Near the shiny, modern elementary school campus is the Haunted School, a boarded-up old school building long abandoned. The kids love to tell ghost stories about the Haunted School. The grownups won't allow them to go near it. The school was abandoned after students and staff began to disappear within its walls - or so they say.

But what happens when make-believe stories turn out to be real?

One day, tomboy Aki and her friends are playing near the Haunted School when they accidentally break a little clay statue - an ugly thingy that looks like a Japanese version of the lawn gnome. What the kids don't know is that the statue is a powerful charm that imprisons evil spirits within the walls of the Haunted School.

Later, a mysterious, bouncing soccer ball lures Aki's little sister Mika to the Haunted School. Afraid but intrigued, Mika enters the old school. She is drawn to the girls' bathroom, where something drops down from the celing and grabs her.

When Aki goes to look for Mika, she enters the Haunted School, only to come face-to-face with a skeleton! But it's only her friends, playing a prank with an old biology class prop. The other kids don't know that Mika is trapped somewhere inside the building - until they themselves are trapped - by an evil spirit that looks like a flying pink monkey!

The kids encounter a lost older girl, Kaori, and other evil spirits, including a giant little boy, a possessed medical dummy with real exposed organs, a ghoulish ghost orchestra, a woman with a distorted Joker-like face, and last but not least, a school janitor who reveals himself to be half-man and half-spider!

With help from a dedicated young teacher, the psychic bond between twins, and good old-fashioned witchcraft, the kids try to escape the Haunted School and put an end to the evil spirits' rampage.

Based in part on a real Japanese urban legend, Haunted School is a rollercoaster ride of chuckles and chills that will delight young and old. This Japanese horror-comedy has cool special effects and is a lot of fun to watch...

The Last Word

As I said before, Haunted School is a lot of fun. If you liked The Goonies, you'll love Haunted School!