DVD Movie Review | Premonition (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Premonition (UK Rating: 18)

There are plenty of stories out there that are clearly developed just off the back of a promising premise, and this is definitely one of them. The story is actually an adaptation of a manga series from the '70s by Tsunoda Jiro, although it's considerably different to the source material. The original manga followed Kagata Mei, a high school student who suffers from a curse. The titular "fear newspaper" shows him horrific events yet to occur, and Kagata must try to stop the events from happening or have his life shortened each time he fails to do so.

This adaptation keeps the "fear newspaper" and the premise of trying to stop the traumatic events that it predicts, but has a completely different story. Ayaka and Hideki Satomi are travelling home with their young daughter, Nana, from a trip to the grandparents' house when Hideki's obsession with his work causes an unplanned detour that leads Hideki to the dreaded newspaper. The newspaper has an article on a truck crashing into a parked car and killing a little girl. The girl in the picture is his Nana. The article shows the accident happened at 8pm… Hideki looks at his watch and… well, it's easy to guess what happens next.

Jumping to three years later, Ayaka and Hideki have gotten divorced, yet the events of that night are still very close to them both. Araka is working with a famed psychic, looking into the supernatural and hoping she can unearth the truth about the paper. Meanwhile, the paper is still appearing to Hideki and it leads him on a mission to find others who have seen it and to establish the truth behind the premonitions in its pages, and see if they can be stopped.

While part of the J-Horror collection, the film is relatively tame on the scares, feeling more like a thriller with a supernatural premise. The horror here is replaced with dread, a tense fear of the inevitable after seeing the premonitions. There are also plenty of creepy visual sequences to unnerve the audience; these brief glimpses are something that J-Horror has always excelled at, and end up feeling almost like part of the video from The Ring.

6/10

Good

The premise of fighting against deadly premonitions is certainly nothing new. It's a story that has been explored in plenty of forms before this, but Director Norio Tsuruta has delivered his own unique spin with this story. Premonition is an enjoyable supernatural thriller, with some interesting ideas and chilling moments, but ultimately is nowhere near the level of what has come before in the J-Horror collection.