It took me two attempts to get through this film. "Creepy" says the title and it certainly is. It's absolutely not a gore film, mind you, even when it should have been. (It isn't completely without the red stuff, but implausibly bloodless scenes include a throat being slashed and people being shot to death at point blank range. It would be possible to speculate about hidden supernatural elements, based on the lack of blood at the end, but you'd have to allow for the fact that other killings looked similar.)

No, what makes this film creepy is anticipation. Detective inspector Takakura Koichi quits the police after nearly being killed by a psychopath and becomes a university lecturer in criminal psychology. He and his wife Yasuko move house... and you wouldn't want their new neighbours.

1. One is rude to your face. "We don't associate with people around here. You start to feel obligated. It's just a bother."

2. The other (Nishino Masayuki) is just... wrong. It's hard to put your finger on it. He doesn't react normally. He contradicts himself, sometimes in offensive ways. He's at his most unsettling when being friendly, because you don't understand or trust him.

This is freaky because he's their neighbour. You can't escape from neighbours. They live next door. You come home and he's there and there's nothing you can do except try to be friendly. Watching this film, you'll start finding going home to be uncomfortable, whereas it's reassuring to see Takakura investigate a six-year-old disappearance. We know where we are there. It's a detective story. It's relaxing to see our heroes poring over old photos and talking to extremely unhelpful witnesses.

Nishino, though, gave me the willies and I didn't know why. (Then, later, I learned and BLOODY HELL THAT'S FUCKED UP.)

In some ways, this film is a companion piece with this director's famous landmark horror film, Cure. They're both at the classy end of the J-horror spectrum, with excellent writing and performances. Personally, though, I think this film is better. It's less detached and more emotionally engaging. It has superb control of mood and tone, which is crucial as its first half is achingly subtle. (The horrible stuff in the second half is completely different. Our questions have been answered and the horror changes gear to become both psychological and murderous.)

This is an excellent film, but it won't be for everyone. It's horror, albeit of a non-supernatural kind like Silence of the Lambs. Also, its choices with characterisation and psychology (especially in the last third) are extreme enough to pose a hurdle of their own. However, obviously, that's the point. That's the story Kiyoshi Kurosawa has chosen to tell. This film was strong enough to make me immediately put other Kurosawa films on my to-watch list (Cure, Charisma, Pulse, Sweet Home) even though I'd hated his 2000 TV movie, Seance. This made me squirm more than any of them, though. Neighbours. Those damned neighbours...