"Premonition" is an exceptional horror film--with a very original plot that kept me on the edge of my....well, actually, it was not my seat--I was actually watching while walking on my treadmill! But either way, it's a dandy film, that's for sure.The film begins with a family coming back from a trip. The father, Hideki Satomi, is too busy with work he's doing in the back seat of the car to pay any attention to his wife and daughter. When they stop at a pay phone, things get VERY strange. Hideki sees a newspaper on the ground under the phone and something grabs his attention--a clipping that talks about his daughter's death!!! And, the article tells the time she was killed--just a moment away! Hideki tries to run from the phone booth to the car parked across the road--but he's too late. An out of control truck careens into the car and kills the little girl.Several years pass. Hideki's marriage has crumbled and he's divorced. It seems that his story about seeing the article has ruined his marriage--ask she doesn't believe he saw this weird prescient clip--and it was lost in the confusion of the accident. And, he's simply obsessed by it--as well as quite depressed. The wife returns to him, however, when she realizes that there are others who have described similar things---claiming to have knowledge of deaths JUST BEFORE they occur! There is much more to the film--but I really don't want to ruin the film. Suffice to say, it's extraordinarily creepy and original. And, although technically a horror film, it's also a wonderful film about love and sacrifice. Well worth your time, that's for sure.

Don't get this confused with that garbage Sandra Bullock flick of the same name. Premonition (or Yogen if you're a cinephile snob) is a nice little surprise in the J-horror genre. Actually, J-horror doesn't exactly define Premonition all that well. A little bit Twilight Zone and a little bit Kiyoshi Kurosawa, it has plenty of that impending doom feeling, immediately followed by goose pimples. There was at least one scene where I wanted to turn off the movie because it shook me bad enough to rattle my nerves, so that's good enough to warrant a recommend. I'm sure if I went back and watched this again anytime soon, I'd probably bump it up higher. So for now, let's just call it a day and say 7 out of 10. Enjoy!

