Tomie: Another Face (1999 Video) User Reviews

Three stories but one face

[kluseba · 6/10 · 21 November 2018]

Tomie: Another Face isn't a feature film but three episodes made for Japanese television cut into one single movie. This film is much less intriguing than the first feature film and only interesting for avid collectors and fans of the franchise. While the second episode shows some promise, the first is just above average while the third is simply uninteresting.

The first episode is about a high school love triangle. Tomie was brutally murdered and her boyfriend is still deeply saddened by the tragic events. His former girlfriend wants to win him back and starts getting in touch with him again. One day however, Tomie is back at school as if nothing had happened. The fateful love triangle soon leads to another tragedy. On the positive side, this first episode is short and concise, has an intriguing atmosphere reminiscent of high school horror movies and ends with a creative twist. On the negative side, the acting performances are quite stiff and the camera work is equally static.

The second episode tells the story of a photographer who can't forget a beautiful woman he photographed ten years ago in his hometown. He has since become obsessed with the beautiful lady and returns to his town in order to find her. He is stunned when he meets a young woman who looks very similar to her in a shady bar and asks her to be his model and muse. The photographer realizes too late that something is amiss when he develops the pictures he took of the young lady as tragedy strikes on numerous occasions. The second episode was the most intriguing one of the three. It had diversified locations, a few mild horror elements and a few minor twists and turns. The opening minutes slightly overstayed their welcome and the acting performances were at times overacted.

The third episode tells the story of a naive man who is proposing to his girlfriend in a park when they suddenly get attacked by a man with an eye patch. The couple manages to escape but the fiancee asks the naive man to kill the perpetrator for her if they ever cross his path again. The man reluctantly agrees as his fiancee even buys a knife for him and menaces to leave him if he isn't able to protect her. He meets the man with the eye patch again and the mysterious man overpowers and kidnaps the naive man. He then tells him an incredible story about his fiancee. The protagonist must decide whom to trust and make a crucial choice. This episode is the least intriguing of the three. It has one minor twist towards the end but most of the story is quite predictable and at times even boring. Even though the acting performances are probably the best in this episode, the story itself lacks inspiration.

In the end, this short collection of three television episodes is entertaining and worth to be watched once for fans of the franchise. However, the episodes aren't too memorable and suffer from amateurish acting performances, a lack of scary moments and stiff camera work. Tomie: Another Face is only for die-hard fans of the franchise.

Boomerang girl

[InzyWimzy · 6/10 · 20 March 2011]

This movie is more in sync with the Tomie horror vein. I especially liked the 2nd story (those prints are way cool!). How mysterious is the bartender? What's his deal since he doesn't say much and yet conveys a lot! The 3rd story closes the film nicely. I must admit that although this was shot on video, the cinematography is well done for the medium. The use of colors are vivid and shades of red and green at night are very effective. Runa Nagai does well as Tomie looking extremely photogenic one moment and then totally manic the next. Can you blame the poor sap in the last story?

Tomie: Another Face is not exactly scary, but worth a watch.

Three In One: Just Okay

[crossbow0106 · 5/10 · 4 July 2011]

Runa Nagai plays Tomie, the girl who will not die, in this three story anthology that ramps up the creepy factor of the original but does not have significant horror film juice to it. In the first, Tomie is killed and comes back when her boyfriend, whom she wanted to break up with anyway, wants to move on. The second is about a photographer who comes back to a place ten years later to find the ideal girl to photograph like the one he took pictures of then (guess who?). The third has other men after her who will do anything she says. If you are a fan, you'll like it, as Tomie came from a manga. Otherwise, its only passable. Runa Nagai is fine, she is a combination of pretty and forbidding, but it could have been better.

Ill-conceived cash in

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 12 August 2011]

A shot-on-video anthology released just months after the original film, TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE screams cash-in. It turns out to be an absolutely pitiful film that never overcomes the constraints of a non-existent budget, offering poor writing, direction and acting that neither grabs nor interests.

Of the three stories collected here, the first seems to pass by quickly without beginning or end; the second has a little more style but is mostly without merit; the last is the most explicit in terms of (poor) special effects but never feels like more than Z-grade nonsense. It's difficult to fault Runa Nagai as Tomie and it's better than REIGN IN DARKNESS, but those are the only "good" things I have to say about it.

Weak

[ashfordofficial · 4/10 · 15 September 2022]

1. Originally conceived as a TV series consisting of three V-cinema episodes, later spliced into a feature film. So technically the second installment of the Tomie film series.

Three stories with interesting yet flawed direction and writing. I enjoyed the general vibe, kawaii girls and nostalgic music.

2. Originally conceived as a TV series consisting of three V-cinema episodes, later spliced into a feature film. So technically the second installment of the Tomie film series.

Three stories with interesting yet flawed direction and writing. I enjoyed the general vibe, kawaii girls and nostalgic music.

3. Originally conceived as a TV series consisting of three V-cinema episodes, later spliced into a feature film. So technically the second installment of the Tomie film series.

