Wow! Such a good movie.

Please don't spend money on this.

Overrated

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

If there's one thing that can and should be said for the popular cult- franchise "Tomie", it's this: despite an extremely shaky and underwhelming start, the series does make a noted improvement each time with its first round of sequels. It's a franchise that can be well-worth investing in as a result, despite also being one that has the most extremes of up's and down's throughout it's numerous entries.Yes, despite being a massive fan of the horror genre and particularly of Japanese creep-shows, I've never been particularly taken with the original "Tomie" movie. Based on a popular ongoing manga of the same name by author Junji Ito, the first entry in the film franchise was a messy swarm of under-developed ideas, sloppy attempts at atmosphere building, trite and hackneyed writing and direction and poorly established rules. It was a fundamental failure both as an example of horror and as a film in general. Thankfully, it's first sequel in "Tomie: Replay" was a marked improvement in virtually every capacity, with fun direction, decent writing and generally strong performances.And I do think that this third entry, "Tomie: Re-Birth", is another step in the right direction for the franchise. With a nice, slow sense of pacing and a great sense of direction from famed director Takashi Shimizu, this entry has a lot going for it. It stands as one of the better early entries in the series, and can be a great deal of fun.A young woman named Tomie is modeling for a painting by an artist named Hideo. After she defaces the painting in a jealous fit, Hideo kills her. But, as any fan of the series will know... Tomie will not die. And thus she returns to torment the artist and his friends, leading to an intense and disturbing story filled with twists, turns and subversion of expectation...I firmly believe the main strength that sets this entry apart is the wonderful direction of Takashi Shimizu, who is best known for creating the very popular haunted-house series "Ju-On" and for also directing the first two entries in its American remake series "The Grudge." Shimizu is a fine director when it comes to slow-build, atmospheric horror, and he excels here with some great, creepy sequences of bodily terror. It's arguably the most disturbing of the first three films, and Shimizu it helps to give it a grand sense of dread and intrigue. Especially in some of the very trippy-yet-grounded visuals that he relishes in. We also have one of the best Tomie's of the series here thanks to actress Miki Sakai, who excels in the role in a way not many of the other actresses to portray the character have.The film does have some faults to it, however. Much as many entries in the series do. I found that while it is a good time, it can often move a bit slowly. To the point it can be boring even. Some scenes feel a tad out of place and wonkilly inserted into the narrative. And much like virtually every other film in the series, it wrongfully assumes that the viewer is intimately familiar with the source material, causing some confusion with those who aren't. And it is a serious problem- adaptations should be able to stand on their own without knowledge of what came before. The films should try and explain the rules and goings on more than they have been to this point. It causes an unnecessary level of confusion for the viewer, and not in an intentional way. That being said, I'd rank this one right about on par with the previous entry- the very enjoyable but mildly flawed "Replay." It's a lot of fun. It's very watchable. It runs laps around the sub-par original. But it still has a few faults holding it just shy of being a "great" movie. As it stands, it's merely decent. Worth watching for fans of horror and Asian cinema... but probably not for general movie-goers.I give "Tomie: Re-Birth" a slightly above average 6 out of 10. Another step in the right direction for the series. But not enough of an improvement for me to call it a great film.

This installment of the "Tomie" series is, well in lack of better words, unnecessary. Why? Well, the story offered nothing new to the series that hadn't already been seen in "Tomie" or "Tomie: Replay". In fact, if you have seen the first "Tomie" movie, you can just as well skip this installment, as it is basically the exact same story, just with different characters and set in a different place.The "Tomie" series was starting to rise up with "Tomie: Replay", and then this one, "Tomie: Re-Birth", comes along and pushes it right back down the ladder.There was nothing scary about this movie, just like the previous ones. And the storyline, well basically it is about the undying Tomie girl who comes to torment those who love and kill her. Same old, same old.The people in the movie did good enough jobs with their given roles, though there was nothing outstanding here.The only outstanding part of the entire movie, was the crawling head with the weird arm-like appendages. And that was hardly enough to make up for the rest of the movie."Tomie: Re-Birth" was plain and rather uneventful at best, and it wasn't really a movie that was necessary in any way to the "Tomie" storyline. After having seen this installment to the series, I am starting to dread how the last ones in the series will turn out to be...

The TOMIE series of Japanese 'horror' films have been a real chore to sit through. The first one was at least novel but hardly a classic in the same way as RING or THE GRUDGE. The second, a horrendous shot-on-video anthology under the name of TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE, is best forgotten. The third, TOMIE: REPLAY, was instantly forgettable, telling exactly the same story as the original film with little to no variation. The fourth, TOMIE: REBIRTH, is another re-run of the same themes, and has exactly the same problems as its predecessor: it goes nowhere we haven't seen before, it doesn't explain any of Tomie's origins or behaviour, and it's way too familiar given what's come previously.The film begins with a resurrected Tomie the girlfriend of an art student. It's fair to say that their relationship doesn't end well, and from that point in the film follows the established route: Tomie can't die, and also seems to be able to multiply in some strange way. The storyline is an excuse for some ghoulish japes involving animated severed heads and some grisly body disposal sequences, but aside from that it's largely boring. What's particularly annoying is the way lots of scenes seem to be drawn out to a ridiculous degree; two characters will have a conversation but leave long spaces between words and utterances. It doesn't add atmosphere, it just feels like the slim story is being stretched out to fill the running time.The man who directed this, Takashi Shimuzu, also handled the two excellent GRUDGE movies, not that you'd realise. Tomie: Rebirth looks and feels cheap, and the picture quality on the DVD I watched was particularly fuzzy. The acting is poor, with Miki Sakai probably the least impressive of the actresses who've played Tomie so far. The film relies far too much on her supposedly creepy giggle for effect, when in fact it just sounds silly. Inevitably, a sequel (TOMIE: FORBIDDEN FRUIT) follows.

This is a very creepy horror film/psychological drama starring Miki Sakai as Tomie. In this one Hideo, an aspiring artist, kills his girlfriend/model for the painting girlfriend Tomie. With his friend's help, they bury her in the woods. However, Tomie shows up at a party. Her aim is not only revenge but to haunt the lives of the guys who did this to her. This film is okay, on a par with "Another Face". Not having read the source material of these films, as film value alone it is passable. While the revenge aspect is not only deserved to these guys but necessary to the continuity of the film, the part of her coming back more than once after she has been "re-killed" gets a little tired. So, not bad but not near the best of the series.