APARTMENT 1303 (2007 - Japanese)

Studio:       Tartan Asia Extreme
Director:    Ataru Oikawa
Writer:       Ataru Oikawa, Takamasa Sata, Kei Oishi
Producer:  Chiaka Harada
Stars:     Noriko Nakagoshi, Arata Furuta, Eriko Hatsune, Yuka Itaya, Naoko Otani, Aki Fukada, Toshinobu Matsuo

Review Score: 

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Summary:

After her sister jumps from the balcony of apartment 1303, a young woman investigates a bizarre string of deaths related to a mother and daughter murder-suicide. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Yuka unpacks moving boxes in her new 13th floor apartment at the Blue Palace Hiraoka. She then hears a noise in the tatami room and follows a strange odor. Something unseen appears from the closet and Yuka screams. Yuka’s friend arrives outside and a little girl points him towards the 13th floor balcony. Yuka dangles and screams before falling to her death in the pool.

While having a party with friends to celebrate her new apartment, Sayaka investigates a foul odor in the tatami room closet. When she returns to her friends, Sayaka eats dog food off the floor and shakes violently. She then puts on her friend’s motorcycle helmet and jumps off the balcony to her death. Outside, the little girl from the scene of the previous suicide picks up the stuffed animal that Sayaka was holding.

At the funeral, Sayaka’s friend Iwata tells Sayaka’s sister Mariko that the death was not a suicide. Mariko sees her sister’s bloody ghost and it tells her, “Mom pushed me.” Following Sayaka’s death, Mariko’s mother falls into despair.

Mariko goes to investigate the apartment. The little girl joins Mariko in the elevator and pushes the button for the 13th floor. She tells Mariko that her teddy bear came from her big sister next door. While sorting through her sister’s belongings, Makiko finds an earring on the floor before being overwhelmed by a rush of air. Mariko checks the messages on Sayaka’s phone and learns that her sister got the apartment because the previous applicant cancelled. She also finds a picture of her sister with the teddy bear that she saw with the little girl in the elevator. Mariko goes next door to apartment 1302. The little girl tells her that all the women who lived in 1303 have died.

Sayaka’s ghost begins to appear around the apartment. In another photo on Sayaka’s phone, Mariko sees a ghost standing behind her sister. An earthquake strikes while Mariko investigates the smell from the tatami room closet. Before giving the apartment key back to the landlord, Mariko finds a water bottle with blood around the spout. The little girl in 1302 hints to Mariko that her sister is still in apartment 1303.

On her way out of the building, Mariko meets Detective Seiichi Sakurai. He reveals that Sayaka was the fifth girl to commit suicide. Sakurai tells Mariko that a mother and daughter once lived in the apartment. Yukiyo Sugiuchi committed suicide. Her mother Sachiko’s mummified body was then found in a closet in the tatami room. It had been there for six months. Yukiyo had been a quiet homebody, but she was abused by her alcoholic mother. Mariko gives Sakurai the earring that she found.

Mariko visits her distraught mother. In her depression, she begs her daughter to bring Sayaka back. She also tells Mariko that she hates her for always being critical. Mariko reads a book on the initial tragedy at Blue Palace Hiraoka titled “The Lamentation of Unit 1303: The Love-Hate Hell of a Mother and Daughter Alone by the Sea.” In the book, Mariko sees a picture of Yukiyo with the teddy bear. She then learns how Sachiko punished her daughter while drunk, including ripping the earring from Yukiyo’s earlobe. Mariko also discovers that Sachiko would chew on water bottles until her mouth was bloody. Yukiyo finally stabbed her mother, but promised that she would always look after her. Sachiko put herself in the closet as she died. After six months of unpaid rent, the building manager served Yukiyo with an eviction notice. Her mother’s ghost then appeared and convinced Yukiyo to kill herself.

Mariko finds a note from her mother saying that she is going where Sayaka is. The building manager tells Mariko that 1303 has already been rented to a group of students working at the beach for the summer, but they are boys. The landlord tries dodging Mariko’s questions about the suicides and she slaps him. In the bathroom afterwards, Mariko feels a sharp pain in her ear and begins to bleed. She then sees a ghost watching her.

Detective Sakurai tells Mariko that the earring she found matches the one recovered with Yukiyo’s body. He also reveals that all of the girls who died had just left home to live on their own for the first time. Mariko continues to see Yukiyo’s ghost. The boys in 1303 have girls over for a party. The power goes out and Yukiyo appears on the balcony. The other party guests flee while tendrils from the ghost throw three of the girls over the railing.

