{"id":30118,"date":"2024-11-22T02:46:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T10:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30118"},"modified":"2024-11-22T02:46:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T10:46:29","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-tomie-1998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30118","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: TOMIE (1998)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is\ncurrently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you have read any Blu-ray reviews from this site over the\npast couple of months, you\u2019ll know that Arrow Video have recently been putting\nout several J-Horror pictures. For those unfamiliar with this massive cinematic\ntrend in Japan, horror pictures in the country began being produced in large\nquantities in the 1990s, but almost exclusively for the home video market. In\n1998, Ringu <\/em>aka The Ring <\/em>was released to theaters and became a\nmassive success. The next several years saw a huge increase in genre films\nactually being put in cinemas and drawing audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first that came on the heels of Ringu<\/em> was Tomie<\/em>.\nWhile this movie didn\u2019t make as big an impression in North America as that\ninternational hit, it was still hugely successful in its homeland. So much so\nthat it has since spawned eight follow-ups. Now, Arrow Video is releasing a\n\u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of the original movie so that the series can be\nintroduced to viewers in this part of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the manga comic of the same name, the plot follows\nTsukiko Izumisawa (Mami Nakamura), a young woman suffering from amnesia.\nDetective Harada (Tomoro Taguchi) who is looking into a strange case begins\nfilling in details. He\u2019s investigating the murder of a female friend of\nTsukiko, as well as the slaughter of several other students whom the lead can\nno longer remember. Bizarrely, he learns that this deceased girl, Tomie\nKawakami (Miho Kanno), was also murdered three years earlier in a different\ndistrict. He has discovered that Tomie has the power to regenerate herself and\nhas done so regularly over the past century. It seems that the supernatural\nfigure ends up leaving most acquaintances dead in her wake. Of course, it isn\u2019t\nlong before a strange mass begins growing in Tsukiko\u2019s neighboring apartment\nand the protagonist soon comes face to face with a brand new Tomie.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film tackles teenage themes involving coming-of-age, not to mention feelings of disassociation from humanity. It seems that every time Tome regenerates, she\u2019s even more detached from the people she encounters and has become little more than a self-centered and menacing force (with a particularly unsettling smile). As mentioned, the screenplay also deals with Tsukiko attempting to find her identity, as well as deal with threatening forces that surround her, both supernatural in normal life (her boyfriend even becomes a target of Tomie).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a generally eerie mood to the piece. It is\nslow-moving at times, but one can see the story develop and build up a creepy\nand menacing tone. The film was noted and occasionally criticized during its\noriginal release for shying away from the more graphic aspects of the manga\nbooks. Yet there are numerous disturbing scenes that include a nasty\ndecapitation, as well as the sinister villainess trapping Tsukiko and\nattempting to feed her cockroaches. There are plenty of deranged moments, and\nalthough the story doesn\u2019t always make sense, it works well enough as a surreal\nhorror film to keep viewers entranced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This Blu-ray presents a high-definition presentation of the\nfilm. Like other titles from this era, it\u2019s not a big budget movie and many of\nthe dark interiors appear somewhat grainy. It\u2019s still a much better\npresentation than hard-to-find earlier releases of the film. And the shots\ntaking place in daylight are very clean and nice to look at. A few shots of the\nlead biking down the street, and a later scene that is set in a harbor look\nexcellent. In the end, this is a much-improved presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The disc includes an Amber T. film historian commentary that\ngives background information on the production and delves into the deeper\nmeaning and themes of the film. It seems that the manga this movie is based on\nwas primarily aimed at teenage girls and some of the insecurities that they\nfeel during this period in their lives. This speaker describes many of the\nfemale-centric issues and allusions in the movie and is surprised that\nwriter\/director Ataru Oikawa handled so many of them so well. It\u2019s an intriguing\nand informative listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interview with the director himself, who\nlooks back on the production and turning a manga comic into a feature film. He\nadmits to wanting to avoid depicting the graphic violence in the source\nmaterial, instead preferring to use a surreal and atmospheric approach to send\nchills down the spines of viewers. He talks about meeting and getting along\nwell with the author of the manga, even agreeing with his casting suggestion\nfor Tomie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The disc also contains an interview with Mami Nakamura, who\nshares her experience working on the picture and playing the lead. She (as well\nas the director in his discussion) go into how some of the creepy bits were\nshot and some of the ideas they were trying to communicate. It seems as though\nthe production went very smoothly and everyone was happy with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another bonus is also a talk with producer Mikhiko Hirata\nwho explains how he met director Oikawa and got involved in the production.\nThere is also an archival interview with the creator of the manga series\ntalking about this version of the character and what she represents. He also\nnotes how he ended up making an amusing cameo in the film. A trailer for the\nmovie and an image gallery is also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And if that wasn\u2019t enough, a collector\u2019s booklet is included\nin the packaging that has more writing on the movie from critics specializing\nin Japanese cinema. There is also a reversible sleeve on the disc featuring new\nand original art for the film.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomie<\/em> is an odd but effectively eerie film that\nfeatures a strange, creepy and quite unique teenage monster. The sequels that\nhave followed have reportedly all put their own different spin on the\ncharacter, but his initial outing ranks as one of (if not the best) efforts in\nthe series. There are some disturbing and surreal moments that do make a\nlasting impression. If you like J-Horror, then you\u2019ll certainly want to pick\nthis \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray up and add it to your collection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is currently available for purchase. If you have read any Blu-ray reviews from this site over the past couple of months, you\u2019ll know that Arrow Video have recently been putting out several J-Horror pictures. For those unfamiliar with this massive cinematic trend in Japan, horror pictures in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[134,1836,2928,2933,9319,10055,10385,23051,23052,23053],"class_list":["post-30118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-134","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-horror","tag-j-horror","tag-japan","tag-tomie","tag-tomie-blu-ray-review","tag-tomie-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}