Ghostly Countdown -- 3

As anyone who has been lucky enough to see Don’t Look Up will attest, Japanese filmmakers have a good handle on ghost stories. Less tends to be more, and it’s understood that detailed explanations often detract rather than add to the effectiveness of a spooky story. Recently I stumbled on a treasure trove of what amount to 5-minute Japanese horror haikus. I started watching them online late in the afternoon, looked up, and blearily realized that it was long after midnight and I’d just blown several hours on Youtube.

Whether these short films have been featured on Japanese television or are intended strictly for the Internet, they are fine exercises in chilling imagery and bare-bones storytelling. Some of are funny, some truly frightening, some almost poetic. Some seem to be based on folktales, one or two on well-known Manga, and some (like I suspect, "The Bombing") on personal anecdotes.

No subtitles, but they don’t need much translation. The stories are told mostly through imagery and action – not exposition. Transcripts included on the Youtube posts tend to consist of dialogue that's meaningless out of context. “Hey, Shiori!” “Wait!” “What’s that?” “Oh no!” “Stop!” “Oh my!” “I’ll call you later.”

All you really need to know about these two films is a bit about the Japanese tradition of household altars or shrines. These are intended to honor the departed or to protect shintai, which are objects, usually small circular mirrors, within which spirits reside.

Don’t Open It



A little girl left alone in the house is told by her grandfather, shortly before he leaves with her mother, not to open the family altar.

Of course she does. At the end, there are only two things you need to know. She asks her grandfather twice, “where is mother?” Instead of answering he says accusingly, “You opened, it, didn’t you?”

Watch it. And tell me what YOU think has happened.

“Tsurumi, whatever you do , don’t open the family altar today.”


The Bombing



A young woman takes a nap on a couch shortly after an earthquake.

There’s a word frequently reiterated in this film. “Attention!” The only other line of dialogue you need to know about is what the young woman says near the end.

“I’m sorry.”

"That day, I had stayed home with a cold. It was a weekday, so I was all by myself…"

Ghostly Countdown -- 5

Ghostly Countdown -- 4