Sakurai and Mariko arrive at the apartment and discover the deaths. Mariko goes up to 1303 and sees her mother, who then disappears behind the tatami room door. Mariko goes to the closet and finds a mummy. Yukiyo’s ghost appears and shakes her head while crying blood as Mariko accuses the spirit of murder. When the ghost disappears, Mariko sees the little girl from 1302 hanging from the balcony. Mariko pulls the girl up, but Yukiyo comes with her. Yukiyo’s tendrils grab Mariko. Yukiyo reveals that her mother told her to kill everyone who came into their home because they were evil. Mariko gives Yukiyo her earrings. She tells the ghost that she and her mother will live together and look after the apartment and Yukiyo will be her younger sister. Yukiyo takes an earring and Mariko passes out.

When Mariko awakens, Yukiyo’s ghost appears again and pushes her over the railing. Yukiyo laughs as she tells Mariko that her mother has only one daughter. Mariko starts to fall, but Sayaka grabs her. Mariko slips to her death anyway and Sayaka vanishes. The little girl and her mother from 1302 witness the death and then vanish as well, along with Yukiyo’s ghost.

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Review:

Murder and suicide have a tendency to inspire horror movie hauntings.  Put the two together and place the setting on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building and you are just asking for onryō-related trouble.  Onryō is the Japanese term for a vengeful ghost, a piece of mythology that usually drives the most popular J-horror films.  That setup is no different here.  Ever since these tragic deaths, no single woman has been able to live in apartment 1303 without throwing herself over the balcony railing.  The police are mostly content to write off each death as a coincidental suicide.  And the landlord is all too happy to rent out the space again.  Until a woman named Mariko decides to investigate her sister’s perilous plunge and discovers the dark history related to the apartment.

Try not to look too closely at the apartment building used in the movie, by the way.  You might be able to count that it actually has only twelve floors instead of thirteen.  The elevator also has buttons enough for only twelve floors, as well.  For whatever reason, probably set dressing, the building is apparently missing a fifth floor.

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Only 12 floors?  That explains why the elevator...

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  ...has only 12 buttons.  Where's the 5th floor?

Based on the book by Kei Oishi, who also wrote the novel that inspired “Ju-On: The Grudge,” “Apartment 1303” borrows more than a few of the same elements found in “The Grudge.”  As in that story, a violent tragedy ends up creating a haunted house and the new tenants become more links in a chain of similar deaths.  Combining a bit of “The Ring” as well, the race is now on to find a way to put the ghost to rest and to end the macabre cycle once and for all.

While it is hardly original, criticism of “Apartment 1303” for plagiarizing these other stories can only be taken so far.  The story is rooted much deeper in traditional Japanese folklore and these are merely the same themes that fuel all such ghostly tales.  That explanation will not do much to appease those who find themselves bored by déjà vu with the recognizable concepts, however.  There may be a limited number of black-haired ghosts in flowing white gowns that one can look upon before it ceases to spark a fright, after all.

Still, the creepy moments in “Apartment 1303” have a genuine eeriness to them despite the familiar J-horror tropes.  “Apartment 1303” ties in a story tinged with guilt, grief, and broken family ties to lace the horror with relatable emotions.  Without that context, the film would have felt more like a tired rehash.  But good performances such as Noriko Nakagoshi’s as Mariko give the film a human investment that elevates the onscreen tragedy above mere visual shock.

Which is fortunate because those visuals are definitely on the lacking end.  Ghosts disappear with the most generic dissolve that a film could possibly use.  And the green screen effects simulating thirteen story falls induce winces from the poor quality, not from the bloody impact.  Luckily, the film pulls itself back up from its drop with a suspenseful climax that leaves unanswered questions, but delivers chilling moments.

“Apartment 1303” has all of the requisite hallmarks generally associated with Japanese horror films: restless ghosts, a pattern of strange deaths, creepy children, and faces obscured by long dark hair.  That formula is familiar enough that it makes it a simple matter to summarize this review with a straightforward if-then statement.

If “The Ring,” “The Grudge,” “Shutter,” “Pulse,” “One Missed Call,” and the like have given you your fill of revenge-fueled Asian poltergeists, “Apartment 1303” will not do anything to reignite an interest in the sub-genre.  On the other hand, if you are relatively unfamiliar with Japanese horror or are still entranced by this style of ghost story, “Apartment 1303” should live up to expectations.

NOTE:  The Japanese title is “1303-gôshitsu.”

Click here for a review of the 2012 American remake of "Apartment 1303."

Review Score:  65

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