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Goth
Quick Links [video] [audio] [extras] [overall] 
Goth is the story of two morbid teenagers brought together by their common interest in an active serial murderer who cuts off the left hand of the victims and poses them in tranquil positions, or as it is said in the film, artistic poses. Kamiyama (Kanata Hongô) lives with his mother and sister and is a popular chap, but is fascinated with death and murder. Morino (Rin Takanashi) is the social opposite of Kamiyana: she’s not popular, she’s “the weird kid”, seemingly depressed and says nearly nothing to anyone. However she too has an unhealthy obsession with death and murder and the two of them share their interest with one another of the murders and for the one committing them. Morino hangs out at a café where, as she puts it, “only the strangest people” hang out, and she introduces Kamiyama to the place. They meet there often talking about things, but the whole relationship seems uncomfortable and awkward. Still their curiosity with the murders keeps them talking and it is during the conversations they have that it is learned that Morino has a big skeleton in her closet that contributes to her morose nature. Their macabre interest leads them to even go so far as to visiting one of the dumping sites, or rather exhibits, of the murderer and Morino lies in the exact spot the body was found. Morbid little twerps. At the café Morino finds a journal and upon reading it realizes it is a diary of sorts the killer has kept, describing the murders and locations, and even writing about one not yet discovered. So of course she and Kamiyama go on a trip to look for the body. From this point on the story unfolds and put both teens in peril and face-to-face with the sadistic killer. As to why this is labeled as a horror movie is a reason not known to this viewer. It’s more a thriller than a horror movie, and in all honesty it’s a drama over anything else. Going into the film with the expectation of it being horror was cause for a disappointment. This is a slow moving, mostly dialogue driven movie without very much that horrific, other than the idea of an on-the-loose murder, and there’s not really much in the thrills department. That being said it plays out well as a drama with elements of the aforementioned genres, with an interesting story and characters that are different and quirky enough to make them a curiosity. There’re a couple of things the movie has going for it. One is that it seems to have been made in a simplistic fashion, avoiding outrageous visuals and computer generated effects. Sure there’re a couple of scenes with blood and a some body parts, but its done in such a way that doesn’t stand out and become the focus of story. Another item of note is the use of the camera. As with the subtle use of effects, there are some neat uses camera shots that are not wild and in your face, but instead clever and creative. Don’t go into this one looking for a) a grotesque, bloodbath freak show, or b) a greasy-hair jumpy-moving girl-ghost; you won’t get either. It takes 60 of the 96 minutes before much happens and even then it continues with the slow pace. It not captivating stuff, but its should hold your attention throughout.
Shown here in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Goth looks decent enough. There’s some film grain that for some people is distracting, but it really isn’t too prevalent except in the darker areas. Sometimes the white looks intense, which is probably something the filmmakers intended, like for example the male lead’s shirt is often seen in the bright sunlight as if it is glowing. The colors don’t look washed out and the skin tones look like they should. This disc is not a stellar example of what a great picture should look like, but certainly not anything to complain about either. And there are no artifacts, skips, or anything of that nature to report.
The disc uses 2.0 Channel Dolby Digital, which sounds decent. There’s nothing by way of imperfections of note, but the balance between the music and the talking could be better. The music is mostly of the ambient type and really there’s not a lot of it, but it certainly was louder than the almost monotone mumbling of the main characters. But, it is a Japanese language movie, so if you don’t speak the language you need the subtitles anyway, so in that respect it’s a bit of a moot point.
Aside from a trailer for the movie, there’s a 45-minute making of featurette that’s pretty good. It’s all actually behind the scenes footage and not snippets of B-roll stuff laced with scenes from the movie you’ve just watched with the actors and filmmakers saying dumb shit. There’s some insight to the story it’s almost a fly-on-the-wall look at the people making the movie. Don’t watch this first because they give away who the killer is in the first few minutes. As with the feature film, it is subtitled (and 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen). There are also some trailers at the beginning of the feature that couldn’t be skipped or even fast forwarded, at least on the player used for this screening, and that’s always annoying.
Goth is an interesting story with some intriguing (but weird) main characters, played out as whodunit drama that, while isn’t a nail-biter, keeps the viewer curious enough to stick around. The quantity of extras is lacking, but the quality of what is offered certainly makes up for it.For more releases by Well Go USA go here!
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