What really got to me was when the hair would go into somebody's ear. I have a real weak spot for my ears, and things going into them really gets to me. There is a visceral organic feeling to the horror in this movie, it's a bit like an early Cronenberg movie where your body becomes your enemy.

But aside from icky scares there is a lot of heart and a quirky sense of humor about this movie that Chiaki Kuriyama epitomizes. It's odd how the Western world was introduced to her as a ball and chain wielding psycho in a school uniform, but the more movies I see her in the more she plays the exact opposite of the rather one dimensional cardboard cut-out character she was in "Kill Bill".

This movie is head and shoulders above the remake PG-13 milieu that western horror is bogged down in. It tackles some unsightly subjects like child abuse without getting preachy or losing sight of the fact that it is a horror movie and not a PSA. Its ability to juggle the many plot strings effectively and keep them all going is what makes the movie succeed.

Interesting closing note: I'm not sure if it was a supposed to be a joke or unitentional or just part of the overall quirkiness of the movie that the hair salon Chiaki Kuriyama works at is called Giles De Rais, who was a seriously twisted serial killer in 15th century who may have killed upwards of 200 people before he was hanged.

Definitely a "cut" above the usual Japanese horror movie with a long haired girl in white causing misery.