CREEPY

Japan, 2015, 130 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Kyoshi Kurosawa.

Creepy is an effective Japanese thriller. The central character is certainly creepy in his attitude and behaviour, giving the film, especially as it goes on, an eeire atmosphere.

The central character is a detective, with expertise in the mentality of serial killers who, at the beginning of the film, tries to confront a killer who then takes a hostage and kills her when the detector had pleaded with the man, even giving up his gun. A year later the detective is lecturing at a university, explaining the nature of serial killings to his students.

He becomes interested in an unsolved case and one of his former assistants wants to work with him. In the meantime, he and his loving wife have moved into a new house, want to be hospitable to the neighbours, one of whom is quite eccentric, with a young daughter who goes to school, who becomes somewhat infatuated with the wife – and, through the complexities of the plot, is at the centre of the case that the detective is investigating. It all builds up to quite a melodramatic climax.

So many of the crime dramas from Japan in the 1990s and onwards tended to be ghost stories or with the touch of the supernatural – this is not supernatural, rather a straightforward story.

1. The title? Serial killers and their work? The eerie neighbour and his crimes?

2. Japanese setting, police story, police precincts? The quiet suburbs, homes and streets? The interiors of the homes? The sinister cellars and corridors? The musical score?

3. The detective, the prologue, his interrogation of the criminal, the psychopath, the criminal saying had a code of morality? The assistant with the gun? The escape, the search, the criminal holding the woman hostage? The detective mediating, offering to turn his back, his being stabbed, the criminal slitting the woman’s throat, his being shot?

4. Transition, one year later? The detective and his wife, the quiet home in the suburbs, moving in, unpacking, the quality of their relationship? Pleasant, cooking, the various meals sequences? The gift for the neighbours, the cranky woman and her sick mother? The next door neighbour, awkward, his appearance, being rude, the chocolates, the daughter coming home from school? His accosting the detective and complaining about his wife’s invasion of privacy? Wanting her off? His eerie presence?

5. The detective, the university, becoming a professor, the students in class, his reading his lecture, serial killers, the 20th century, in the United States? Organised, disorganised, mixed characteristics? The office, the research officer, showing him the computer listing of crimes? The interest in the open case?

6. The former assistant, his visit, the going to the house, not going in, the photos? The background of the story, the family and the disappearance? The mixed testimony of the daughter and the case being dismissed? The second visit, finding the daughter, the discussions with her? Her gradually remembering things? Her grandmother warning them away? The later meetings, her wariness, being upset, gradually remembering more? The confrontation with the photo of the sinister neighbour?

7. The detective’s wife, at home, meeting Nishino, his seductive manner, his using the drugs, his sway over her? Inviting Nishino and Mio over to the meal, the nice meal, praise, bonding?

8. The interiors, the assistant arriving, going into the house, the corridors, the explosion, his death, killing the women? People arriving – and Nishino watching television and his explanation about the sound?

9. Mio, schoolgirl, with Nishino, in the basement, with her mother, death, the corpse, burning it, the detective’s wife and her presence?

10. The detective, the girl further explaining the mystery, the people next door, their identities? The intervention of the police?

11. The attack, in the street, the policeman going into the house and falling into the trap, the detective being taken in, the interrogation, his being let go?

12. The visit, the unmasking of Nishino, the wife and the injection, Nishino as a coward? The detective in the house, falling into the trap, his being abducted? His wife, the bond, yet the injections? Nishino driving them to the new house? In the street, the death, the gun? Nishino and the revelation of all the truth?

13. The solution, Mio and the gun, shooting Nishino? Her being free – and husband and wife being reunited?