Three stories with interesting yet flawed direction and writing. I enjoyed the general vibe, kawaii girls and nostalgic music.

More Tomie

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 6 January 2021]

The first sequel to Tomie was actually a three-episode TV series that was later released to video. It was originally called Tomie: Fearsome Beauty, but was renamed for the home video release.

This version of the Tomie story introduces her at different times in her life, beginning when her dead body is discovered amongst the garbage in the street. She comes back to life to break up her boyfriend and his former girlfriend, all while a mysterious man follows her, taking photos. Things end as they always do, with Tomie tossed from a roof and being taken to the woods to be buried, proving that these characters didn't watch the first movie. As they walk to school the next day, hand in hand, our protagonists learn that Tomie cannot die.

Another photographer, who has lost his love for his art, finds Tomie and tells her that she reminds him of another girl, the one who taught him to love taking photos. However, when the photos are developed, he notices that Tomie has two faces, one beautiful and the other distorted. She tells him to in order to prove that she is not a ghost, he should kill her. He does, at which point she revives and the original girl - also Tomie - led him to his death before posing for selfies.

Finally, the eyepatch-wearing man is revealed as a coroner who lost his job and family when Tomie left his examination table in the morgue. He attacks her, but she uses her new lover to fight him off, telling him if he loves her then he will kill the older trenchcoat-clad man. The coroner shows the boyfriend the truth, that Tomie has been responsible for so many deaths, but even when they try to burn her body, all of the ashes form in the sky in the shape of her face, with every bit of her forming new Tomies.

Nearly every review of this movie made mention of its low budget and general ineptitude. I kind of enjoyed it, but knew going in that this wasn't going to be a perfect sequel. But for those looking for more Tomie, well, here it is.

Low budget horror

[Zorknot · 7/10 · 11 October 2004]

If you like lots of special effects, fast paced story lines, and lots of startle moments, this is NOT the movie for you. If you've seen the first Tomie this is a lower budget version of that with a sort of made for TV feel. I kind of liked it a little better than the first. I felt I understood what was going on more and it was more spooky somehow. But the people I watched it with didn't like it so much. They felt that nothing really happened.

If you have by any chance seen Boogiepop and Others, this movie is incredibly similar to that. It's separated into different stories,there are very few effects until the very end, and the cinematography is strangely off, but at the same time there's more of an emphasis on the story and the more you pay attention the more you get out of it.

You'll probably never see this in a theater. It's a scary movie that's not all that scary, an intellectual horror movie that isn't hard to understand, it can work on several levels or not at all. Me, I like odd movies and I don't mind a few imperfections, especially when they add to the oddness, but if you aren't quite the weirdophile I am you may want to steer clear of this.

Expected a trainwreck, end result wasn't that bad

[ofdawnlady · 4/10 · 28 December 2021]

Don"t get me wrong, Tomie: Another Face is a bad movie, but I expected so much worse.

To get things out of the way, yeah, this sure feels like a low-budget TV movie: the acting is wooden, the soundtrack sounds like it was taken from a children's educational video game, the special effects are bad, etc...

I like the anthology format. It's done clumsily here (due to being stitched-together TV episodes) but I still like it, it makes it feel somewhat closer to the original manga. The TV format also helps a lot with the pacing. The first Tomie was an extremely slow mess, so being limited to 25 minutes means each story at least gets to the point

Talking about the stories, they're... fine. They're all cliche retellings of concepts from the manga, said concepts doing all the heavy lifting. None are too memorable, but hey, they could be worse so I'm not complaining.

My mian gripe with the movie is the directing. It lacks any real direction (like any cheap TV movies) except for one part: Runa Nagai. I do think she isn't that bad of an actress, BUT for most of the movie she was directed to do a high-pitched "cutesy" voice which got annoying after 5 minutes

Overall, not a good film, but at least it's watchable and goes by quick, which is more than I can say for other Tomie movies.

Oddly entertaining!

[yossarian100 · 7/10 · 10 March 2005]

OK, the shot on video look actually works. Runa Nagai is perfectly cast as a 12 year old looking lolita demon The only other girl who could play this part would be Yuko Ogura. Tomei, the girl who just won't die, is an excellent X Files type story, even if it's not a particularly good horror story.

You know, there's something a little odd about certain Japanese stories. I'm not quite sure what it is. Perhaps something in their cultural past or the fact they recently came out of a feudal society. I seem to recall they have this thing where they tie up nude girls and the placement of the ropes and the knots used are precise to the point of being an art form. What's up with that? Go figure. I can only imagine how they view us westerners.

Anyway, if you're looking for something a little different, you don't mind the lolita aspect of the character, and you can get beyond the fact that apparently Japanese doesn't translate well into English so reading the sub-titles may actually be more entertaining than the movie, then Tomie might just be worth watching. Hey, I'll admit it. I enjoyed it.

"Tomie: Another Face"- A trio of low-budget shorts that lack bite and induce more unintentional giggles than gasps.

