Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) and Japan’s first full-length live-action 3D feature, Shock Labyrinth 3D, is set to hit the home entertainment shelves here in the states, and it’s not one I’d recommend picking up on your next buying spree.
Set in the largest haunted house ride in the world, Shock Labyrinth 3D follows a group of teenagers trying to make it out of a terrifying labyrinth after the sudden reappearance of a friend, Yuki (Renbutsu Misako), who they thought went missing ten years ago. When Ken (Yagira Yuya), Rin (Maeda Ai), Myiu (Mizuno Erina) and Mitoko (Katsuji Ryo) encounter Yuki their suppressed memories begin to surface taking an emotional toll on the entire lot, though Ken takes the brunt of it. When Yuki falls ill, the group drive her to a hospital that is completely deserted but when Yuki regains conscious she runs off and that’s then the hospital somehow turns into the same labyrinth they visited as children when Yuki disappeared.
Shimizu’s delivers an ambitious film that seemed like a good idea on paper but when it’s brought to the screen, questions begin to arise and lots of holes become apparent. Once we get halfway through the film, nothing makes sense anymore because the lines between fact and fiction blur together so much it makes it nearly impossible to believe it all. How is that possible you ask? Because you constantly wonder how the teens somehow mistook an amusement park ride for the hospital or how an abandoned hospital visually turned into the labyrinth for every single person. They’re either all legitimately insane or the dumbest characters you’ve ever seen, and I’m almost convinced it’s not the latter.
Additionally, even with the big “twist,” which was pretty bad, nothing is really explained that would allow the audience some closure. There are no flashbacks, only a possible explanation from the police as to what they assumed happened. Though annoying, it is what makes the film open to interpretation, an annoying interpretation.
The final, and most important part of any horror, is that Shock Labyrinth is not scary at all, which is a shame coming from the director of The Grudge. Instead, the film is at most creepy and only in few instances. There aren’t even cheap scares that’ll get you to jump. If anything, this is a psychological thriller that just confuses you.
I don’t think the quality of the film would have been any better but I think my experience would have improved slightly had I had the opportunity to see the film in 3D. There are countless moments where you could tell this film was made for a 3D viewing audience and, had I had a 3D player in my house, I would have opted to view the 3D version of the flick, particularly because everything was shot to add depth. There were long hallways, shots of people falling over railings, lots of rain and items floating in mid air which are the types of elements that should be used in this medium. It is here where I can commend Shimizu on a job well done (even if I haven’t seen that version).
We
ll Go USA is releasing the film in nice 3D Blur-ray/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. In addition to the feature in various formats, the film comes with a couple of special features. Firstly, there is about 27 minutes worth of interviews with the director and each member of the cast. The interview with Shimizu is odd but also kind of entertaining because of its ADD-like style. It’s here where he emphasizes how he wanted the 3D to be used for depth, not for things to jump out at you, which is why there aren’t any of those aforementioned cheap scares. The rest of the cast talks about working with 3D, what’s it’s like to work with Shimizu and then give an analysis of their character.
Furthermore, there is about 15 minutes worth of behind the scenes footage where we get to see how they did the makeup work for the living mannequins. This was probably my favorite part of both the movie and special features because it showed that jokester and director Yoshihiro Nishimura was the makeup artist. There is also a segment about using the stereoscopic camera and what it was like to shoot in 3D. They explained that they developed a new camera for this film because of the tight filming spaces and it worked wonders for them. It looked like it may have been the first compact, handheld 3D camera. It was definitely smaller than the one they used in Jackass 3D. The final behind the scenes segment was titled “and more…” which was really just the teens taking turn interviewing each other on the last day of shooting.
Lastly, there is two minutes worth of press conference and opening day footage which is more or less the same content you get in the interviews but much more generic.
Movie Rating: Stupid and rather bland, the last thing you can call it is shocking (2/10)
Blu-ray rating: 5.5/10
Shock Labyrinth 3D is now available from Well Go USA on DVD and in a 3D/2d blur-ray and DVD combo pack
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