Lack of good storyline.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This was an interesting watch. It was originally released as part of a double feature alongside Masayuki Ochiai's Infection, and is based loosely on Jirô Tsunoda's manga The Newspaper of Terror.I found that it had a super strong beginning — it pulled me right in — and a super strong ending, but the middle was a bit lacking and I felt like it meandered for a while.The very first scene — starting off so innocent and happy and quickly descending into absolute terror and heartbreak — was extremely engaging. The confusion of Hideki (played by Hiroshi Mikami) when he finds the newspaper article, Nana (played by Hana Inoue) screaming for help — it was all so intense. But after that, when we got into more of the searching and the trying to find an answer, it got a bit diluted and I thought kind of soap opera-esque at times, with some pretty cheesy moments (like Ayaka, played by Noriko Sakai, saying "you can't run away forever!" as Hideki, you guessed it, runs away, or their dramatic kiss as the scene fades out). There were a few good moments mixed in, for sure — like Hideki having the dream about hearing Nana's voice outside his door and opening it to find her charred body — but I think it largely lost steam for a while.I was torn about the characterization of the newspaper itself. There were times when it was a bit corny — moaning, dissolving into smoke — but other times I thought it was truly cool how the newspaper was made to be this sentient being, intently following, purposeful. It made it less of just a random addition to the movie and almost a character in itself, which was cool.The relationship between Hideki and Ayaka is heartbreaking — they obviously love each other deeply but were torn apart by tragedy. They have all of this bitterness and regret, but ultimately decide to overcome those things to work towards solving the mystery.Really, the whole concept of having to decide which aspect of the premonitions you will succumb to — if you aren't consumed by madness or illness you will be by guilt — is fascinating and terrifying. There's no "good" choice, you just have to decide what will ultimately be your end.After a while of some "meh" scenes, Hideki starts to go through this wild series of flashbacks. The whole process is disorienting — in a good way, really, and I think it's important, but it is confusing at times to know which way is up. But he is forced back to the original experience — the accident that kills Nana — and while he tries to fix things, tries to find this magical combination where he can save both himself and his family, you are forced to walk alongside him in his frustration and heartbreak. His flashback to before the trip started, when he hugs Nana, is heart-wrenching… his emotion is just so real and palpable. But he realizes that the only way out is to sacrifice himself… and it's a pretty wild ending, finishing off with not only him finally "resting" in a sense in his final decision, but leaving some mystery with the newspaper floating over Nana.Again, I thought it lost some of its momentum in the middle — I wish it could have kept up the intensity — but it was ultimately a very clever, intelligent film.

"Premonition" is an exceptional horror film--with a very original plot that kept me on the edge of my....well, actually, it was not my seat--I was actually watching while walking on my treadmill! But either way, it's a dandy film, that's for sure.The film begins with a family coming back from a trip. The father, Hideki Satomi, is too busy with work he's doing in the back seat of the car to pay any attention to his wife and daughter. When they stop at a pay phone, things get VERY strange. Hideki sees a newspaper on the ground under the phone and something grabs his attention--a clipping that talks about his daughter's death!!! And, the article tells the time she was killed--just a moment away! Hideki tries to run from the phone booth to the car parked across the road--but he's too late. An out of control truck careens into the car and kills the little girl.Several years pass. Hideki's marriage has crumbled and he's divorced. It seems that his story about seeing the article has ruined his marriage--ask she doesn't believe he saw this weird prescient clip--and it was lost in the confusion of the accident. And, he's simply obsessed by it--as well as quite depressed. The wife returns to him, however, when she realizes that there are others who have described similar things---claiming to have knowledge of deaths JUST BEFORE they occur! There is much more to the film--but I really don't want to ruin the film. Suffice to say, it's extraordinarily creepy and original. And, although technically a horror film, it's also a wonderful film about love and sacrifice. Well worth your time, that's for sure.

