Tomie vs Tomie – Review

Two factory workers are tangling with Tomie, but two different Tomies. One young man is recovering from the death of his girlfriend, but is being pursued by a Tomie who has a gaggle of his colleagues at her bidding. Unknown to him, his friend is helping another Tomie through a difficult regeneration. It’s very difficult for me to maintain my composure right now while writing this review, as I have witnessed a Asian ghost film that was actually good. I must say, I’ve seen almost all of the Tomie films and I liked this one better. Tomie vs. Tomie is well written and directed, and has a much cleaner, more professional feel that the first film. I also found this film to be far more engaging than the first, and it can be watched quite independently.

That’s right horror fans, sit back, strap yourselves in and prepare to be taken for one hell of a wild ride. The only “monster” is Tomie. And if you’ve seen any of the other Tomie movies, you know what her occasional regeneration is like (there are only one or two in this movie, by the way). However, after a brief, thirty second verbal spat as children, the Tomies don’t even meet each other until 50 minutes into the film. More comic than usual, this Tomie tale features some memorable sequences blending the quirky and the grotesque after a fairly lumbering middle act in which virtually nothing happens. This film is tailor-made for DVD, as impatient viewers can watch the first half hour, then skip on to the 55-minute mark or so without missing much of consequence. Still, once you get to the actual meat and potatoes of the film, the fireworks get brought out.

If you love Japanese horror films and you’re tired of seeing Ringu, Ju-On, and their Americanized remakes, there’s always the horror section at your local video store, right? Well at this point, we’re all pretty burnt out, let’s be honest.  But, Tomie vs. Tomie’s story works well enough to it’s advantage. So who/what is Tomie? Tomie is a body-less head enveloped in revenge. Tomie is the things we do to each other. Tomie is the unsettled mind trying to control fate. Tomie is the dark spot in the white spances of truth. Unlike the first film, begins to explore some of the unanswerable questions about Tomie. Tomie’s evil side really does start to come out in this movie. All I can say is that every thing is better in this movie, almost no confusion haunts this movie. I’ve seen Tomie, Tomie: Rebirth, and Tomie: Forbidden Fruit and I disliked all of them, so I never planned to see another movie in this franchise ever again. I’m glad I did.

I know that I tend to ramble quite a bit on peripheral subjects, but any of you who have actually seen the first Tomie movie will likely take the following news like being hit in the shin with a soccer cleat: there are more than five Tomie movies after all. Overall in the entirety of the series, there’s not much to complain about in the way of artifacts or pixilation. It’s not very often a sinking ship gets the buoyancy it needs to rise back up to the top again, so it’s refreshing to see another installment in a series give Tomie a successful return. I for one, am excited to see where this franchise can go from here and I am glad I watched this film.  Horror fans will get a lot out of this, and I recommend it!