Dreamworks adds another Japanese remake to their list: Yomigaeri/黃泉がえり

Posted by Mack at 4:30am.

Posted in Film News , Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Asia, USA & Canada.

Dreamworks, the studio that brought the Japanese Ringu horror film series to cinemas and is currently working on a remake of the Korean horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters, is taking a break from Asian horror cinema and purchased the rights to the Japanese fantasy film Yomigaeri - Resurrection. The original film was directed by Akihiko Shiota who recently directed Dororo.

A quick synopsis of the original film. A boy who died during World War II turns up at the door of his now-ancient mother, looking the same, down to his burr haircut, as he did 58 years ago. Heita (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), an elite bureaucrat for the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, is called in to investigate and is flummoxed by what he discovers. But when he discusses the case with Aoi (Yuko Takeuchi), a colleague and childhood friend, she is brusquely dismissive. The number of cases keeps growing, however.

The remake will be penned by William Nicholson who recently wrote Elizabeth: The Golden Age. This is not a film that we have covered here on Twitch so we cannot say anything in relation to the original film. However, the premise does sound interesting and the reviews that I have read in our community do focus on the original film’s heart and story of humanity and hope. And I think we can all agree that stories like that are not a bad idea and we could use more of them.

Reader Comments

Onderhond 05/21/2008 @ 11:38am

The original is a prett good film, although a bit flakey and unbalanced at times. The lovely thing about it is the simplicity with which ghosts return to their home town and are embraced by the community. There’s nothing occult or dark about it, which suprised me a lot while watching.

Oh, and there’s Sho Aikawa, he’s always a treat
kinkybob 05/21/2008 @ 1:11pm

there should be a rule not to talk about remakes anymore… im still steaming about the A Tale Of Two Sisters remake…
Epikt 05/23/2008 @ 4:15am

I agree with Onderhond about the original movie: quite good, simple with an original tone, but sometime awfully wasted.
Coincidence, last month I wrote a short review of this movie and I concluded with “it’s worth a remake” (ie “there are really good ideas but the movie is not as good as it should have been, so let’s try again"), I hope this new version will go the good way and won’t distort it into an horror flix or something like that.