Ghost of Hanging in Utusunomiya

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie at all. The acting is fine if unremarkable, the action is decent if only just. The directing is fairly average which is surprising coming from a director I generally like. And that really the problem here, the whole thing is just so mediocre, so well, just so damn average.

I think it is a pretty film, but I wasn't able to get into it the way I could with some of Nakagawa's other films. Perhaps it had to do with my expectation that it would be a kaidan... which it is, ultimately... but for the most part, it's a chanbara, and it's not that I like chanbara any less, I just wasn't prepared for all the samurai intrigue and sword-fighting en route to the ghost part... but it's probably more than that. The characters aren't engaging, and I found it hard to care.