JAPAN CUTS: Nightmare Detective II（ 悪夢探偵２）

On Wednesday, July 14th I attended the US Premiere of Nightmare Detective II at the Japan Society's cinema festival - Japan Cuts. The festival began on July 1st and ended on July 16th. Unfortunately I was only able to make it to this one screening despite having wanted to see Confessions, Sweet Little Lies, and Golden Slumber.

Having never seen Nightmare Detective before it's sequel, I thought it only fair to watch it before writing my review-ish blog post.  Luckily for me, I was able to watch Nightmare Detective II without any background necessary because the sequel is more like a prequel, as I will explain.

Nightmare Detective II is the story of a man with the ability to read the mind's of others and enter their dreams on will; however, this "gift" has been more a curse to him than anything else. In the movie we watch as Kagenuma struggles to understand why he has fallen victim to nightmares while attempting to solve a case that reminds him of the traumatic experiences during his childhood with his mother.

For those who fell in love with the Nightmare Detective, (and who couldn't) it would be hard to turn down a chance to see Kagenuma on screen again. Nightmare Detective was everything one would expect from a good horror movie - gory and psychologically thrilling. It was suspenseful and mysterious, giving away just enough during each scene to make us crave for more. THIS is what I would have expected from Nightmare Detective II; however, it was not the case. Nightmare Detective II was, to say the least, extremely confusing.  There are definitely parts of the movie, that otherwise explained further, don't make any sense existing - random dead school children that parade at night? It was hard telling when the characters were experiencing a dream or reality, and while this probably adds a little bit of mystery to the movie, it is never really explained later. I looked forward to the ending for some clarity, but was left with more of a "... huh?" feeling and nothing seemed resolved.

So for those of you who have seen Nightmare Detective and are curious to learn more about Kyoichi Kagenuma's past, it wouldn't hurt to see the sequel. I wouldn't recommend watching it before the first one though, because it might turn you off from giving Nightmare Detective a try.

Aside from the movie, the theater at the Japan Society was a good size and offered pretty comfy seating. There was also a small introduction given before the movie which I found helpful in learning  about the director and the movie's background.

I look forward to more of the Japan Society's events and next year's JAPAN CUTS.

La Tenoli