Marebito 2004

John Hartl, Seattle Times: The gloppy sound effects are so over-the-top, they invite laughter, and the bloodsucking scenes are allowed to become absurdly repetitious. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's actually a pretty lousy thriller. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Marebito is no conventional vampire movie but a speculation into the notion that ancient people could sense alien beings in their midst. Read more

Tim Grierson, L.A. Weekly: Plot specifics are so muddy that part of the fun is getting lost in the narrative red herrings. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Marebito, a piece of soft-core trash disguised as pop art from director Takashi Shimizu, marks a new low in the genre. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: And if the trip doesn't have the clear-cut directions of a Hollywood film, it has all the ideas -- and cold, unsettling flights of fantasy -- of a nightmare, where faceless people look and look and look, but never see. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Marebito never gives us what it promised: a glorious, totally new sense of horror. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: This all-digital indie is, by genre standards, either a misfired doodle or an attempt to Lovecraft-ize the popular movement. Or both. Read more