usually horror flicks are pretty damn predictable, but this was not! Instead of a bad dub job, we get subtitles, which I much prefer, except when it distracts me from the mondo Japanese cuties on the screen! Our star is some kind of gorgeous, and the other girls aren't too difficult to look at, either. The plot is nothing overly original or spectacular, but it's done well, you're in suspense all the way, there's red herrings aplenty, and the aforementioned twists hit hard, and you're saying "I'd have NEVER thought that would happen". The FX are so-so, but they don't distract at all, you're too into what's going on to worry about it. I know there's two sequels, and I'm going to be looking for them!!!!! 8/10 Excellent!!!!!