Bunshinsaba: Ouija Board (2004)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Who knows what's the trademark of almost all of the Asian horror movies? Yes, you're right: a ghost or a spirit shaped as a girl(or a woman) with her long, dark hair over the face. In small doses, at the right moment, usually associated with creepy sounds or eerie score, moving suddenly or with broken movements, those out-of-this-world presences have the power to scare to death the poor characters unfortunate enough to be in their path. Now, ladies and gentlemen, in "Bunshinsaba" you have the longest presence on-screen of the aforementioned long-haired female ghosts in the entire Asian horror history. If you have a better example, please let me know.Now you think that will make this movie the scariest of them all? Errr...no. "Bunshinsaba" is a horror movie, no doubt about it. But, it's scare factor is average or even low. Despite some (very short) disturbing images, it's hard to be really terrified. No unsupportable tension from "Shutter", no gruesome-deformed faces from "The Ring". The last three-quarters of the film we're dealing with the ghost, who-as usually-seek revenge. The main problem is that we have real difficulties to know who's the real person, who's the real person possessed by the vengeful spirit, who's the real spirit, what's real and what's imagination and who's the reincarnation of the spirit. It's not easy to follow. Once invoked(at the beginning) the spirit move from person to person, determining the subsequent behavior. Some commit suicide by putting a plastic bag over the head, spilling flammable liquid over and set it on fire. Other girl throw herself out of window.About the standard, mandatory, long-haired girl(notice that I didn't said "ghost"): As I said, you will see a LOT of standard stuff. A face looking down and then slightly starting to rise the sight. Don't expect demoniacal expressions, sudden scares in sync with loud sounds. Once is the real girl-school, next time the ghost, next another girl possessed by the ghost. Hmmm, pretty twisted, maybe a second viewing is necessary.Otherwise, even the plot is relatively clear, it is also pretty twisted. There's a lot of talk. All the girls are beautiful and in general the cast consist in pleasant-looking people. Unfortunately, if you want to be really scared, this is not the right movie.

I saw this movie recently on Sundance and can't wait for the next airing. I read a review on this site which referred to the women in this movie as "hot",I find that term "hot" degrading to art.Instead, I would say beautiful and mesmerizing, The women are sexually beautiful, but it's MUCH more than that. There are very few or special effects in this production.I would say (knowing little about the world-wide movie business), that it is the most visual stunning movie I have ever seen!While I admit, I found the movie a bit hard (I only speak English) with just the subtitles to follow, I look forward to seeing it again!

This was the 1st film I saw at Frightfest as part of the Glasgow film festival last week and it shows how un-original and uninspiring Asian horror films have become.The story is basically about 3 girls at school who are getting bullied and one of them has the bright idea to invoke the spirit of bunshinsaba from a ouija board, now there are no prizes for guessing what this bunshinsaba thing does to terrify people, you guessed it, yep - it's the old long dark hair, scary eyes routine again.It worked in Ju-on and also Ringu but I think we're all getting a bit tired of it now.I'd love to see an Asian horror film about killer dolls or something cause to be quite frank little girls with long dark hair don't scare me anymore.Avoid.

Yu-jin is new in a school in a small village that are non to happy about outsiders. She is picked on by a group of girls and decides to put a curse on them using a ouija board. During the curse the girls are all told that whatever they do, keep their eyes closed at all times or the spirit will enter them. Yu-jin of course opens hers and she is entered by a spirit. The next day at school, one of the girls who Yu-jin had put a curse on seems to have killed her self by placing a plastic bag over her head, dousing it in lighter fluid and setting it ablaze. It turns out that the spirit in Yu-jin is the spirit of a girl who had been killed by the villagers years ago in the same way.OK so this is another Asian ghost story so what makes this one different from the rest? Well to tell the truth not much. I really think that its time now that the whole girl with her hair over her face ghost was done away with now. It was great in Ringu and still pretty good in Ju-on, but now its just overdone and predictable. There are still plenty of good things coming out of the far east but unfortunately this isn't one of them. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad film. It has some reasonably effective scares here and there but it is just nothing new.The film does boast some lovely camera work. Lots of great movement and nice angles make this a stunning film to watch and the acting is all pretty good. I have yet to see the directors other films including Phone but from what I hear, this film isn't quite on par with that. The story line is all OK until about the hour mark where things start to get stale and a bit dull.This is a film that I would find hard to recommend. To your casual horror fan I would say check it out, especially if you haven't seen to many Asian films. But to anyone with a keen interest in the Asian horror film genre I would say only watch if you have to see every film that comes out of the continent as you wont find anything new here.5/10