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 here have been a great many film adaptations of
video games, the overwhelming majority of which have been cheap,
unimaginative cash-ins on the product name. This is especially true in the
horror genre, where fans have been afflicted with the vacuous "Resident
Evil" and its equally lackluster sequel,
neither of which made much effort to pay any more than lip service to the
original games on which they are based. This is a shame, as we are now at a
stage where many video games have successfully incorporated cinematic
elements, with some even signing up famous actors and actresses to do voice
and motion capture work.
"St. John's Wort" is a
different prospect, a film based on a popular Japanese video game (and novel
by Shukei Nagasaka) which not only stays faithful to its source material,
but also actually attempts to emulate it in terms of structure and narrative
flow. This device, whilst by no means entirely successful, produces what
amounts to an interesting little film with a handful of original ideas that
make it worthwhile viewing for fans of Asian horror, or for the 'survival
horror' genre of video games.
The actual plot of "St. John's Wort" is
very conventional. A young woman called Nami (Megumi Okina, from the
original "Ju-on")
inherits a huge, decaying mansion from her mysterious painter father.
Deciding to explore the house and learn more about her father, Nami takes
along her ex-boyfriend, Kohei (Yoichiro Saito, "Tokyo
Eyes"), who happens to be working on a new horror video game with
some friends. Kohei is also a fan of Nami's father's dark, grotesque
paintings, and decides that the mansion would make an ideal setting for
the game. To this end, he brings along his video camera, transmitting
footage back to his friends who are gathered together, watching as he and
Nami progress through the house. Of course, creepy things start to happen,
as a sinister caretaker stalks the couple, and Nami gradually discovers
the shocking secret behind her father's work.
The most interesting thing about "St. John's
Wort" is the way in which director Shimoyama Ten treats the
proceedings as if they were a video game. The plot largely progresses in
the same way that a game would, for example, by the characters searching
rooms, finding keys, discovering secret passages, and so on. Some scenes
will be immediately recognizable to fans of games such as "Resident
Evil" and "Silent Hill" and this gives the film a nice
atmosphere that is both familiar and, in filmic terms, quite original.
This impression is accentuated by the way the mansion
is studied by Kohei's friends, who use his transmitted footage to
gradually draw up a map. Ten also throws in some other video game touches,
such as flashing up information on the screen and making full use of the
digital video format. His direction in general is very imaginative, using
a palette of bizarre, often psychedelic colors to give the film a quite
unique look. He also uses a variety of shots from sources such as CCTV,
Kohei's camera, and computer imagery to keep things interesting, and to
further the voyeuristic atmosphere.
Unfortunately the main problem with "St. John's
Wort" is the fact that, whilst such a systematic style of plotting
works perfectly well in actual videogames, when employed in a film it
makes for a rather slow, ponderous pace. As the couple moves
systematically from room to room, facing obstacle after obstacle that
block their explorations, the viewer cannot help but feel exasperated at
the sameness of it all. Matters are not helped by the fact that there's
not a great deal of action in the film in terms of visceral carnage or
actual scares, and Ten seems happy enough to let things drift along,
relying on the atmosphere alone to keep the viewer interested.
Although the film does have a nice feel to it, this
is not really enough, and as a result the movie does start to drag in
places. Similarly, the central couple are actually quite dull, especially
Kohei, with a poor performance by Saito. Although the character of Nami is
more interesting, and Okina is quite appealing as an actress, the film is
generally more interesting in the brief scenes with their computer geek
friends.
Another failing is in the way that "St. John's
Wort" relies heavily on the old, tired trick of trying to confuse
viewers as to whether what they are seeing is reality or in fact part of a
video game. Early on in the film, it is suggested that what is about to
unfold is actually a game, and director Ten keeps referencing this
possibility to the point of being extremely intrusive. After the third or
forth time this happens, it's quite hard not to feel cheated or worse
still, patronized.
Overall, "St. John's Wort" is an
interesting film with a unique approach to adapting a video game for the
screen. Although dragged down by a slow pace and an unfortunate dependence
on some clichéd narrative techniques, it remains worthwhile for any fans
of Asian horror or as a curiosity piece for anyone familiar with this type
of video game.
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