Toshiaki's parents are getting divorced, and while she's staying with
her over-ambitious mother, her brother Kadzu is staying with dad. Before
parting, the kids find a camera that seems to have the power to photograph
ghosts or call ghosts or something ghostly at least, and it is also able
to send photographs to Toshiaki's cellphone. Toshiaki talks to her brother
about the camera, but then he suddenly kills himself or is murdered (by a
ghost). Toshiaki and her best friend Magumi try to find out what's going
on, but then Toshiaki finds out that Magumi herself is the ghost from the
photographs, as she was murdered by her own mum a few months back, but her
body was never found. Ultimately though, the authorities find Magumi's
corpse, but now Toshiaki has gone missing ... Pretty much a
typical piece of J-horror: Made on a low budget, it's deliberately
slow-moving, relies on atmosphere rather than effects, and its story is
maze-like and refuses to make too much sense. Ghost Photos however
also shows what can go wrong with the genre: It's so slow moving it's
actually boring, its labyrinthine plot ultimately leads to nowhere in
particular but repeats the same plot elements over and over again, and its
pay-off is rather disappointing actually, especially since it's at the
same time totally predictable and leaves a few too many narrative threads
unfinished. A disappointment, rather.
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