A group of friends investigate a mysterious theme-park horror house to discover what happened to one of them years before. Following an incident at the Fuji-Q Highland theme park in which his friend Yuki went missing, and the subsequent death of his mother, Ken moves away from the area with his father. 10 years later Ken (Yuya Yagira) returns, reuniting with his friend Motoki (Ryo Katsuji). The two travel to the house of Rin (Ai Maeda), later picking up Yuki (Misako Renbutsu), who they believed had disappeared in the mysterious incident, and her sister Miyu (Elina Mizuno). When Yuki falls down the stairs at her mother’s house they all travel to a hospital which is eerily empty and find themselves trapped inside the same horror house from their childhoods.
Directed by Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on) with a script by Daisuke Hosaka, “Shock Labyrinth” is a haunted house horror with a premise that requires serious suspension of disbelief. The film’s style, leaves the viewer in the dark early on while the group reassemble, and this pursposeful obscurity makes little sense in light of what follows. It is a film in which the characters are as clueless as the audience in order to set up the underwhelming twists, when there is no good reason for them to be so ignorant of past events. Filmed on location at Fuji-Q Highland’s haunted house the film plays much like experiencing that same attraction, with a spooky atmosphere and sense of unease throughout. Shimizu’s direction is solid and creates an unsettling atmosphere along with the disquieting score. Unfortunately, in its attempts to create a mystery the film creates no meaningful connection with the characters or tension as the audience’s lack of understanding leads to a complete indifference to the fate of the characters. While it has some interesting ideas, in having the younger and older versions of the characters crossing paths in the house, blending past and present, it rarely makes the most of these elements.
A simplistic horror film with a young cast trapped in a haunted house. The film’s themes of regret and the final twist would have been more impactful had there been any sense of who the characters were. Rin’s blindness is used ocassionally as a rather trite horror trope and the relationships between several of teh character play a central role but don’t feel believable. The film might have played more on the notion of a labyrinth, with ocassional breaks in continuity and the overlapping past and present cast attempting this disorienting tone, but never fully realises its potential. Overall, a disappointing teen horror with few surprises.
