An effective combination of 'change the future'-style sci-fi thriller and traditional Japanese horror. PREMONITION tells the story of an ordinary man caught up in some extraordinary events…and the dark avenues to which he is eventually led as a result of this.Things kick off with a shocking set-piece in which a young girl is killed in one of those accidents that are filmed so well in Asian cinema. Years later and the father blames himself for not saving her, as he was warned by a newspaper article in the moments before her death. Soon he becomes convinced that he can go back in time to save her, and becomes involved with various psychics who claim to be able to see the future.What follows is both familiar and unpredictable at the same time. Director Norio Tsuruta, hot off making RING 0, shoots this as a horror rather than science fiction film, so incorporates various scare sequences that end up being very effective. There's little to no gore here, just a creeping psychological approach that pays dividends as the story progresses. I defy anyone not to jump in their seat at the 'faceless ghost' scene.The pacing is rather slow – when isn't it in a J-horror? – but it gradually picks up as the film builds momentum, culminating in a blistering climax involving our protagonist hopping through realities at a dizzying pace. It reminded me of the hilarious extended fight climax of Wes Craven's SHOCKER, although of course it's treated seriously here. Hiroshi Mikami is excellent as the haunted protagonist – think of the calibre of Hiroyuki Sanada in Ring and you'll be close – and the film as a whole never pulls its punches.

Let me start by saying that it is not in the same league as Grudge or Ring. However, don't let that deter you from enjoying this refreshing supernatural thriller. The concept is a welcome change from the moved-into-a-new-home-and-kids-see-ghosts-adults-don't-see American horror movies. It is also not one of those teen-slasher-horrors where the teens get their heads cut off while having sex with silicon-implanted beauties. Actually it is not about any ghost at all. It is about an idea... An idea that information is strewn across time and some gifted individuals may gain access to the information that lies ahead in time. I won't spoil the fun by going any more in the story. You won't regret watching this movie as long as you have an open mind and reasonable expectations.

Skillfully edited and highly tensioned, Yogen is one every so often discussed psycho-horror. It's been produced from the idea of the same titled Japanese comic book of 1950s' and follows the storyline of a solid Japanese novel from the same decade. The comic book creates a heroic theme out of a psychic family man who saves his family from a traffic accident, while the novel focuses on precognitive newspaper delusions seen by ordinary people.In the opening scene, giving a little clue of the main idea, we're being introduced to a middle-aged female victim of a paranormal incident taken from a newspaper article. She is being tested over her newly acquired supernatural skills at an university research laboratory. The second scene, where main characters are introduced, has the heart-wrenching traffic accident that gives cause for a chain of more alike accidents. The common trait of each accident is that they both have precognitive warnings to their survivors. The survivors of this first accident were parents to a 5-year-old singleton, who got killed in the accident. To their surprise their daughter has been the only vein that holds them together. Atfer the death of their daughter they get parted. They both keep receiving precognitive warnings for next alike accidents of their colleagues, disciples, friends and relatives.Over the last few years we've seen likes of this idea in Hollywood. With Sandra Bullock, also with Nicolas Cage there were either action or drama based films displayed. Among all, Yogen has the most influential message: Everyone has tremendous abilities hidden inside that might become surfaced once in a while for everyone. But we're not born to behave like angels or daemons. To have psychic skills is no means of becoming stronger or wiser. Uncontrolled power is not power at all, and we're not born to have such powers.With extreme usage of melodrama and surrealist pen-portraits, Yogen is a one-way ticket for travelling into a metaphysical world of limitless secrets, symbols, dreams and intuition where time has lost its permanence.

