"Shock Labyrinth 3D" revolves around a group of childhood friends who share a tragic and dark secret. Their friend Yuki went missing 10 years earlier in a haunted house attraction they snuck into. One night, the lost child shows up as an adult at her friends' front door, frightened and still dressed the same way she was when she disappeared. The group decide to take her to the hospital and upon arriving discover they are locked in the abandoned building with something or someone sinister playing with their minds. Shimizu has a way with pulling you into his films and getting you emotionally involved. He takes you through all sorts of different emotions, from fear to sadness to empathy all in a 90 minute time period. His work goes so much deeper than what American viewers have seen with his "The Grudge" movies. Fans of intelligent horror films will love the "Shock Labyrinth 3D." The movie is an atmospheric and claustrophobic journey through the darkest parts of a person's mind. The fact that it was shot in the actual "Shock Labyrinth" haunted house attraction in Japan helps with the distinctive character of the film.

The movie has an interesting premise; how did Yuki die, and why couldn't any of her friends help her? Then,it all too quickly goes downhill from there. I didn't particularly enjoy the 3D, it felt cheesy, and generally worked against the feel of the movie. As for the plot itself, it seemed like there were good bones to the story. But the direction, and all of the twists and strange facts thrown at the viewer were confusing. The plot would move from past to present, multiple perspectives, flashbacks, replays, and I found myself becoming bored, and uninterested in what was happening. I can put aside my annoyances about a poor plot if the resolution at least answers my questions. But, I found the ending to be too vague, and unclear about what happened to who, and what was even the point of the hour and some I sat through watching this. I really enjoy Japanese horror, but this movie frustrated me greatly. Again, the first 10 minutes were interesting, after that, pointless.

There are many things amiss in 'Shock Labyrinth'. It is a supernatural revenge story with a time travel paradox twist but it collapses inwardly on its convoluted execution until any sense of mood is completely destroyed. Plot-wise it has potential: something dreadful happens to a group of children when they enter a haunted house attraction after closing hours. Ten years later the girl who went missing returns, causing them all to face the past.An interesting premise only makes it more painful when the movie does not live up to it. Extremely redundant repetitions make 'Shock Labyrinth' extremely predictable yet at the same time rather random. Images that are supposed to be disturbing are overused to the point of becoming silly, such as the floating bunny plush toy. Dummies staggering about add insult to injury since they do not even fit into the narrative and only seem to be there for the sake of filling movie time.As far as acting goes, the child actors go very well and capture how a combination few childish mistakes can end in tragedy but the adult cast is for the most part hopeless. The one who does hold her water just so happens to disappear from the screen all too soon. There is much walking about in ill lit corridors and even if the deliberately cheesy set is unsettling at first it becomes tiresome all too soon. Good horror manages to increase the tension with each repetition but bad horror cannot help but flounder when employing such a tactic.And 'Shock Labyrinth' is a bad horror movie. After skipping about madly as if in search of closure the plot settles for the never missing twist. It is disappointing that a director that has already shown how he can inject innovation into J-horror should produce such a dispirited movie.

Complete utter disaster of a film. Nothing works: 3D effects are terrible and gimmicky, the plot is all over the place (above all, boring), and the adult actors seem to be sleep walking through the entire movie. I wish Takashi had stuck with the children and the far more compelling story. After establishing the basic premise of the story, it gets stuck in a pattern of repeating the same things over and over again with a twist here and there until the finale. There were just too many actors and not enough story to make it feature length film. The "horror" scenes are either unintentionally humorous or just boring. Ironically for a director known to build tension and atmosphere in his movies, the creepiness of the famous haunted hospital is completely lost.