Until halfway through the film, I was intrigued, it was an impeccable setting, ghosts appearing at a glance, a lot of promising things. But then people start to turn into dogs, that's when I couldn't take the film seriously anymore, from then on it became a comedy film, and I started to see each scene in a funny way, to the point that at a certain moment we saw 4 ghosts riding in a car shaking their heads, it looks like I was watching Scary Movie. Perhaps it would have been better to have focused only on the mysteries at the beginning of the film. They could invent that there was some massacre or bizarre ritual, and that something needed to be resolved for the ghosts to go away, but they preferred werewolves, time travel, zombies and bad CGI.

The Howling Village starts out interesting, but fails miserably. The plot choices are ridiculous and nonsensical, ending with an ambiguous revelation that seals the coffin of this film. Kanata, a clairvoyant who sees spirits, must uncover the mystery surrounding her sister's death before an ancient secret destroys her family. The acting is the usual one of oriental films, despite the Brazilian dubbing that leaves a little to be desired. In some moments, the actors can't convey the emotions they try, they seem fake, especially if we consider the context present in the film. The film has the hallmarks of low budget. The practical effects are good, but the CGI sucks, a weird overlay that doesn't feel real at all, not believable at all. The scene of Kanata's sister's death is hilarious, I can't help but comment. A satirical death, with an unnecessary dark humor. It would be more efficient to keep reality in focus. The plot revolves around the mystery of the Howling Village and what happened to its inhabitants. The story tries to highlight the contrast between the actions of the big corporations against the humble and desperate, but the plan backfired, since, in the course of the film, we realize that the inhabitants of the village were not so good guys. All of these facts lead to the final revelation, a confusing and out-of-context revelation. The last piece of the puzzle doesn't fit, giving the impression that the writers didn't know which story to tell, culminating in this hybrid story full of bitter holes.

When you hear about the director you immediately expected the solid realistic material touched by well experience person. In a short word "director of grudge = solid storyline with terrific jumpscare. Where is it all ? We miss all of those expectation in here...

I don't know if it's just that I didn't pay enough attention to the storyline or it is lost in the subtitled translation or it's disjointed with no hope. Much of the movie was good, even intriguing. And it's made well, not an amateur production which many substandard horror films are. Yes, you'll get the main point about a travesty the leads to the legend of the Howling Village, but beyond that, It just didn't come together. It has a more than enough horror tropes to warrant a good film, maybe too many. Without spoiling it, there's your characters that can see the dead/ghosts and you have a corporate calamity/crime, and a few zombie like monsters, a cursed heritage, time travel, and an alternate reality or maybe you don't have these elements. And, if you do? How do they fit together? Aggh. Having just read some other reviews, I guess my confusion has less to do with my level of attention and more to do with the movie. G.

Its first 10-15 minutes is boringly slow filmed with a hand held SLR camera that shook all over continuously. I almost stopped watching it (because I hate shaky camera filming and,stuff that looks like it was filmed with a mobile phone). It switched to normal filming just in time so I carried on watching. It rambled on and it told you nothing and though the actors were all doing a great job, the film wasn't. I can't really describe this film to you in any depth where I wouldn't have to give very poignant parts of the plot away. All I can tell you is that it doesn't link the story(s) together or the sub plot story's either and so, it ends up being a mishmash of broken links; yet somehow manages to come out with a revealing end plus a bizarre twist; that could leave it open for a sequel. The score I have given it is all for prosthetics and acting, as the story was not great and camera work, lighting etc was non too special!

Very convoluted story with some decent F/X and some creepy atmosphere. Not a terrible movie but marred by unfocused story and some bizarre character choices. The most glaring: when Maya started doing the Ginger Snap/Thriller dance, I would have been out of there. Yet out trio just lets her do her entire dance, leading to the death of one of them. There are some gorgeous locations but the jumpy cinematography does not allow us to fully enjoy them. Definitely does not rate with "The Grudge."

Like another reviewer here, the film has some great moments and kept my interest throughout; it even has one of the creepiest things I've seen in film ("soon"). But in the end it tries to be way too many different types of films. Not as amazing as the trailer makes it seem to be but also glad I bought it. It's worth watching.

A physcologist lady who have power able to see ghost and she try to find the dark secret of her family history and hidden village.. Really story and screenplay was stunning.. Must watch movie without missing each and every detail..

This is a weak film. Starts really well but then just becomes uninteresting with too much non-convincing drama, too much talk, very predictable scares/deaths and lack of connection between scenes. What's worst here is that I can feel that this story could have been a great film, as everything about the village is really creepy.

Inspired by a Japanese urban legend, Howling Village is the first installment of Takashi Shimizu's "Horror Village" film series. Some plot elements shouldn't have to be in this film. They dragged the storytellling on a different path. With a fantastic cast Takashi managed to create a new J-horror experience.