Toire no Hanako-san (1995)

Bit of a confused target audience but watchable.

I'm not really sure who this movie was aimed at. It's sort of looks like a horror movie (but its not really) and also sort of a school bullying and coming of age drama movie. I feel like it could appeal to a younger audience (of the age the cast are) but some beats and scenes are just a bit too dark to be appropriate.

The film is dominated by a cast of children and unfortunately most of them are not particularly good actors so you have to take it with a pinch of salt. I'm a big fan of Otsuka Nene who is rather young here playing the teacher and I don't think even she is doing that great in this movie and feels rather subdued.

The entire film just sort of plods along and never really hits any highs and the the ending feels a bit forced just to add some sort of tension and a way to have a conclusion. It's not bad per say but just feels a bit disjointed. I think it probably works best as a young adult creepy movie and perhaps that was the point but the elementary school setting seems a bit of an odd choice.

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