trashgang The Japanese entry in the series and yes it's all about vengeful ghosts and yes we do see, sigh, a lot of hair attacking and yes we do have a creepy ghost but no this isn't good.First of all it's a slow builder and secondly the story doesn't grow or stick together. It all starts when Jack, in his teens see his brother drowning before his eyes and there's nothing he can do. We see Jack having nightmares about that fact but it's so stupid like the cap in the sink, that was just awful. Then we move further to the fact that the grown up Jack works in Japan and is having an affair with a client's wife. When the husband needs Jack to solve a problem he asks his wife Yuri together with Jack on board of his yacht to solve the problem, but of course he intend to kill them both because he's aware of the affair. The fact that Jack's brother is being killed by water makes him afraid of going on sea, but he does, once on the yacht he's the big hero, no problems of any kind. Still it's a lot of blah blah before things go wrong but when it does it's all off-camera. Then of course the yacht breaks down and in comes the hair. Guess who, Naomi, Eiji's earlier wife. The only thing that looked creepy was her ghost. But by then it was all too late. This was for me the worst entry in season 2 and this was also the final entry. I thought a lot of Dead Calm (1989) but with a twist of a ghost. Even the ending with Jack's brother returning in the water looked stupid. No, I wont board in again to this cruise.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Coventry Takashi Miike's contribution to the Masters of Horror's first season was one of the absolute greatest episodes of the entire show. With his uniquely shocking style, Miike delivered a nightmarish tale that was practically impossible to categorize. The second season contains another short film directed by an Asian "master" (although this term is debatable, since Norio Tsuruta's only did the mediocre "Premonition" and one of the "Ringu" sequels thus far), but this time the result is mundane and very easy to categorize. "Dream Cruise" is typical & derivative J-Horror, so unfortunately you already know what to expect: a clichéd plot about ghosts from the past, vengeance from beyond the grave and ghastly appearances that disappear again as quick as the come. "Dream Cruise" is a crossover between "Dead Calm", albeit just regarding the setting and line-up of characters, and the original "Ringu", from which this story shamelessly borrows all the main aspects and even some of the most essential frights & make-up effects. The American attorney Jack Miller has been working in Japan since two years and he even managed to secretly steal the beautiful wife away from his general manager. The latter found out about their relationship, however, and plots to get rid of them both during a touristy cruise on his yacht. Jack accepts the invitation reluctantly, because he's terrified of the sea due to a childhood trauma, but Eiji's diabolical plan doesn't really go as planned, neither, because he as well faces an unexpected ghost from the past. The script direly moves from one clichéd situation to the next and the three main characters are genuine stereotypes whose every next move and line of text you can predict light-years in advance. The supposedly surprising ending is terribly irritating, too, and people who're familiar with ghost stories are able to guess the outcome since the opening sequence already. The make-up effects on the watery ghosts would be creepy and unsettling, if it hadn't been for the fact we already seen similar stuff in "Ringu", "Ju-On: The Grudge", "Phone", etc… "Dream Cruise" is undoubtedly the worst entry in season two and my personal vote for the most lackluster one of the entire show.

jboyaquar J-Horror's career can be summed up by the audience's potential fright at being confronted by the righteously malcontent spirits attempting to breach their world for ours. However, visions of decrepit, deformed stringy-haired Asian women slowly reaching out to take our lives is no longer anything haunting because of their ubiquity in the early 2000's. Therefore, it'll have to take a memorable narrative twist, or unique emotional characterizations to be affected by their work. Neither are found in this exercise because of the director's erratic tendency to play temporal puppetmaster whenever he sees fit. The lack of faith I placed on the director's control of what is dream/what is reality led my mind astray and distracted me from the strengths of the singular setting. You get bits and pieces of the three main characters lives...but nothing sincere enough to create a lasting impression. Also, I found Ryo Ishibashi's acting to be cheap and second-rate though his character's breakdown is less involving and more two-dimensional than the other two leads. The film-making and the eerie green colors reflecting the malevolent spirit is fine...but the storytelling's too shoddy and incomplete to matter. An addition of western/genre plot reveals would have added more pleasure to this experience.

gavin6942 Absolutely terrified of the sea, an American lawyer reluctantly goes on an ocean cruise to be near the wife of a client, with no idea of the grim situation that awaits them all.This film was made by people involved in the making of "The Grudge", "The Ring" and "Dark Water", so if you appreciate these films in any way you are already on the right page for enjoying this story. And as far as stories go, this one is alright. (Is it out of coincidence that both first and second season placed the Asian horror episode last? Would season 3 have been the same?) This film worked precisely because it was an Asian horror film. That might seem an odd thing to say, but I will try to explain. In American horror films, things need explanations. Even if they are really abstract, American audiences expect some sort of logic behind what they see. Asian films (Japanese in particular) are more loose with this. Strange things just happen, and we are supposed to go along with it. People get possessed, reincarnated, spirits float around and this is normal. But American films cannot do this without trying to create elaborate back story.All the acting is fine, although the woman seemed very odd. I think this was more due to her English rather than her acting, but she was an awkward character. There is also a subplot of infidelity that seems to be a driving force, but I was not clear on how it all tied in. You can draw your own conclusions, as some of the evidence one way or the other is not till much later in the story and I will not reveal it.Asian horror, and this one is no exception, is also good at leaving disturbing images in your mind. "The Eye" did this, "The Ring" as well (at least the first American film, not the second). There is a spirit in this movie that is just really creepy and in real life would scare me half to death. While American films tend to have decent gore (on occasion) they do not often leave you feeling grossed out (with "The Sixth Sense" being an exception that comes to mind)."Dream Cruise" was a worthy finish for the second season. Strong story, decent characters and a distinctly unique feel. Perhaps not the best episode, but far from the worst. The DVD is well worth picking up. Although the case says it is 60 minutes, that is incorrect -- you actually get the full 90 minutes that were shown in Japanese theaters, which adds something more. You also get a great audio commentary, where Mick Garris explains how he sees himself as a "cheerleader" and has no influence on the production.Unfortunately, there is no director commentary -- he speaks no English, which makes such a commentary difficult for American releases. Do they make subtitled commentaries? But if you think about this language barrier, it makes the film even more interesting -- the principal actor speaks no Japanese, so the director had to have complete faith that lines were being delivered correctly. And it works. Somehow it works.