Rinjin 13-gô (2005)

Rinjin 13-gô: Directed by Yasuo Inoue. With Shidô Nakamura, Shun Oguri, Hirofumi Arai, Yumi Yoshimura. Jûzô Murasaki is a boy miscast in his classroom, being frequently abused, tortured, beaten and humiliated by the bully Tôru Akai and his gang of juvenile punks. After years of repression, rejection and fear without facing Akai, he develops a psychopathic dual personality with a violent alter-ego. While living in the apartment 13 of a tenement building, he becomes unable to control his violent dark personality, who plots an evil revenge against his upper floor neighbor Akai and his family.

“You know, I donu0026#39;t say this about any foreign movies, but I am going to say it here. This movie could be done well as a North American remake (ducks!), in the right hands of course.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI absolutely adored the premise for this film. A child, tortured at school when he was young, develops multiple personalities from it. His dual personalities (one weak and kind, the other strong and sociopathic) are kept well hidden all of his life and donu0026#39;t affect anyone else until, some new neighbors move in. A very evil and cruel bully, who he also ends up working with at a construction site. The bully bullies him, and the stronger personality starts to emerge to protect the weaker one. And thatu0026#39;s when the freaky stuff starts to happen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGood pacing by the director, showing the main characteru0026#39;s struggle with his past and slow descent into madness. Great acting by everyone, especially the stronger personality. That guy was absolutely terrifying to watch on screen. He brought an unusual amount of tension to every scene. Well done.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut in the end, I still thought the film was lacking. This movie should have been an easy 10/10, but I have to give it an 8, because more could have and should have been done to help flesh out the development of the main character. I still hope that all of you will go out there and give this film a chance, and hopefully some American producer will see its potential and try and get a remake made, because as good as it was…it could have been better.”