Every home has a history. The people who lived in it before you and what happened to them typically doesn’t have any major significance beyond general curiosity. When something tragic happens, however, that can leave a stain on the location that can come back and visit on those that come after. It’s something that makes up the bread and butter of supernatural horror. In many of those stories the origin for the haunting is uncovered and that can enable the people experiencing the horror to stop it. Yet sometimes, as is the case in Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable, looking for the answers can just lead to more questions, and as the questions grow so does the terror.
A mystery writer (Yuko Takeuchi) works on a series retelling true supernatural stories sent in by members of the public. When a young student Ms Kubo (Ai Hashimoto) writes concerning strange events happening in her apartment building, the pair attempt to find out the truth.
There is a lot about The Inerasable that could potentially not work but it ends up adding to its appeal. Much of the film is just the author and Ms Kubo going around, doing research, and then exposition to help them in putting that research into context, but the unfolding nature of the story makes each piece of information compelling. The characters are simple, we never even know the author’s name, but we know enough about them to help move forward the investigation.
The film is broken up into chapter-like sections introducing each new place or person, appropriate when it is based on a book by Fuyumi Ono, but the pacing never suffers from it. What director Nakamura has made here is a film that’s very aware of itself, and particularly of the ins and outs of this kind of ghost story, yet plays itself in a very sincere and grounded way that makes for an enthralling shake-up of things we’ve seen before. At times the realistic approach of the film almost feels like a docudrama, aided by the choice to have each new character introduced via an on-screen title. Yet it still has plenty of otherworldly moments, usually done in a grainy style that feels slightly off-kilter and leaves you uneasy.
As the author and Ms Kubo progress in their investigation, and as each part of the puzzle is revealed, the mystery only seems to get bigger. As different local legends and ghost stories all have links to what is happening to Ms Kubo, and by extension, each other. It’s almost as if all the ghost stories are branching off each other and will lead back to one source if you go far back enough. The spreading nature of the stories and hauntings follows the same principle as that seen in Ju-On The Grudge; that when a curse is encountered, those affected are consumed by it which in turn begins its own curse. It’s interesting to see how despite such a similar core concept the approaches are so different.
A further cultural element that The Inerasable references and discusses is kegare, the notion of an uncleanliness of both a physical and spiritual nature that can affect places and people. An example of this would be the issue mentioned in the film of stigmatised properties; homes that have had someone die in horribly. For some these would be an example of kegare and are best avoided, but for others it’s an opportunity to get a cheaper place to live.
By the time The Inerasable and its mystery draws to an end, you enjoy seeing how everything fits together but there is a feeling of unease to it as well. Whilst the author and Ms Kubo have uncovered a lot, there is no sense of safety or conclusion. If anything it feels as if the story, and the curse itself, has only gotten bigger, and in a way we, the audience, are now part of this through having heard these stories. It speaks to the nature of the kind of urban legends showcased in the film and makes for an effect of a quiet creeping dread that hangs in the background.
The Inerasable
Summary
A simple format is made compelling by it’s intriguing ideas, and the constant creeping dread ensures that The Inerasable lingers.
The Inerasable was reviewed as part of the The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme. The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2024 takes place in cinemas around the UK from 2 February – 31 March 2024. For further information please head here.
