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Goda (Renji Ishibashi) is the introverted owner of a boarding house, where he routinely spies on his tenants through strategically placed holes in the ceiling. One afternoon, he witnesses the wealthy Lady Minako (Junko Miyashita), having a sexual encounter with one of the tenants, whose fetish is to dress up as a clown. Fully aware that she is being watched, Lady Minako kills her lover. Goda, conscious that Minako is aware of a witness to her crime, does not go to the police. Instead he takes up the opportunity to kill another lodger himself. Soon the two meet and a deadly trust is born. Watcher in the Attic is based on a novel by the Japanese autor and critic Taro Hiral, better known as Rampo Edogawa. Rampo was an admirer of western mystery writers such as Edgar Allen Poe. His pseudonym is actually a Japanese rendering of Poe s name. Like Poe s works, Watcher in the Attic is a tale of mystery and macabre.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Japanese ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Goda (Renji Ishibashi) is the introverted owner of a boarding house, where he routinely spies on his tenants through strategically placed holes in the ceiling. One afternoon, he witnesses the wealthy Lady Minako (Junko Miyashita), having a sexual encounter with one of the tenants, whose fetish is to dress up as a clown. Fully aware that she is being watched, Lady Minako kills her lover. Goda, conscious that Minako is aware of a witness to her crime, does not go to the police. Instead he takes up the opportunity to kill another lodger himself. Soon the two meet and a deadly trust is born. Watcher in the Attic is based on a novel by the Japanese autor and critic Taro Hiral, better known as Rampo Edogawa. Rampo was an admirer of western mystery writers such as Edgar Allen Poe. His pseudonym is actually a Japanese rendering of Poe's name. Like Poe's works, Watcher in the Attic is a tale of mystery and macabre. ...Watcher in the Attic ( Edogawa Ranpo ryôki-kan: Yaneura no sanposha ) ( Edogawa Rampo ryôki-kan: Yaneura no samposha )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I had no idea what I was letting myself in for - I'd bought this DVD when I needed another to pair up on a bundle offer. I had presumed that it was along the lines of some of the more recent, successful Japanese horrors that have used underplayed but still disturbing feels of paranoia and doom.
So - it's 1923 Tokyo and a boarding house's landlord spies on his guests from above. One day, a prostitute kills her client. The landlord has finally found his soulmate.....
I DID find the screen very gloomy and with very low contrast and it looked like it was on predictable 'peeping tom' route to being a waste of time and money. It was only going to take just over 70 minutes, though, so....
First of all, the scenes being spied upon (I found) totally un-erotic, though not quite distasteful, but nearly so. Maybe partly because it looked so dark and claustrophobic, one peered even harder and concentrated harder. After about half an hour of feeling slightly ill at ease the story took over and with some lighter relief as the character list expanded and we could place better who those characters were and what they (supposedly) did.
Toward the end, the whole experience I found to be as compelling - and weird, as say Pan's Labrynth. The final scenes were as thought provoking and chilling as well as memorable as any that I've seen in Japanese cinema.
I wouldn't flag this one up as a 'must', but if you get the chance and if the mood suits and you start, go the distance, you may well be amply rewarded.
So - it's 1923 Tokyo and a boarding house's landlord spies on his guests from above. One day, a prostitute kills her client. The landlord has finally found his soulmate.....
I DID find the screen very gloomy and with very low contrast and it looked like it was on predictable 'peeping tom' route to being a waste of time and money. It was only going to take just over 70 minutes, though, so....
First of all, the scenes being spied upon (I found) totally un-erotic, though not quite distasteful, but nearly so. Maybe partly because it looked so dark and claustrophobic, one peered even harder and concentrated harder. After about half an hour of feeling slightly ill at ease the story took over and with some lighter relief as the character list expanded and we could place better who those characters were and what they (supposedly) did.
Toward the end, the whole experience I found to be as compelling - and weird, as say Pan's Labrynth. The final scenes were as thought provoking and chilling as well as memorable as any that I've seen in Japanese cinema.
I wouldn't flag this one up as a 'must', but if you get the chance and if the mood suits and you start, go the distance, you may well be amply rewarded.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The first time i saw this Japanese gem i was engrossed in the positive way. Seeing it again, years later, it had not lost its original 'charm'.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Watcher in the Attic
24 May 2009
Format:DVD
Though this film, Watcher in the Attic, has received a lot of critical lambaste, I was really surprised by how well made it was. First of all, I love Rampo Edogawa novels. I thought his novel "Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination" was amazing, plus this is one of the few films where even though his character is the villain of sorts, his character is still sympathetic. In 1923 Tokyo the landlord of a boarding house spys on those dwelling below beneath his roof.
Though almost all of the characters excluding Minako Sayanomiya/Saburo Gouda and the landlord are two dimensional, it doesn't really hamper the film since it works best as a glimpse into the landlord's tortured and torturous life.
If you're a Rampo Edogawa fan, then you immediately need to get this.
Though almost all of the characters excluding Minako Sayanomiya/Saburo Gouda and the landlord are two dimensional, it doesn't really hamper the film since it works best as a glimpse into the landlord's tortured and torturous life.
If you're a Rampo Edogawa fan, then you immediately need to get this.
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