Ghosts Of Hiroshima

Whenever someone brings up the subject of found footage horror films most people think about the 1999 classic The Blair Witch Project. I remember how big this film was back in 1999 when people were actually scared in the cinema from this low budget horror film. I wasn´t personally scared of The Blair Witch Project but maybe that was because i have seen so many horror films that very few actually scared me. Did i enjoy the film? I would say i thought it was alright, and they did a good job on the budget that the film was made on. The Blair Witch Project proved that you don´t need a big budget to make a horror film work, you have to have a story that people will be interested in as well. If you enjoy the genre of found footage horror films and have not seen The Blair Witch Project yet i think you should give it a chance. Since we are speaking about found footage horror, i have a personal favourite of mine that actually turned 12 years now in 2023. And that is the 2011 horror film known as Grave Encounters from directors The Vicious Brothers. I did not see this film in cinema here in Sweden ( simply because it wasn´t shown in cinemas unfortunately ) so i ordered the Blu Ray copy from the UK instead. Grave Encounters tells the story of reality TV show host Jerry Hatfield ( Ben Wilkinson ) who does a paranormal television show called Grave Encounters, together with ghost hunter Lance Preston ( Sean Rogerson ). Hatfield explain why the show was cancelled after five episodes following the disappearance of its crew, and presents raw scenes from recovered footage of the last sixth and final episode. A team were sent to investigate the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital, where strange unexplained phenomena have been reported for years. For being a found footage horror film i have to say that Grave Encounters manage to do especially two things right. First of all the film manage to make certain scenes creepy, especially when you see a strange figure appear out of nowhere. The location of this psychiatric hospital works well with the creepy environment. Directors The Vicious Brothers may not deliver anything groundbreaking with Grave Encounters, because we have seen many similar films before. But what makes this film stand out from similar films in this genre is that it actually feels like a horror film, instead of just someone pretending to make a haunted TV show. Worth checking out if you enjoy horror films in this genre. If i mention the name of Hiroshima you might connect it to the historical events that took place during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski in Japan in 1945 during World War II. The bombings took place during August 6 to August 9 and took the lifes between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom was civilians. A horrible tragedy in history that will never be forgotten, and especially all the innocent victims who lost their lives. What if you make a found footage horror film and connect it with the events of Hiroshima? That is exactly what the film Ghosts Of Hiroshima does and i have been curious to see this film since i heard about it. I am very interested in World War II connected stories so the question is, does this found footage horror film manage to deliver something interesting, or is it just another release in this genre that will most likely be forgotten?

Eric ( Robert Palmer Watkins ) inherits a property in Japan and begin to film his journey to Hiroshima with his latest camera equipment. After the atomic bombings in World War II there was a lot of radiation, but the radiation levels in present day is not dangerous around Hiroshima. As Eric stay in his new house he begins to find photos, letters and a some other information that may affect Eric more than he imagined.

There is definetely an interesting idea behind Ghosts Of Hiroshima that the film is supposed to take place outside the city of Hiroshima, to capture the history of Japan. The idea is that spirits who were victims during the bombings of Hiroshima are still around and trying to communicate, is actually kind of creepy. We also find out that the main character find an old taped interview with a man who witnessed the bombings and what happened to his family members. You can clearly see that this film is inspired by Japanese horror films in several scenes, and i actually think this is where the film works best as a found footage horror film. The young child wearing a creepy looking Japanese mask is a very simple but effective detail to make you interested in the story. Anything specific that i appreciate with Ghosts Of Hiroshima? I would probably say that i appreciate the effort that they put into this film to try and make it like a documentary ( that´s wasn´t the plan either ) as the information discovered in letters turns out to based on a true story. The characters in this film are of course not based on real people, but the film manage to trick you believing that the people from the past actually was real. Some of you may not believe so and that is completely ok. I just found it interesting that they actually made an effort to make it seem like we were told a story that could have been true ( before any ghosts were included ). What doesn´t work with Ghosts Of Hiroshima? I personally feel like this film could have been a lot more creepy than what it is, and especially with the masked child that could have been used even more effective. On the positive note i do feel that lead actor Robert Palmer Walker ( who fans of TV series General Hospital will definetely recognize ) is good as the character Eric. I like that he only seems to be testing his new camera on his Japan journey and his filming becomes a completely different meaning as the film goes on. Ghosts Of Hiroshima tries to do something different in the found footage horror by including influences from World War II in Japan. Director Brandon Walker gives us a found footage horror film that will most likely please fans of this genre. It looks good and it does have an interesting story. If you enjoy horror films thats connected with historical events give Ghosts Of Hiroshima a chance, you might actually be surprised.

Rating: DDD