Dream Cruise (2007)

A feature-length version of a heavily trimmed episode from Mick Garris' Masters of Horror series (Season Two). Directed by Norio Tsuruta, it's based on a short story by Kôji Suzuki, who's best known in filmic circles as the author of the works that Hideo Nakata's Dark Water (2002) and Ring (1998) films were based on. Dream Cruise, as you've probably guessed, also involves water.
A lowly lawyer (Daniel Gillies) with a long-standing guilt complex and a fear of the wet stuff agrees to take a boat trip with a "valuable" client in order to keep him happy. The boat breaks down and the atmosphere, which wasn't there to begin with, never gets to a level where it can be felt. The weak framing, stupid plotting, overplayed sound effects, shit acting, lack of music, and reliance on Japanese horror clichés make it an utter washout.

1½ cabin crawls out of 5

Dark Tales of Japan (2005)

An anthology of five J-Horror shorts from some of the genres best known directors (Yoshihiro Nakamura, Norio Tsuruta, Kōji Shiraishi, Takashi Shimizu, and Masayuki Ochiai) tied together by a rather shaky bridge narrative. It was made for TV, so has a cheapo realistic shot-on-video charm that works in its favour occasionally. As you’d expect it’s hit and miss in the story department, but the eerie audio is of a consistently high standard.

2½ watchful eyes out of 5

Ringu 0: Bâsudei (2000)

aka: Ring 0: Birthday

A prequel to Hideo Nakata's Ringu films (see HERE and HERE) that's best viewed last to avoid spoilers for the other two. There are of course nods to the Japanese horror style that the series was credited with popularising, but with a different director at the helm the film feels very different to the others; it’s more in the traditional, dramatic ghost story genre.

It gives more info on Sadako's background and the reasons for her eventual... (spoiler). The screenplay is based on the short from Koji Suzuki, so it’s canon but still may upset some die-hard Ringu nuts.

3 boards trod out of 5