Ryota Kondo grew up with horror films. For the Japanese director, that meant the “J-horror” of the ’90s and ’00s, a wave of films from filmmakers specializing in scary kids, dank atmosphere, techno-paranoia, and an oppressive sense of dread. For his first feature film “Videotape of a missing child” – an expansion of his award-winning short film of the same name – Kondo returned to his memory for a slow-burn ghost story that uses the “J-horror” style to frightening effect.

The film revolves around Keita (Rairu Sugita), a seemingly ordinary young man who doesn’t talk much about his childhood. His relationship with his mother is strained and he still feels guilty about the mysterious disappearance of his younger brother years ago. Then two disturbing events occur one after the other: first, Keita joins a search team for another missing child and finds the boy with almost supernatural speed. Then he receives a package in the mail from his mother. Inside is a VHS tape depicting the exact moment Keita’s younger brother Hinata went missing.

Grainy VHS footage, occasional mediumship, an abandoned mental hospital, mountain forests at night, white figures hovering in the darkness just beyond the characters’ field of vision – if that sends shivers down your spine, “Missing Child Videotape” l ‘has. . Ryota’s film also leaves some enigmatic images and questions unanswered, letting the horror seep into the viewer’s bones. We chatted with this exciting new name in Japanese horror on a rainy evening in Tokyo, where the fun of making “horror shows” came through even with a translator.

You’ve said that you grew up with Japanese horror films. I was curious: what were your favorites when you were younger?

The movie that made me want to do horror series was “Ju-On: The Grudge”, by director Takashi Shimizu. Its cinema version. (“Ju-On” was originally released direct-to-video, and a sequel was released theatrically after the series found success on VHS. -Ed.)

He produced your film, didn’t he? How was it?

It was like a dream, because his way of expressing horror is something I know very well. Talking to him was very, very stimulating. I watched “Ju-On” when I was in middle school, so I wish I could tell myself from that moment on that I was having that experience.

It must have been scary watching this movie in middle school. I saw it as an adult and thought it was quite scary.

Yes indeed. I felt like my brain was frozen.

You use VHS footage in “Missing Child VIdeotape.” There’s something about the VHS look that really works with horror. Do you have any thoughts on this?

The film I referenced (the most) while making this film was “The Blair Witch Project”, and compared to the images taken clearly on film, the VHS images are rawer and closer to reality, which (their gives) a good connection with horror. watch. This gives the scene a feeling of reality. Also, when you try to show a ghost, if it’s ambiguous, if it’s not very clear, it’s even scarier. Not just VHS, but (also) other media that give you lower definition images – they scare you more because of the lack of clarity.

The way you approached horror in this film is more of a slow evolution. Did you use any practical effects to create these ghosts or images?

In fact, it was a very simple method. We filmed (the image of) a white ghost on video before we started shooting the film. And during filming, behind the protagonist for example, we placed black fabric onto which we projected this ghost.

And then the white ghost, was it a person in a costume?

Yes, the person wore white clothing everywhere and walked around.

I want to ask about the building where many of the scary scenes in the film take place. Is this a real place?

It was an abandoned psychiatric hospital.

Oh, so the scariest place ever.

(Laughs) Yes. It was difficult: we couldn’t have graffiti (on the walls of the place) because it was supposed to be a place that doesn’t exist in reality. But they managed to find one in this abandoned psychiatric hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture.

How does it work? Do you go to the prefectural office and say: “Hello, we would like to film in your abandoned psychiatric hospital?”

Actually, this psychiatric hospital was right behind the studio (that we were renting) (for filming). So through the studio we were able to get permission relatively easily.

It’s practical.

Yeah, it was far from Tokyo.

You found scenes from the film that were supposed to be shot by children. How did you approach this with your child actors?

In the scenes where they were walking in the mountains, because we wanted to avoid danger, an adult cameraman walked (in front of them) and the kids walked behind the cameraman and spoke (their lines).

And for the scenes in the abandoned place, the children sometimes had to look back, look around, look behind them. After telling our young actor where he was going, precisely, we had him do this (while holding the camera). He was very intelligent.

How was he smart?

I was so impressed, because he was doing all sorts of things at once. Sometimes he had to turn around and continue filming without the images being blurry or too wobbly. That’s a lot of tasks to do at once, plus you have to act accordingly. But he did everything perfectly.

In your Q&A, you talked about a newspaper article you read about funeral urns being thrown into a forest. Are there any other real-life stories that inspired this film? Urban legends, perhaps?

Yes. There were a lot, actually, (that I) incorporated into it. I’ll give you an example: (at one point) the younger brother says, “There are puyo-puyo” in the abandoned building – that was a real line. Someone who was my senior at the university ski club (the Japanese word used here is “senpai” – Editor’s note) told me the story.

Oh, wow. All right.

At one point, a three-year-old child pointed to the mountain at night and said to his mother, “There are puyo-puyo There.” Nothing happened to it, so I thought I’d use it. It’s still pretty scary, so it stuck strongly in my mind. (“Puyo-puyo” is a Japanese onomatopoeia meaning ” sweet” or “gelatinous”. – ED.)

I can see why! You also edited the film. Is this something you enjoy doing? What are the advantages of editing your own film?

I hate it, actually. (Laughs) I feel like I’m trying to wipe my butt – or, I should say, trying to correct my mistakes. However, in this case, since “Missing Child Videotape” is based on my short version of the (same) film, the rhythm of it all was deeply ingrained in me. I felt like I was the only person who could edit it properly, so I endured the difficulty. (“Shirinugui”, lit. “to wipe one’s butt”, is a Japanese figure of speech. -Ed.)

How important is sound and sound design in horror filmmaking?

In making a commercial film, it was the first time I asked someone else to design the sound. Through this process, I realized how important it is. In a horror show, you want to bring the audience to the location, to the site. And how do you do that? You can use images, but it’s the sound that really creates that space. We made the decision not to use screamers (sound effects). And we gained (a sense of) reality from that decision, I think.

One more question. I hope it’s fun. Did you believe in ghosts before making this film? And now ?

I believe in them, because we cannot prove that they do not exist. And until we have any proof, we cannot deny their existence. (My belief) has not changed. I felt this way before, and I feel this way now. This is what I would like my audience to feel as well. That’s partly why I made this film.