Shikoku

Contributing to the current Japanese cycle of ghost chillers wasn't the most obvious career move for Nagasaki, better known for deviant noir thrillers, but Shikoku is a qualified success. The title puns on the name of Japan's most laid-back prefecture (depending how you write it, Shikoku can mean 'Four Counties' or 'Land of the Dead') and the plot exploits the island's traditions of esoteric Buddhism and shamanism. Hinako (Natsukawa) revisits her childhood home to find that her best friend Sayori has drowned - and that Sayori's mother is making the o-henro pilgrimage around Shikoku's 88 coastal temples in reverse order, hoping to open a gateway to the netherworlds and bring back her daughter. The supernatural stuff is mostly routine, but Nagasaki pulls off several psychological frissons.