Gakkô no kaidan (1995)

Gakkô no kaidan: Directed by Hideyuki Hirayama. With Hironobu Nomura, Kasumi Toyama, Shiori Yonezawa, Hajime Atsuta. A young girl wanders into a wing of her elementary school that has been abandoned for years and is rumored to be haunted. When she doesn’t come back, a group of her classmates go looking for her, only to find that they, too, are trapped inside. They must somehow find their way to safety, and quickly, because the rumors of ghosts are turning out to be true…

“When I sat down to watch the 1995 Japanese movie u0026quot;Gakkô no kaidanu0026quot; (aka u0026quot;Haunted Schoolu0026quot;) I wasnu0026#39;t familiar with this being a family horror movie. I believed it was an ordinary horror movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo needless to say that my expectations for directornHideyuki Hirayamau0026#39;s movie wasnu0026#39;t exactly met. That being said, then I will say that u0026quot;Haunted Schoolu0026quot; was actually a wholesome movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow, if you think a Japanese version of u0026quot;The Gooniesu0026quot;, then you are on the right track as to what directornHideyuki Hirayama managed to churn out here in 1995. So this was definitely a family movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is an adequate storyline told here in u0026quot;Haunted Schoolu0026quot;, though it is taking place in a rather restrained location; that being an old school. And it is a well-paced storyline as well, with lots of fun and excitement for the entire family.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting in the movie was adequate, though I canu0026#39;t claim to really be familiar with anyone on the cast list. And the majority of actors and actresses here are child performers, but they definitely put on good performances. Again, with child performers, then you know you are in for something that is suitable for a younger audience as well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVisually then the effects are actually not all that bad. Sure, this wasnu0026#39;t over-the-top visual effects as youu0026#39;d see in multi-million dollar Hollywood productions, and keep in mind that this is a family horror movie after all. But the effects are there, they serve their purpose and they are adequate.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, then u0026quot;Haunted Schoolu0026quot; was actually a rather nice surprise of a movie for the family. I am rating it a six out of ten stars.”