Goth (2008) User Reviews

mixed feelings...

[joelherro · 7/10 · 24 July 2010]

about this movie...i generally enjoy Japanese movies, especially the crazier, weirder ones, and this one was kinda out there, but certainly not crazy...

story goes - 2 like minded classmates meet and investigate a serial killer who is killing beautiful girls and arranging them into artistic poses, after cutting off one of their hands and keeping it as a trophy.

im into Gothic stories, music and chicks as well, so it sounded cool, and the story was interesting and just slightly twisted enough... but it was very slow, and lacking in any kind of emotion (which seems a common theme to many Japanese movies and books that I've seen and read, but obviously not all)...

the cinematography was beautiful, as were the actresses, and the music was well suited, but its slow pace and the overall disinterested air by all the players made it seem hard to want to care about what was happening...altho maybe goths are meant not to care about anything and that was the whole point!? anyway, it was pretty cool, but not awesome...

very leisurely paced

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 1 December 2013]

Although very leisurely paced, this began well. The school classroom settings were good and the site of the first body placement very well executed even if the severed arm was not wholly convincing. Great idea too with the pair of youngsters fascinated by the actions of a serial killer decide to do some research and then trail after to watch his handicraft. But that's it really, the pace doesn't pick up, the kills are found, all much the same and unfortunately it dawns that this is the way the film is going to proceed till the end. Plenty of outside locations, looking much the same as ever but some surprisingly effective interiors reflecting a heavy western Gothic influence but all the stuff with twins and bullying and suicide we have seen so many times. Shame because this really had potential. My box suggests, 'arthouse meets grindhouse' but in truth that only applies to the opening a barely a couple more brief scenes. Nice idea though.

should have been better than it was

[donb-519-335075 · 5/10 · 10 September 2013]

Good idea - two alternative (as in liking dead things, etc.) teens get together to solve a serial killer who displays his victims in an artistic fashion. Not the first time this has been done, but I thought "well, the Japanese will do something interesting with this."

But it is so slow that even the revealing of how they find the serial killer and the personal sub plot for the girl do not deliver - not worth the time.

Only really satisfying element was the reason the girl let her older sister hang was that while she was trying to help her older sister, the older sister who was constantly berating her, started again - and she basically said (metaphorically) "Screw you - if you are going to be a bitch way - go ahead and hang!" Served her right - and thus should it be for all bullies!

Japanese horror often times is very edgy and shocking - not this.

DonB

just your typical, indifferent ( cruel, Gothic, whatever you want) teenagers

[semper_tenera · 14 September 2011]

for all the disappointed people around here, this is an adaptation of a manga series by Otsuichi. And... as most such adaptations, it's bound to be a little naive about the reality one expects to be portrayed in a movie. in my opinion, this was quite a good movie starring young actors. it has a decent amount of suspense, it has mystery and I didn't find a moment of it to be anticlimactic. The only thing that struck me as odd was the main characters' rooms. that made me laugh. that was a bad move. we might think there are no parents in this movie at all and the children roam freely with credit cards so they can buy weird stuff like knives, ropes, chains and other murder related paraphernalia just to keep them in a secret closet. oh come on, Japan!

I liked the characters very much so I'll take the liberty of talking a bit about them. the girl: she maintains a Victorian Gothic aura around her even in broad daylight, her strange past and her unexplainable attraction for hanging ropes and playing suicide. the teenage Japanese boy is a typical depiction of horror mangas, he is a top student, mysterious,quiet and meditative, with a love for the morbid, a bit too mature for his age, and he reads Hp Lovecraft, an author that used too many tentacle references for his own good. these two meet, they are connected by the same attraction for death. they tease each other a bit and they quietly observe the murders around them. There is nothing more, nothing less. just the strange interaction between these two. morbid teenagers.

these facts aside, the movie has a tranquility to it that few other have attained. it's like it's paced by a metronome.

Slow, somewhat arty manga adaption fails to do much with premise

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 30 October 2015]

GOTH: LOVE OF DEATH is the film adaptation of a popular Japanese manga comic. It concerns a couple of high school outcasts who team up to investigate a series of bizarre murders perpetrated by a serial killer who enjoys cutting the hands off his female victims. Before long the twosome are getting far too close to the murderer and may find themselves the next victims.

The set-up of this low budget thriller is pretty neat but sadly the execution is lacking throughout. This is a slow, somewhat arty production that fails to excite much in the way of interest in the viewer. Despite the murderous premise, the danger level is low throughout, and it's also a surprisingly tame film given the subject matter.

The best thing about this film is the characterisation; it's nice to have such a pair of weird, non-mainstream characters in the central roles and the actors do well with their parts. Rin Takanashi is particularly effective as the kooky, white-skinned goth girl and would later go on to find success in the likes of KILLERS. It's just a shame that the story becomes less and less interesting as it goes on, leading to an entirely unmemorable climax.

I guess you have to be a goth anime otaku to get this one..

[johnrmcd · 8/10 · 22 October 2012]

Goth - a 2008 Japanese movie about a pair of goth loving high school kids trying to track a serial killer. Apparently it was based on a Japanese horror manga which is part of the reason that I found the film so appealing. I absolutely adore anime and manga, especially those in the horror genre. I give it 8 out of 10 stars due to a dragged out ending. The girl looked gorgeous in pale makeup and her room reminded me of mine. Hers had more lace and less black velvet, but similar feel overall. My question is, how did her family afford a room like that in Tokyo of all places? Anyway this is not a bad movie to watch on a sick day if you're into Japanese anime or manga.

sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

[trashgang · 4/10 · 5 December 2014]

Mixed emotions with this extreme slow so-called horror. I mean, I'm used to see Japanese flicks and I know that they can be rare or for some not to understand but this one is rather simple to catch up with and still, there's not that much going on except two youngsters searching out the murders happening around them. There's a bit of mystery about the girl but to say that this is a horror I can't say.

Even being called Goth, I know the genre very well, no Gothic music to hear or any Goth to spot. It's not because you are interested in the occult that you are a Goth.

Nevertheless, not my cup of tea I thought it would have been reading the reviews but no, this Goth is not my friend..

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Oh My Goth it's Boring

[rrryoyorrr · 8 April 2012]

The Main Characters are "deader" than the murder victims, and the story is just as vapid. The murder victims are staged by the killer in what is described as "artistic", and I agree, which makes them more exciting than the actual living characters in the film who are by far some of the most unsympathetic, disengaging, unemotional, boring people to grace the screen. Now on a more positive note, the Art Direction makes the film watchable, but the pretty Actress is what's keeping me watching. Other than that, this movie has nothing to offer, and is like a nicely wrapped box with a polished stone inside. Don't waste your time unless you are one of the following: A film student who must watch everything, A film critic who must watch everything, Someone who enjoys watching paint dry, or an unlucky fool. Of course I'm joking because I'd be the unlucky fool.

I loved the concept hated the movie..

[yeodawg · 3 November 2011]

I loved the concept hated the movie.This movie s concept can go toe-to-toe with twilight or any other hunger games teen movie any day. But they had to Asian it up, and it lost me. Two Wanna be vampire outcast kids team up to catch a serial killer. Awesome but no it's a cool dude and a weird girl who doesn't stick out because she doesn't wear black nail polish or lipstick. She actually wears her school uniform correctly and long black hair. If this was filmed in the states she' be the blonde haired blue eyed girl from the rite side of the tracks. So in true Asian fashion they stumble across a clue to the killer and begin their odyssey. If you've seen other Asian films like the Housemaid, and I see evil you know how this will end it won't be pretty. Anyhoo the opening scene where they discover the body is pure cinema gold and will be copied by everyone.