MISSING CHILD VIDEOTAPE (Japan 2025) - MINI REVIEW

Is the hype for this movie justified?

A man still struggling with the mysterious disappearance of his younger brother 13 years prior, receives a video tape from his mother containing the moment his brother vanishes.

Alongside his roommate and a journalist on the hunt for an intriguing story, they return to the scene of his disappearance and uncover the chilling truth behind the mountainous location that has claimed the life of countless others.

There is a lot of hype behind this movie, and that means expectations are high. And unfortunately, I don’t think this movie stood a chance to standing up to that hype.

Director Ryota Kondo has adapted his 2022 short movie into this feature length film with the backing of legendary modern J-horror director Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On series, The Village of Terror trilogy) who has always had a habit of pushing new ideas in the J-horror space.

New blood is always welcomed in the horrorsphere, and Ryota Kondo will go on to make a big name for himself, but this first foray into feature films is a slight misstep through no fault of his own - rather, being a victim of high expectations.

The movie is an extremely slow burn, so much so that the first real ‘jump-scare’ of the film (which isn’t really a jump scare anyway) doesn’t occur until an hour into the film. Up until that point, a lot of effort has been made to craft a realistically creepy world based on our three main characters: the man desperate to find his missing brother, his roommate who can see dead people and a journalist who finds the story about scenario of the missing child more exciting than her original story.

This is a very character driven movie, and a very typically traditional Japanese movie. It builds up and up and up and up, slowly but surely. But usually when this happens you expect a payoff that rewards your patience. What we get here is an ending that leave some interpretation for the viewer.

Is that frustrating? For me it is.

But there is a lot to like about this film too. The final third of movie introduces the background ghosts that the roommate keeps seeing. Now the audience sees them too. The first time it occurred I did a double take, but then recognised it was a nice touch by the director to add more atmosphere to the film.

I also liked that the movie just lets the video tape run without any interruptions from the characters. We follow the two brothers, we learn there is a bit of conflict, we see them discover the abandoned building and their game of hide and seek. What I just wanted to know more about was the overall power of the building. It might make a good lore follow up film, since the movie ends with some ambiguity.

In the end, this is a J-horror movie for those who like the supernatural, who like the slow burn and likes mystery - such as the people who liked Kairo or Noroi. This is not a movie for those with short attention spans, gore hounds or those after a whole heap of scares.

It’s good, but it’s not great. But let’s see what the audience reaction is like in 10 years’ time once Ryota Kondo has more films under his belt.

I give this movie 3 ghosts out of 5.

Genre Mystery Horror
Director Ryota Kondo
Starring Rairu Sugita, Amon Hirai, Kokoro Morita
Original Title ミッシング・チャイルド・ビデオテープ
Alternative Title Missing Child Videotape
Country of Origin Japan
Release Date 24 January 2025