''St. John's Wort'' () is a 2001 Japanese

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Ten Shimoyama, based on Chunsoft's

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

Otogirisō is a 1992 visual novel video game developed and published by Chunsoft for the Super Famicom. It is about an unnamed protagonist and his girlfriend Nami who are lost down a forest road. After having to make an emergency stop, they find themselv ...

''.

Plot

Toko, Kohei and Shinichi are presented as best friends. After Nami Kaizawa's mother suffered

maternal death Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to p ...

, she inherited a fortune through her father's will. Toko thanked Nami and Shinichi. After breaking up, Kohei makes Nami a game model. She tells her why she was abandoned and that her father did not raise her. They arrive at the abandoned house where Nami was born. She tells Kohei about her dreams while filming. The caretaker gives a house key to Nami. They enter the gate and notice the garden is filled with

St. John's Wort ''Hypericum perforatum'', commonly known as St. John's wort (sometimes perforate St. John's wort or common St. John's wort), is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is a hairless, Perennial, perennial herb with woody Root, roots, y ...

. Nami tells him the last word of the aunt who raised her and Kohei said the meaning of it is revenge in old poems. Kohei records the details. He notices a staircase and asks Nami whether it is the same as the staircase that she saw in her dream but she said it was not. Kohei finds a painting on the wall. Nami fails to open the door. They explore the rooms connected to the main hall. They find an oil painting on the wall and move to the kitchen. Kohei tells Nami she got a talent from her father. Nami returns to the main hall and finds a portrait of her mother. They move upstairs and find a room full with porcelain dolls. They enter another room filled with toys. They later head to the hall.

Cast

Megumi Okina is a Japanese actress and singer. Born in Hiroshima and raised in Tokyo, she made her J-Pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular m ...

(Nami Kikushima/Naomi Kaizawa) * Yōichirō Saitō (Kōhei Matsudaira) * Kōji Ōkura (Shinichi Ukita) * Reiko Matsuo (Tōko Ozeki) * Minoru Terada (Soichi Kaizawa)

Release

''St. John's Wort'' was released in Japan on January 27, 2001. It was shown at the

Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

in Montreal, Canada on July 13, 2001. It was released in both an English-dub and subtitled edition by Asylum Home Entertainment on March 23, 2004.

Reception

''St. John's Wort'' received mixed critical reviews. ''

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

'' criticized the film's supererogation as a whole, citing the framing device and the visuals to be "way, way too much for what’s supposed to be an atmospheric exploration of a creepy old manor". However, the movie had "enough going on that it’s hard for your attention to wander", and was enough to keep ''Paste'' entertained. The movie ranked 42nd out of ''Paste Magazine'''s list of 75 live-action video game movies.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:St. John's Wort Films directed by Ten Shimoyama Japanese horror films 2000s Japanese-language films 2001 films 2001 horror films Live-action films based on video games Toho films 2000s Japanese films