Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Leofwine_draca An effective combination of 'change the future'-style sci-fi thriller and traditional Japanese horror. PREMONITION tells the story of an ordinary man caught up in some extraordinary events…and the dark avenues to which he is eventually led as a result of this.Things kick off with a shocking set-piece in which a young girl is killed in one of those accidents that are filmed so well in Asian cinema. Years later and the father blames himself for not saving her, as he was warned by a newspaper article in the moments before her death. Soon he becomes convinced that he can go back in time to save her, and becomes involved with various psychics who claim to be able to see the future.What follows is both familiar and unpredictable at the same time. Director Norio Tsuruta, hot off making RING 0, shoots this as a horror rather than science fiction film, so incorporates various scare sequences that end up being very effective. There's little to no gore here, just a creeping psychological approach that pays dividends as the story progresses. I defy anyone not to jump in their seat at the 'faceless ghost' scene.The pacing is rather slow – when isn't it in a J-horror? – but it gradually picks up as the film builds momentum, culminating in a blistering climax involving our protagonist hopping through realities at a dizzying pace. It reminded me of the hilarious extended fight climax of Wes Craven's SHOCKER, although of course it's treated seriously here. Hiroshi Mikami is excellent as the haunted protagonist – think of the calibre of Hiroyuki Sanada in Ring and you'll be close – and the film as a whole never pulls its punches.

MovieGuy01 I thought that Premonition was a great Japanese horror film from the director Norio Tsuruta. It is about a man Professor Hideki Satomi who has stopped at a roadside phone booth so that he is able to transmit his work through Internet to the university where he works at. Suddenly he finds a scrap of newspaper with the picture of his five years old daughter Nana in the obituary column He sees his wife Ayaka Satomi trying to undo their daughter from the seat-belt, when a truck without steering hits his car killing Nana. Three years later, Hideki is divorced from Ayaka, who is now researching paranormal persons who have said to have claimed to have read an evil newspaper anticipating things that will occur in the future Ayaka,still trying to believe on Hideki, and she finds that there are people are cursed so that they are able to see the future but not to be able to try and find a way to save the victims. I thought that there was a lot of great action happening in this film i also thought that it had a good supernatural feel to it. 7/10

hoggaglust-1 Much criticism is being pointed at the new(ish) crop of Asian horror, due in part to a lack of originality. Yogen, aka Premonition, can at least be spared this criticism - not one grumpy long haired female spectre in sight! The story itself is also fairly original, with our protagonist stuck in an eternal hell as the curse of the 'Paper Of Death' weaves its evil spell over him and his family. Unfortunately, the director never quite delivers on the scares the premise promises, and too many missed opportunities to strike genuine fear into the audience leave us with yet another Asian Ghost flick that, whilst it has its moments, overall will disappoint those looking for genuine creeps.Having watched the film several times, along with its J-Horror Theatre predecessor 'Kansen' (amongst others), one criticism I do have of the 21st Century glut of Asian horror is that most simply aren't that frightening, and Yogen is no exception.The reason I began collecting Asain horror DVDs was that they brought a genuine breath of fresh air to a genre long since left stale by a seemingly endless run of American slasher flicks, with their annoying, half naked teen protagonists, cartoony killers and cheap 'scares'. The Japanese showed us that horror lurks, not in 250 litres of fake blood, but in the darker corners of the imagination. Using intelligent, often sensitive stories, minimal special effects and striking imagery, fans of the genre were buoyed by the knowledge that the Horror film was not, after all, dead. I quickly began to buy the films that I had read about; Audition, Ju-On, Dark Water etc etc and eagerly looked forward to new releases, only to realise quickly that I already had the creme de la creme of Asian Horror. It is with each new release, and subsequent purchase that I again look forward to, if not stunningly original, then at least frightening films, and can honestly say that that hasn't happened in a while.Yogen appears (for the moment at least) to be the last of the J-Horror Theatre releases, the promised remaining 4 proving elusive. It also continues the trend of heavy atmospherics, interesting visuals and mainly scare free script. Not that Yogen doesn't have its moments, but the majority of the film follows the usual 'investigation' plot, where our heroes must find out 'why' the events are occurring. Surely much of the fear factor is 'not' knowing? Anyway, suffice to say that Yogen still entertains on a level, it's just that that level is more psychological than genuine horror, and with a (literally) big bang start and intriguing conclusion, the mid section drifts through a desert of scare free exposition and ubiquitous, sometimes dull plot development that sadly, I have come to expect from more recent releases. I'm just hoping that the next in the series, the writers and director remember that they are producing a 'horror' film.

Apostic Found this thing in a used DVD bin. Since I hadn't heard of it (everybody knows for Grudges and Dark Waters, but not this one), I had low expectations. Being wrong about that was only the first of many satisfying surprises.I've seen plenty of weird tales, and sometimes it angers me when I can see the twists coming. But Premonition? I've never seen a movie where the predictable twists are just red herrings that distract from real twists. (It's sort of like how an eighties horror movie plays a fake scare, pause a beat, REAL SCARE.) Maybe some of the twists get silly toward the end, but come the end itself I found this movie much more satisfying than other new horror movies I've seen lately. I was impressed by some creative image framing during a dialog sequence near the beginning. I'd gladly recommend this movie to friends who might like a few low key surprises.