The Booth (2005)

Scary movies are supposed to be scary. This one is not. A scary movie, or any movie, is supposed to make sense. This one does not. This movie is a confused cluster of almost random images, assorted flashbacks, and a guy staring and staring and staring into the camera. The ending seems to have absolutely nothing to do with any of the rest of the movie. I'm not even sure who was alive and who was dead. Why would anyone make a movie like this? Was it supposed to be artistic? It was just painfully boring and awful.

Viewed on DVD. Subtitles = ten (10) stars; restoration = ten (10) stars. Director Yoshihiro Nakamura delivers a remarkably suspenseful drama which is mostly confined to a single, tiny set (a long abandoned NHK radio studio). (How Director Nakamura crammed actors, equipment, and crew into such a tiny set is logistically mind bogging.) What makes things even more remarkable is that the film is in effect a two character story. Actor Ryuta Sato's masterful performance shows the disintegration of a once cocky late-night, call-in host (of a show for the teenage lovelorn) during what unexpectedly ends up as the final show. An old radio studio (into which the show has just moved temporally) has a reputation for being creepy and, perhaps, is haunted (years ago, a DJ committed suicide during a show which closed down the place); this is, of course, reinforced by the plot devices in this photo play. Actress Maiko Asano provides a scary counterpoint with a performance (especially her facial expressions) that is top-of-the-line Hitchcockian sinister. Cinematography (wide screen, color) and scene lighting are fine. Subtitles are among the best yet provided in support of a "standard Japanese" (Tokyo-Ben) dialect movie! Translations have been given careful consideration unlike the subtitles for many modern/restored Japanese films which often look/read like low-cost after thoughts. Grammatically well edited compared to line readings, they are just the right length to carry the story forward with minimal distraction and appear on screen long enough to be easily read/understood (and compared to line readings). A movie not recommended for viewing alone, especially at night! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Well, God and my friends sure know I had my share of bad Asian horrors, so thank you for delivering this little gem. It looks small but the potential is explored as much as its budget allowed it to.Very few places used in this movie, either they had a lack of finances or maybe they just wanted to keep it small, so it can feel more personal, helping the viewer to connect more with the main character. Did it work? I think it was a direct hit! No point in saying too much about it, cause I fear I may reveal important details in it, thus I will do nothing more than recommend this one. It works as a horror, has some nice humorous lines in it and that good ol' twist at the end! So don't read too much into it, watch it and thank me later.Cheers!

I liked this movie because it basically did more with less. It could have been made more interesting if they had kept it confined to the studio even more (though some of the plot elements would have been harder to develop).The guy playing the DJ did a good job of showing someone spooked out and haunted by his memories. I also found his dialog with the callers pretty funny.While parts of the movie you can see coming a mile away, other parts you do not expect to turn out the way they did.I thought it was a pretty minimal ghost story for the most part, concentrating more on the living side of the equation. The last 5-10 minutes were pretty well done as everything is being revealed.While it was a shorter movie, it felt to be just about the right amount of time to tell the story. Any more and it would have started to drag.