I finally got around to watching Takashi Shimizu's "Rinne (Reincarnation)" this week so I thought I'd post some comments.

"Rinne" is the third part of the "J-Horror Theater" series, following up on "Kansen" and "Yogen." When they first debuted, I was a bit weary of the series since "Kansen" and "Yogen" came out simultaneously at a time when the market was flooded with terrible horror movies ("Ju," "Juson," "Juen," "Nijubashimae"). When I finally did get around to renting "Kansen" and "Yogen," however, I was pleasantly surprised to find decent films with smart endings.

First, the bad news. If you're looking for something to scare you, these aren't it. Maybe I've been conditioned by the influx of great movies from the Asian horror scene, but I found none of the brooding, deep down fear that I was hoping for. You'll see knives, murderers, quick scares, and a ton of blood, but you won't see anything permanantly damaging like the . . . wa ha ha ha . . . elevator scene from "The Eye" or the basement scene from "Kairo (Pulse)" (two of my favorites).

What you will get are surprisingly apt supernatural thrillers. I know most supernatural thrillers are right up there with erotic thrillers in the quality area, but "Kansen," "Yogen," and ultimately "Rinne" succeed in the suspense field where they fail at horror. In general, the films start off with a basic horror movie premise, and for the first half they feel like just an average movie. However, the films really pick up in the latter half, ending with fairly unexpected conclusions. With "Rinne," I was really surprised to find subtlety from the man who created "Juon."

Oh, and the next film coming out from the series is "Retribution," by Kiyoshi Kurosawa!