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[Japanese] (2006) **1/2

"When you watch TV, you get cursed!"

Hiroshi is the producer of a popular paranormal phenomena television show called, “Spirit Sightings”. A boardroom meeting suggests that ratings have been slipping and Hiroshi is told to find a new angle that audiences will respond to. While researching ideas for an upcoming show he stumbles upon the house of mentally unstable man and his sister, Runa. The man informs Hiroshi and his television crew that Runa is possessed by the devil and in need of an exorcism. After spending some time in the house Hiroshi is not convinced that Runa is possessed and he decides not to use the story for his show. However he later changes his mind when the deadline for the next episode of his show is looming and he is out of fresh ideas. Hiroshi returns to the house with a film crew and records an exorcism. During the procedure Runa’s brother begins to convulse and Runa starts screaming. Later Hiroshi finds that more was picked up on the tape than what was filmed. Soon members of the film crew begin dying by suicide and Hiroshi begins to suspect that his television show might be responsible.

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Image not from film

Explaining how evil is created or perpetuated is never as interesting as unexplained horror. I don’t want to know how Michael Myers comes back to life, for example, yet we’re given a ridiculous explanation for his immortality in Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. Dead Waves is yet another J-horror film that “explains” the machinations of the supernatural, which zaps its potential potency. Don’t get me wrong, the demonic possession scenes are effectively creepy, I just don’t need to know about the man behind the curtain. Dead Waves echoes the much better film Kairo but still has some game. I’m also a sucker for any scares that occur while watching “found footage”. Dead Waves is just alright.