[TedStixonAKAMaximumMadness · 3/10 · 13 October 2017]

Originally conceived of as a trio of short films for television before being compiled together for its eventual DVD release, "Tomie: Another Face" is an odd chapter in the saga of that lovable and seemingly unkillable demon girl. Released in between the first two installments of the cinematic franchise, it's debatable whether or not "Another Face" even exists within the same continuity and canon as its bigger- budget brethren. With a distinct lack of funding, cheap video cinematography and some truly baffling moments peppered in... it's sort-of the black sheep of creator Junji Ito's "Tomie" media franchise. An awkward foot-note that might be worth checking out for the biggest of fans of the series, but ultimately will be far too odd and unappealing for pretty much anyone else.

"Another Face" is comprised of three short stories, dealing with the vile Tomie as she destroys the lives of the men around her in different times and settings. The first story involves a high school romance gone drastically sour, the second revolves around a photographer who finds new passion with Tomie as his muse and the third tale regards Tomie sending her boyfriend to kill a mysterious man who is seemingly stalking her. This very same man acts as the bridge between the three stories with brief appearances in all three, and he holds the key to the backstory of the nefarious and devilish force that goes by the name "Tomie Kawakami."

I suppose I should make it clear that while not really a fan of the series, I do have a certain begrudging respect for it. It's a franchise with a fiercely loyal and sizable fan-base the world over. And as a fan of horror, it's one series I've made an attempt to track down and view with an open mind, having thus far sat through most of the entries save for the final few. After all... there's gotta be something to it with nine films released so far over the past twenty years. And yet, even after seeing most of them, I don't quite get the appeal. Sure, some entries are better than others... I actually quite liked "Tomie: Replay", after all. But I just don't think the series has objectively risen above the level of mediocrity. And "Another Face" is definitely one of the weakest installments yet.

To be fair, there is a certain kitschy appeal to the structure of the final release. By giving the viewer three stories that are connected by a few recurring characters, it breaks up the monotony that plagued some of the lesser films of the series, and it keeps the pacing brisk and flowing. The performances are nothing special, but the actors typically get the job done, and there's a few cool moments here and there that will put a big-ole smile on the face of series fans.

But it's to the service of such cheap filmmaking and lazy storytelling, I just couldn't get into this one at all. Maybe it's unfair, but "Another Face" really suffers for its low budget and it creates a certain aesthetic distance between the story and the viewer. And that's coming from someone who has seen and indeed enjoyed his fair share of cheap "shot on video" releases. Heck, I adored "1-Ichi" and that looked like it was filmed on a $200 handy-cam! Here, it feels like director Toshirō Inomata just threw up his hands and opted not to even try to make the most of his limited resources. The cinematography and editing is incredibly amateurish, looking more akin to a first-year film student's work than an adaptation of a major property. And the overall structure and pacing is messy and lacks coherent flow.

To top it off, the film also makes some baffling and frankly unintentionally amusing choices in how it presents key scenes, completely betraying any potential impact they might have had. It has all the subtlety of a brick to the face and trades in quiet moments for loud jumps and poorly-framed beats of action too often. I'm not ashamed to admit I had at least two laugh-out-loud moments in each of the three stories. And none of those times were the laughs intentional. There's no way you can see a man in a comical film-noir trench-coat with an eyepatch and a ridiculously giant knife standing all of three feet away from someone he's "spying" on and not break out laughing. It's like they somehow created a self-parody by accident.

"Tomie: Another Face" is most certainly the weakest of the early entries in the series. A mish-mash of three half-baked short stories that lack any bite and cause more unintentional giggles than intentional gasps... all while being assembled half-heartedly in a dirt-cheap production to boot! It barely musters up a dreadful 3 out of 10 for me. It's one that even fans of the series could probably skip...

Best of the Tomie series

[lymanvunk · 7/10 · 29 December 2008]

TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE (1999) 7/10 72 minutes Director - Toshiro Inomata Cast – Runa Nagai, Akira Hirai

Tomie: Another Face is the V-cinema version of the long running Tomie series based on Junji Ito's magna. This would be the director Inomata's only work behind the camera. This low budget J-horror attempt beats the previous and later forays into the character. This is similar to the Ju-On series where the J-cinema adds to the overall creepiness. It is an anthology that has three stories linked together by a man who is hunting down Tomie after having a ghostly encounter in a morgue (the third story). J-horror was still in its infancy when this came out and they were still experimenting with the imagery. Nagai captures the Lolita aspect the character very well and the movie can be seen as a warning with getting involved with young girls. In the second segment where the photographer meets up with Tomie, kills her and then comes back to life, in the scene in the car where her hand reaches from the back seat is very effective. Takashi Shimizu would use this again in Ju-On the Grudge 2 (2003) and the concept of multiplying Tomies (substituting Kayakos) in Ju-On the Curse 2 (2000). Incidentally Shimizu would take over the reins in the next installment Tomie Rebirth (the best of the cinema versions).