We learn from the DVD extras from an interview with the Director, that "Premonition" is based on a 30 year old Japanese horror novel titled "Fear Newspaper". The plot involves people who are sent newspapers from unseen forces that foretell the calamitous events or murders in the near future. Premonition reminds me of the 1944 American film "It happened tomorrow" where a man receives a copy of tomorrow's newspaper which predicts his own demise.In this Japanese version, the protagonist is Hideki Satomi. He's a high school teacher obsessed with his work so when traveling on a vacation with his wife, Ayaka, and 5 year old daughter, Nana, the power fails on his notebook computer and he insists that his wife turn their car around and backtrack to a pay phone a few miles away where he can plug the computer into a power source and recharge the battery. As he's waiting for the battery to recharge inside the phone booth, his wife is having trouble extricating Nana from the car as the little girl's dress has gotten stuck inside the seat belt. Meanwhile, Hideki is dumbfounded when a burnt up piece of newspaper comes floating from the sky and rests in front of him inside the phone booth. The newspaper has a picture of his daughter with a caption announcing her death in a horrible accident. Seconds later, as Ayaka leaves the car and goes across the road to get Hideki to help her get Nana out of the car, a truck plows into the car, causing it to catch fire, explode and kill the hapless little girl.Flash forward three years later. Hideki and Ayaka are no longer together (we later learn that Ayaka no longer wanted to hear about the mysterious newspaper that Hideki kept harping upon). Ironically, when the 'fear newspaper' (otherwise referred to as 'newspaper of terror') suddenly starts popping up in Hideki's life again predicting ghastly events, Hideki wants nothing to do with 'newspapers' and is oblivious to their clues; but Ayaka is now a researcher of psychic phenomena at the local university and is intent on getting to the bottom of what might have happened with the 'fear newspaper'.Ayaka is working with an older woman, a psychic who uses her power to produce images on Polaroid (instant) film. The psychic tells Ayaka of a researcher, Rei Kigata, who has disappeared but prior to his disappearance discovered there is a place in the cosmos where all thoughts and memories coalesce. Certain people (like Hideki) become privy to incidents in the future through the fear newspaper which appear (as previously stated), out of nowhere. This is perhaps the weakest aspect of Premonition's story. Unlike the aforementioned "It happened tomorrow", where an old man delivers the newspaper, and there is some kind of relationship between the old man and the protagonist, the 'fear newspaper' arrives as a result from an unseen, vaguely defined force in the cosmos. It would have been much more compelling if there was some kind of devil-like figure that was delivering the newspaper instead of the random delivery which simply wasn't suspenseful.Ayaka soon finds the psychic dead in her research laboratory. Meanwhile, Hideki is powerless to stop the murder of one of his teenage students despite receiving prior notification that the ghastly event will occur. Hideki continues to receive warnings of catastrophic events (such as a landslide) through the fear newspaper and again he's unable to do anything. We're even past the midpoint in the film and the central question is not asked—what can Hideki do to reverse the events that led to the death of daughter? Finally, Ayaka's research assistant finds the address of the mysterious Rei Kigata and Ayaka and Hideki go to visit him. However, when they arrive the house is deserted. By watching various old videotapes (some 12 years old), they see that Kigata attempted to alter the future interfering in the very events that are predicted to come true. We can see that Kigata begins developing plague-like symptoms on his body as a result of his meddling with the future.Finally Hideki realizes that he can change fate but at a cost. Three quarters of the film is already over and finally a suspenseful event occurs. Hideki (after receiving another newspaper) prevents his wife from getting on a commuter train before it crashes and kills most everyone on board. However, Ayaka's research assistant was with her in the train and Hideki doesn't realize it when he pulls his ex-wife off onto the platform right before the train leaves the station.Now Hideki finds himself caught in some kind of vortex where he's going backward in time. Before he knows it, he's back at the scene where his daughter was killed. He tries to interfere, saves the daughter but this time the wife is killed. Then he finds himself inside the cab of the truck with the truck driver who's had the seizure; again he can't stop the truck from plowing into his car. Finally, he remembers what the psychic had told him: you can change your own fate. This time 'he gets it'. He's able to save his daughter but must sacrifice his own life to save the little girl.There's a ton of great material on the DVD extras including numerous scenes that show us how Premonition was made. I was impressed with the degree of cooperation between the director and the rest of the cast and crew. Nonetheless, director Norio Tsuruta resorts to introducing too many horror clichés (e.g. the drooling serial killer) at the expense of a tight and suspenseful plot. Without a clearly defined antagonist and the failure of the protagonist to be proactive throughout most of the film, Premonition fails to accomplish its goals: consistently scare its audience and keep it in a state of suspense.

Yogen begins with a tight sequence full of foreboding. A married couple with their young daughter are driving home from vacation when the father, Professor Hideki Satomi, needs to send an email. To get an internet connection they stop at a phone booth, and whilst waiting for his email to connect Hideki receives a shocking premonition. He discovers a newspaper depicting his daughter Nana's death: she dies in a car explosion, alone, after an impact by a lorry. He spots the date - it's today's - he sees the time - it's now - it happens right behind him, his wife Ayaka having tried unsuccessfully to release Nana from the back seat. This opening is suspenseful and subsequently sets a high expectation for the rest of the film.We now travel three years into the future where Hideki and Ayaka are divorced, their marriage not having survived the horrific experience and aftermath of Nana's death. Their continuing relationship is explored with surprising depth: no character is wholly blamed for past events and both leads are written believably and with sympathy. Hideki soon becomes haunted with other premonitions, and with his ex-wife's help finds some answers about his own fate and others. This leads to the most disappointing part of the film, the meandering middle section, where audiences fidget and become eager for a pay-off.It's worth the wait. With a journey into hell, one shocking sequence in particular and some genuine 'jump' moments, Yogen also manages to incorporate familiar concepts from films such as Groundhog Day and The Butterfly Effect. Despite this, the premise still feels fresh and the last twenty minutes deserve full attention.I wouldn't classify Yogen solely as a horror, as the conventions of mystery, thriller and even some romance are also apparent. This film relies more on character development and a well thought-out (albeit sometimes slow) script than cheap shocks or blood and gore. With strong acting (most notably the stressed-out and suitably skinny performance from Hiroshi Mikami as Hideki), nicely crafted sequences and a pervading score, this film is predictable and unpredictable in equal measures. Admittedly uneven, if a viewer has enjoyed films of a similar premise, they can be confident Yogen ultimately delivers and entertains.