At an elementary school, there is a wing that has been closed off to the staff and pupils with the reason being that it is haunted according to rumours. One day a school girl called Mika follows a beach ball that has a mind of its own into the wing. Hearing the sound of laughter she follows it to an old bathroom and the 3rd toilet stall where she is attacked. Mika’s older brother and her friends decide to go looking for her and enter the wing but find themselves trapped inside when the doors lock behind them. The only option left for them is to venture further in the building and hope they can find a way out and also find Mika. Their school teacher manages to get trapped inside the wing as well and together they must avoid the ghosts that lurk there.
This is the first of a series of movies which was targeted towards Japanese kids/teenagers during the mid to late 90’s and they became very popular at the time. The movie is based on a series of ghost story novels by author Toru Tsunemitsu. It’s a fun and creative adventure romp which reminds the viewer of similar movies that appealed to Western teenagers during the 80’s. I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly scary movie except for perhaps small children.
It’s more or less a chase movie with the children and their teacher trying to escape from the ghosts they encounter in the school wing. There are some interesting designs for the ghosts/demons from a flying glowing mischievous ghost that sneaks up behind somebody and sticks his tongue out to those that can see him, a 40 foot person whose large feet stomps down the buildings’ hallways and a biology lab specimen in a jar that comes alive. The best one though happens to belong to the school janitor who morphs into a terrifying half human/half demon spider that kidnaps Mika and cocoons her into his web before stuffing her inside a glass cupboard. A reference to the famous Hanako-san legend is made when Mika is kidnapped from a toilet stall although the spirit of Hanako never appears in the movie. There’s a small twist at the end revolving around a schoolgirl that just mysteriously turns up inside the locked old building and joins the gang on their adventure. I sort of had an inkling of what the outcome of this twist was going to be so when it did happen it didn’t surprise me at all.
The young cast members in general perform well in their roles, in fact they do better than the majority of the adults. Hirayama Hideyuki directs this movie competently enough making sure that the ghosts in the story are a little bit scary but not too frightening enough as to give the young audience any nightmares. The story has been written well and the reason for the manifestation of the ghosts is because an old small clay statue has been broken outside the wing. The production values of the movie is quite high so the old fashioned special effects for the spooks aren’t cheaply done. The effects for the upside down room that the gang come across is really good.
Haunted School is a fun movie. It will definitely appeal more to children than adults. I thought it was an enjoyable and entertaining movie and well worth checking out.
Sadako’s Rating: 3 stars out of 5