On his way back from a family outing with his wife Ayaka, and their young daughter Nana, Hideki - an intelligent and well respected high school professor - stops off on a lonesome stretch of road to use the payphone. Whilst waiting in the phone booth for a connection, he finds a strange scrap of newspaper foretelling of his daughter's imminent death. As he contemplates the page in absolute horror, Nana struggles to unbuckle her seat-belt. Seeking assistance, Ayaka crosses the street and taps on the glass. Hideki looks up, startled, when suddenly... a runaway truck ploughs into the couple's stationary car with their daughter still inside. Ayaka and Hideki run to the car, only to watch impotently as a fire ignites and the car bursts into flames. This startling opening sequence sets the wheels in motion for an enthralling supernatural thriller that deals specifically with the notions of guilt, fear and the broader implications of fate; as Hideki and Ayaka are left to join forces to further understand the mysteries of this seemingly spectral newspaper in light of a series of new and perhaps even more damaging premonitions.The thing I like best about Japanese horror films of this particular type is the sense of atmosphere. The use of lingering, slow burning tension when a character approaches a closed door, and we know they shouldn't open it, but we still want them too, regardless! For me, it's everything that horror should be. No gratuitous gore, no shock MTV style montages, just a slow, lingering feeling of dread that grows with intensity from one scene to the next. It also helps that the majority of these films are directed with flair and imagination, while for the most part, offering us intelligent characters and interesting scenarios.For me, Premonition (2004) is up there with some of the best supernatural/psychological horror films of the last ten years; with its combination of eerie plotting, gloomy images and emphasis on character as opposed to cheap thrills. You could always argue that the plot isn't entirely original, seeming like a veritable patchwork of ideas previously developed in films as disparate as The Dead Zone (1983), Final Destination (2000) and The Butterfly Effect (2004); with the usual themes and motifs recognisable from other, more iconic "J-Horror" films, such as The Ring (1998), Dark Water (2000), The Grudge (2000) and Reincarnation (2005), as well as other non-Japanese productions such as The Eye (2002), The Quiet Family (2000) and A Tale of Two Sisters (2003); all of which add to the overall sense of drama and suspense. Regardless, despite the familiarity of the plot and some of its ideas, Premonition still rewards the viewer with an air of creeping mystery, dread, fear and paranoia; as well as some skilfully executed moments of subtle horror and white-knuckle terror.As with many Japanese films of this type, the central concept seems very much rooted in the traditions of old Japanese/Buddhist folktales; the kind of stories and fables that acted as the starting point for classic Japanese shock-cinema such as Kwaidan (1964), Onibaba (1964) and Kuroneko (1968), though with a modern-twist that recasts the idea of a newspaper that can predict future tragedies as more of a serious, unstoppable force; one that perhaps points to deeper, socio-political interpretations pertaining to the current state of Japan in the twenty-first century. Whether or not you choose to approach the film on any deeper, sub-textual level, will be entirely down to the individual, though there's still much to enjoy and take away from the film, even when approached as a straight, by the numbers horror.Like all the great Asian horror films - or any great horror film at all for that matter - it is the story that pulls us in, but the great use of atmosphere that keeps us enthralled until the very end. Although some critical opinion has been mixed; no doubt due to the over-exposure of Japanese/Asian horror cinema over the last five or six years - and in particular from tepid American re-makes - I feel that Premonition is a genuinely good supernatural shocker that should appeal to anyone with an interest in "good horror" that doesn't involve buckets of blood and severed limbs. Alongside Premonition, you can also find two other films from the same producer, Taka Ichise, both of which cover similar stories and ideas as the film in question. These films, Infection (2003) directed by Masayuki Ochiai and Reincarnation (2005) directed by Takashi Shimizu, were meant to be part of the larger "J-horror" collection (involving different supernatural-themed films directed by some of Japan's most creative genre filmmakers), which, at the time of writing, has subsequently been aborted.Regardless, if you like Premonition and appreciate the slow-burning sense of psychological and supernatural dread, then Infection and Reincarnation are both worth checking out, with both of those particular films capturing a similar, sinister mood that unfolds at a slow, lingering pace and works great, especially when experienced at around two o'clock in the morning; of course, just like the film in question.