The film centres on a young, precocious neuroscientist, Tomohiko Kataoka (Daigo Nishihata), who visits a secluded island to become part of a research team exploring the links between the mind and virtual reality. Tomohiko receives intermittent apparitions of the dead woman haunting the island and its inhabitants. The apparitions manifest within their virtual reality experiments as if the vengeful ghost has found a pathway through this man-made medium.
The style is no different from THE GRUDGE series, where the ghost of the brutally departed victim seeks revenge, but this time around, the attacks happen within an imagined reality. Or do they? The supernatural meets the futuristic world as a plotline is new territory for Shimizu as he marries the unpredictability of both.
The film’s highlight happens in the sea, and the experience of drowning is virtually experienced within the confines of a lab. That could be the most original this horror instalment gets as most elements remain faithful to the scare tactics of the previous GRUDGE movies. It is a novel premise on its own, although the murky waters of genre blending extend the audience’s experience of reality itself.
The 30th Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival from Queer Screen starts 15 February – 2 March 2023, with various LGBTQI+ films on offer.
Oscar 2026 nominations have been announced, with Sinners leading the field with 16 nominations (an all-time record), followed by One Battle After Another with 13. Next came a tight cluster: Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value each scored 9, while Hamnet landed 8. Other noteworthy Best Picture contenders rounding out the lineup were Bugonia, F1, The Secret Agent and Train Dreams — with The Secret Agent standing out as the “international crossover” pick that showed up in both Best Picture and International Feature.