We learn from the DVD extras from an interview with the Director, that "Premonition" is based on a 30 year old Japanese horror novel titled "Fear Newspaper". The plot involves people who are sent newspapers from unseen forces that foretell the calamitous events or murders in the near future. Premonition reminds me of the 1944 American film "It happened tomorrow" where a man receives a copy of tomorrow's newspaper which predicts his own demise.In this Japanese version, the protagonist is Hideki Satomi. He's a high school teacher obsessed with his work so when traveling on a vacation with his wife, Ayaka, and 5 year old daughter, Nana, the power fails on his notebook computer and he insists that his wife turn their car around and backtrack to a pay phone a few miles away where he can plug the computer into a power source and recharge the battery. As he's waiting for the battery to recharge inside the phone booth, his wife is having trouble extricating Nana from the car as the little girl's dress has gotten stuck inside the seat belt. Meanwhile, Hideki is dumbfounded when a burnt up piece of newspaper comes floating from the sky and rests in front of him inside the phone booth. The newspaper has a picture of his daughter with a caption announcing her death in a horrible accident. Seconds later, as Ayaka leaves the car and goes across the road to get Hideki to help her get Nana out of the car, a truck plows into the car, causing it to catch fire, explode and kill the hapless little girl.Flash forward three years later. Hideki and Ayaka are no longer together (we later learn that Ayaka no longer wanted to hear about the mysterious newspaper that Hideki kept harping upon). Ironically, when the 'fear newspaper' (otherwise referred to as 'newspaper of terror') suddenly starts popping up in Hideki's life again predicting ghastly events, Hideki wants nothing to do with 'newspapers' and is oblivious to their clues; but Ayaka is now a researcher of psychic phenomena at the local university and is intent on getting to the bottom of what might have happened with the 'fear newspaper'.Ayaka is working with an older woman, a psychic who uses her power to produce images on Polaroid (instant) film. The psychic tells Ayaka of a researcher, Rei Kigata, who has disappeared but prior to his disappearance discovered there is a place in the cosmos where all thoughts and memories coalesce. Certain people (like Hideki) become privy to incidents in the future through the fear newspaper which appear (as previously stated), out of nowhere. This is perhaps the weakest aspect of Premonition's story. Unlike the aforementioned "It happened tomorrow", where an old man delivers the newspaper, and there is some kind of relationship between the old man and the protagonist, the 'fear newspaper' arrives as a result from an unseen, vaguely defined force in the cosmos. It would have been much more compelling if there was some kind of devil-like figure that was delivering the newspaper instead of the random delivery which simply wasn't suspenseful.Ayaka soon finds the psychic dead in her research laboratory. Meanwhile, Hideki is powerless to stop the murder of one of his teenage students despite receiving prior notification that the ghastly event will occur. Hideki continues to receive warnings of catastrophic events (such as a landslide) through the fear newspaper and again he's unable to do anything. We're even past the midpoint in the film and the central question is not asked—what can Hideki do to reverse the events that led to the death of daughter? Finally, Ayaka's research assistant finds the address of the mysterious Rei Kigata and Ayaka and Hideki go to visit him. However, when they arrive the house is deserted. By watching various old videotapes (some 12 years old), they see that Kigata attempted to alter the future interfering in the very events that are predicted to come true. We can see that Kigata begins developing plague-like symptoms on his body as a result of his meddling with the future.Finally Hideki realizes that he can change fate but at a cost. Three quarters of the film is already over and finally a suspenseful event occurs. Hideki (after receiving another newspaper) prevents his wife from getting on a commuter train before it crashes and kills most everyone on board. However, Ayaka's research assistant was with her in the train and Hideki doesn't realize it when he pulls his ex-wife off onto the platform right before the train leaves the station.Now Hideki finds himself caught in some kind of vortex where he's going backward in time. Before he knows it, he's back at the scene where his daughter was killed. He tries to interfere, saves the daughter but this time the wife is killed. Then he finds himself inside the cab of the truck with the truck driver who's had the seizure; again he can't stop the truck from plowing into his car. Finally, he remembers what the psychic had told him: you can change your own fate. This time 'he gets it'. He's able to save his daughter but must sacrifice his own life to save the little girl.There's a ton of great material on the DVD extras including numerous scenes that show us how Premonition was made. I was impressed with the degree of cooperation between the director and the rest of the cast and crew. Nonetheless, director Norio Tsuruta resorts to introducing too many horror clichés (e.g. the drooling serial killer) at the expense of a tight and suspenseful plot. Without a clearly defined antagonist and the failure of the protagonist to be proactive throughout most of the film, Premonition fails to accomplish its goals: consistently scare its audience and keep it in a state of suspense.

While stopped at a roadside phone boot for transmitting his work through Internet to the university, Professor Hideki Satomi (Hiroshi Mikami) finds a scrap of newspaper with the picture of his five years old daughter Nana (Hana Inoue) in the obituary. He sees his wife Ayaka Satomi (Noriko Sakai) trying to release their daughter from the seat-belt, when a truck without steer hits his car killing Nana. Three years later, Hideki is divorced from Ayaka, who is researching paranormal persons who claim to have read an evil newspaper anticipating the future still trying to believe on Hideki, and she finds that there are people cursed to foresee the future but without power to save the victims. When Hideki changes the future saving Ayaka, he becomes trapped in hell and he has to make a choice of his own destiny."Yogen" is another eerie Japanese horror movie, fortunately not spoiled yet by an American remake. The creepy story about a cursed professor that blames himself for not saving the life of his daughter, destroying his own life, is very weird, original and scary. The scene with the car accident is very impressive, and when Hideki is trapped in hell, the slow pace of the film changes to a frightening sequence. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Terror da Premonição" ("The Terror of the Premonition")