Description: Down on their luck and desperate for money to buy drugs, Mitsuru (Tetsuji Tamayama) and Maki (Asami Mizukawa) have the perfect plan. They kidnap a young girl and hide out in an abandoned school, awaiting acceptance of their demands. Everything is a going according to plan, except for one gross miscalculation. Their hostage died a year ago today. Now it's their turn.
Minimalism at your own discretion If you have seen many horror movies and know in your sense what is the type of "horror" you want to see, then "Pray" is not for you. For we know, real horror lies out there closer than you believe. "Pray" might not fit the horror section. That much is true. However, it does match as a simple, broad ghost story that leaves the audience speculating many times if you do not mind some simple elements.
In a cinematographic view, "Pray" has the tone of past ghost stories in its genre. This is viewed in the sets that have a blue glow while a raven-haired child stand there, adding stark contrast in the scene, as well in our minds, a mix of doubt and confusion. "Pray" focuses more in surrounding, something the actors play very well, yet does not have the extreme maximalism many horror fans actually expect.
As for the actors, their acting skills in personating the character was done very well. As for the two kidnappers, Mitsuru (Tetsuji Tamayama) and Maki (Asami Mizukawa), their sense of time and place is visible in the movie. It can be felt in the lethargy found in the intro or some parts in the middle, until the real confusion or climax unravels, which is until the very end.
"Pray", though, has open loops and holes in its plot. If you do not wish to be analyzing the whole actions and how overall, the plot was meant to be like this, making weak sense, then this movie is again, not for you. The reason why certain characters act like they are, such as Mitsuru and his vast sense of confusion and acting lost, Maki, the not faithful partner, and the other three friends of this gang, is summarized in a simple manner: Deep down, we are meant to see them as antagonists. None of the actions clear to us because of their past actions and resentment.
Despite this, what is the implication of the side story with parents looking for their lost child and the small girl kidnapped? Such truth is not found directly because of the many twists, turns, and stories found in this 92-minute film. We are only left to speculate if the ghost really was the way for the gang to pay their guilty actions of the past or recent present they felt.
With this, I leave "Pray" saying that while the plot was left too open for many to enjoy it, it does make use of minimalism in everything. Including to the fact of analyzing it not only by what you see, but by what a certain character must think. At your own discretion, of course.
Falters With Two Ghost Stories In One! "Pray," is a Japanese film that tries too hard to be different, and as a result, the film falters. What you have are basically two different ghost stories converging with each other. I kind of wish the director had just stuck the first one: The film may have been better. The film stars Mitsuru (Tetsuji Tamayama) and his girlfriend Maki (Asami Mizukawa) who have just kidnapped a girl. When Maki phones the parents house for a ransom, they discover that the child has been dead for a year. However, the film veers into something totally different, when the viewer discovers that there is something else going on as well. The place that the kidnappers have taken the child to is an old abandoned school, where Mitsuru once attended as a child.
Moreover, Mitsuru and Maki have acquaintances in this caper who are about to join them. ALL of the antagonists in this film were horrible. First, their acting was questionable, and the script just went right out the door the minute the other friends entered the film. This was not a very good horror film. Yes, it had potential, but like so many horror films, it takes a detour off into a boring mess of a film. One of the highlights for me was the parents of the missing child who have been waiting for the police to find their child, as she has been missing for a year. The mother and father go to see a spiritualist named Tazuko Aoyanagi, who tells them what has happened to their child, and where she can be found.
The mother believes her daughter is dead, while the father believes her to be alive. The film, oddly enough, is actually two horror films in one. There are two narratives going on at once. One dealing with Mitsuru and his past links to this elementary school, where a tragedy occurred many years ago, and the other one with the missing child. The director should have stayed focused on the story dealing with Mitsuru, as his was more interesting. One more thing too, I am getting a little irritated with the 'vengeful child' horror films. That's getting real old. Actually is was old a long time ago. I did not particularly like this film, with the exception of the ending. Which is why I believe the director should have stuck with Mitsuru's life. Not recommend. [Stars: 1.5]
The living are more fear-inducing than the dead . . . No doubt this film is chilling. The eerie, vacant atmospheres devoid of human life attend to this; even more chilling could be the dead-soul characters who wander its halls, visions of those completely amoral and lacking conscience. The only sense of redemption you receive is during Mitsuko's end, otherwise the whole lot of them are worthless, inhuman predators. The ending was probably one of the best parts of this film, although I have to say that the "J-Rap" that followed shortly after really ruined the effect for me. Japanese directors have to stop allowing J-Pop to ruin the effects of their horror films. Please, listen to reason!
Not all Japanese horror is good. The main difference between horror films in the U.S. and Japan is the tension. American horror films, for the most part, rely on shock value and special effects, while most Japanese horror films use the building-up of tension over the course of the film to give the audience the creeps. Japan has churned out some truly unique and scary films over the last decade, with prime examples being "Ju-On" and "Ringu". Both have been re-made in America to different degrees of success. The trap a viewer can get caught in is that not all horror films from Japan are good. With the film "Pray", the proof that the Japanese can make bad horror movies is all over the place. I was looking forward to viewing another great offering from Japan when I happened upon this film. The key to watching these films is to hang in there for the big payoff in the end (no better example than "Audition", a truly disturbing picture) but with this film, the payoff never comes. The film is poorly directed and written. The characters go off the deep end in terms of classic horror character stupidity. The director decided that a constantly flushing female urinal was scary. Three characters appear halfway through the film that have the words "body count" written all over them. Also, it would seem to me that if kidnappers lost their victim, they would have a little more sense of urgency to find them. Instead, they casually walk around the wide-open premises hoping they run into their victim. Early on in the picture when a kidnapper calls-in the ransom to the victim's parents, the person on the phone tells her that their child died a year earlier. The kidnapper then casually asks her partner if he thinks the child is a ghost. Cut to no reaction whatsoever?! Anyway, this is explained away about an hour later, but all of the elements of modern Japanese horror are simply not there. The films fades into sappy melodrama at the end and truly leaves this reviewer scratching his head over what he just witnessed. 1 Star for the film and an extra star for everybody dying because they didn't deserve to live.
There are better options This is a boring and plain bad movie.
Don't be fouled just because it is a Japanese horror movie. It is bad, there nothing to be scare of. This is not a thriller, not a psychological horror film, is really just a bad an very boring movie.
Don't waste any money on this movie. If you are looking for good horror Asian films try "A Tale of two sisters", "The eye", and "The eye 2".
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