If a cute girl with a little black mole under left eye transfers to your school, get out of there, immediately. High schooler Tomie Kawakami is a love demon, forever cursed to roam Japan inspiring love from every guy she meets. When she doesn’t return their affections, these suitors -who will do anything for her- become insanely jealous and murder each other to impress their bitchy mistress. Once all the obstacles blocking Tomie’s affection are removed and she still doesn’t give him what he wants, a suitor will then turn on Tomie and kill her. But Tomie cannot die. She always gets reborn to start the whole bloody saga all over again.
A few more important details about our pal Tomie: 1) she can regenerate completely from a severed appendage or even a single drop of blood, 2) she strongly dislikes girls who try to take their boyfriends back from her, 3) she doesn’t like her picture taken, and 4) whatever you do never, ever call her a monster (or “bakemono” in Japanese). Much of the drama in nearly all of the Tomie movies comes from a happy-go-lucky girl with a doomed crush on a guy that has fallen for Miss T and a bloody battle of wills ensues. Having the ugliness that lurks within her just below her perfect exterior is a big no-no and that’s what happens every time some unlucky soul takes a picture or -God forbid- paints a portrait of Tomie. Thanks to her regenerative properties, body horror gets exploited in most of the Tomie franchise so bring your hazmat suit.
So, what the heck is all this? Why is Tomie so damn interesting to horror manga and film fans? The scariest thing in Japanese horror is a mean woman. Sadako of the Ringu franchise and Kayako of the Ju-On series probably have gloomy ass mansions by now, paid for by their ability to capitalize on how scary their gender is to insecure dudes. Or maybe it’s just hair. Hairy scary! Anyway… Not only is Tomie capable of great evil, she has the ability to possess a man wholly: encourage him to spend all of his money on her, alienate him from his friends and coworkers, humiliate him, inspire murderous jealousy, and finally lead to his downfall (incarceration, insanity, or death). I’ve always thought that it’s the act of withholding sex (though never explicitly stated in the films) that always seems to finally push these doofuses over the edge. American films do all of this evil lady stuff too -usually in witch or femme fatale movies- but I think Tomie has the market cornered when it comes to seeing these fears played out to such an exaggerated degree.
The films...
Tomie (1998)
Directed by Ataru Oikawa
I used to tell people to skip the first Tomie film because it is a slow burn but then I stopped doing that because that’s stupid. This moody film is just so damn good and a perfect place to start. The late 90s/early 2000s gave the world some truly amazing Japanese horror films and hell, you could even rank this among the classics of that era. Miho Kanno is excellent as our favorite villainess and her wicked laugh will get stuck in your head forever. Screenrwiter/director Oikawa will return to the series a little later!
Tomie: Another Face (1999)
Directed by Toshirô Inomata
Released hot on the heels of the first Tomie, this made-for-TV/shot-on-video movie was my least favorite for a very long time. Luckily, when my pal Bo and I covered it on his podcast, something about this one really opened up to me. Sure, it looks cheap as hell but the writing and the cast is solid. This time around, Runa Nagai plays Tomie and she is freakin’ cute as a button which makes her even creepier when she gets up to some particularly evil shenanigans.
Tomie: Re-play (2000)
Directed by Tomijiro Mitsuishi
I’ll go ahead and say it, this is my favorite of the series. Taking Tomie (Mai Hosho) and putting her in a hospital horror film (one of my favorite subgenres) was a stroke of genius. This movie gets under my skin and it has so much going for it ithat I don’t even know where to begin. The elements of body horror and madness that Tomie inspires in men are cranked all the way up. I’m so mad that director Mitsuishi hasn’t done anything since. Mai Hosho is perfectly cast as Tomie. She brings a brooding sadness to the role and you almost feel sorry for her. Almost. Years ago, I wrote an extended review of this film. You can check it out here.
Tomie: Re-birth (2001)
Directed by Takashi Shimizu
And the hits just keep on comin’, y’all! Released the
same year as Ju-On: The Grudge (2001), director Shimizu goes all out for his vision
of Tomie. This one gets pretty wild and features some iconic scenes that I
definitely won’t spoil here. Miki Sakai plays Tomie this time around and her
damn near perfect features combined with her ability to portray pure,
unflinching, and downright gorgeous evil, is hard to beat. If you absolutely
only have the time to watch just one Tomie film, then give this one a go. But watch the first one first!
Tomie: Forbidden Fruit (2002)
Directed by Shun Nakahara
Rather prolific director Nakahara’s only horror outing ain’t too shabby. This Tomie movie is all about relationships and quiet moments, which makes the horror pay off that much more but there’s something about it that never quite comes together for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an utterly gorgeous film with some standout Tomie moments but I have trouble remembering it between viewings. Nozomi Andô plays Tomie as kind of a -how can I put this?- total dickweed in this installment. Any misplaced traces of sympathy from previous incarnations of Tomie are flung out the window this time.
Tomie: Beginning (2005)
Directed by Ataru Oikawa
So Ataru Oikawa, the director of the original, comes back for a double dose of Tomie. What could possibly go wrong? This is a very good adaptation of the very first Tomie story by Junji Ito but it also goes on some wild tangents that I really dig. Tomie is played by Rio Matsumoto in Beginning and she is a freakin’ badass. She’s confident, she’s cool, and she doesn’t take any shit. I love it.
Tomie: Revenge (2005)
Directed by Ataru Oikawa
Unfortunately, this second feature from the same year by Oikawa doesn’t have a lot going for it. Part of the problem is that it’s based on my least favorite story from the manga and the rest is just a bunch of shrill characters and seemingly random stuff thrown in. Maybe one day it will click for me, but Tomie: Revenge just never seems to come together. I hate to say it, but this stands as the worst Tomie film so far. For what it’s worth, I dig Anri Ban’s take on Tomie.
Tomie Vs. Tomie (2007)
Directed by Tomohiro Kubo
In what might be the lowest budget Tomie film so far, we get two Tomies for the price of half a Tomie. You’ve got to hand it to Kubo, he took a franchise that people were likely pretty sick of and made a weird friggin’ movie with some cool locations, a good cast, and very little money. Thanks to Tomie’s propensity for regeneration, we do indeed get two Tomies in the forms of Yû Abiru and Emiko Matsuoka. One thing Tomie hates more than anything is competition and boy oh boy, these girls go wild on each other. It’s good stuff.
Tomie: Unlimited (2011)
Directed by Noboru Iguchi
Surprising literally no one, this Tomie film from the director of Machine Girl (2008) is hopelessly insane. Iguchi sees the full potential of Tomie’s body horror elements and holy crap, does he ever bring it. The movie wastes no time before the crazy starts and it rarely lets up. The surreal finale is particularly outrageous. Miu Nakamura’s performance as Tomie is super fun as she brings an impishness and a sly charm to the role.
There's also an episode of "Junji Ito Collection" that features Tomie. That's right, Tomie has graced the world of anime! I like it but it's only a 20 minute episode and left me wanting more. Also, I'd need to see it again to really review it properly. Not that I've ever reviewed anything properly in the years since I've started this blog.
Nice review of the series. The only one I don't dig is Revenge. If it had some street perverts like Another Face, I might have liked it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man! Revenge gets an E for Effort. I just wish it was better.
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