Kisaragi Station is a 2022 Japanese horror film based on a text-based story that got shared around the internet about a fictional train station of the same name, posted on a Japanese messaging forum in 2004. If you would like an English translation of the thread, here is a translated version.
The first half of the movie switches between the past and the present. The framing device that ties them together is an interview between Tsutsumi, a college student interested in mysterious disappearances, and Hayama, a woman who had an experience of accidentally traveling to the other dimension.
This first half of the movie has good suspense and mystery, and as the camera shows exactly what Hayama was seeing through her eyes, it really puts the viewer in her shoes. The editing of the moments in the past uses blurs and filters to heighten the surreality of the experience, which makes the other world feel more dream-like.
When Tsutsumi goes to the other dimension herself in the latter half of the movie, it is less suspenseful as she has the advantage of foresight and can use that to her advantage. Still, the film continues to be entertaining as it uses unsettling and bizarre moments straight out of a nightmare to give the viewer fun and unusual scares.
The repeating dialogue and strange movements of the ‘people’ in the other world feel like how your brain fails to bridge the gap of information in a vivid dream, or like a glitch in a video game. The original thread only mentions the man in the taxi ‘talking to himself about bizarre things,’ so the film filled in the gaps in a way that adds more to the story.
The soundtrack in the first half of the movie is suitably eerie, which adds well to the creepy atmosphere. On the other hand, the soundtrack in the second half of the movie feels more fitting for a video game than a movie, and detracts some from moments that could otherwise be very tense.
The movie has some odd digital special effects, some of which seemed more believable than others. Personally I did not mind this though, as the scares in the movie are purposefully unreal and dreamlike.
Overall, it is a fun ride and a unique movie. I was very surprised what this movie did with the concept, as I was unsure how they would adapt the material into a full length movie. The thread is not particularly long, and before I watched it, I was curious as to what they would do with the story.
I believe that more can be done with the concept, and I think that the second half of this movie could have benefited from a bit more of the tense atmosphere present in the first part of the movie. It’s good for a horror film to have some levity, as some of the tension is lost if it isn’t released sometimes. However, I think that it can make later scenes lose their impact if the audience feels that they do not have to take it seriously.
Still, I enjoyed seeing this interpretation of a strange parallel dimension in live action. If there were ever to be a sequel made, I would certainly check it out.