American lawyer Jack lives in Tokyo and since he saw his little brother drown when they were young, he has had a fear of water. One day a client of his calls him up and wants to have a business meeting on his yacht which Jack, after some serious consideration, agrees to. With them is the client's wife who Jack is currently having an affair with. Is it all just a coincidence or does Jack's client want something else besides having a business meeting?
Dream Cruise may seem like a standard Japanese ghost movie (with an American actor in the middle of it), but is a decent entry in the 2nd season of Masters of Horror; some of it due to the fact that a few of the scares actually worked quite well. It is Norio (Premonition, Ringu 0, Kakashi) Tsuruta who's helming the final episode of the new season and I believe that the way Dream Cruise plays out will appeal to both a Western as well as an Eastern audience. Needless to say, you don't have to be a fan of J-Horror to enjoy this episode, but if you are, you may be in for a treat.. or maybe you've already grown sick of seeing the same thing over and over again. While Dream Cruise was nothing spectacular and while we've seen better episodes in the series, it was still easy enough to sit through and while it was not very memorable, it sure had its moments.
With Dream Cruise, Tsuruta adapts another story by Kôji Suzuki who wrote Ringu, Ringu 2, Ringu 0, Rasen etc. and this time it's about love and dread on a boat. While I said earlier that this episode would work for both East and West, I think it's safe to say that those that have seen a lot of Japanese horror films have probably seen it all before, with the exception of the location of the boat of course, but where it takes place is actually not that interesting. It is kinda predictable and while it is rather interesting halfway through, the story falls overboard and pretty much drowns in the end.
 
Jack is an American lawyer in Tokyo who has one major fear and that is the sea. His little brother drowned in front of him when they were boys young boys and since then Jack has kept himself on land, and to this day, Jack still has nightmares about the tragic accident that he blames himself for. Then one of Jack's clients (Ryo Ishibashi - Suicide Club, Audition) wants to have a business meeting on his yacht and after some persuasion, Jack accepts the invitation. Apart from Jack, the client's wife also joins them at sea and this lady just so happens to be Jack's current lover. Is it all just a coincidence or does Jack's client want something else besides having a business meeting?
For most of the episode, it's quite obvious what will happen next, where the story will take us and such, but I still found it to be quite all right, that is at least until the last ten minutes or so. While a lot of J-Horror's have a tendency to be slow-paced, Dream Cruise was not and it actually delivered some totally ok scares. Although some scares were stupid and towards the end of the film, the horror seemed a bit too drawn out and pretty much showed some scenes that reminded you of a few other Asian horror films. The acting was actually not that great, but instead came off as a bit mediocre. I don't know if it was the mix between East and West that did not make it work or what it was, but the acting left something to wish for. In the end, Dream Cruise was decent and I really dug some of the scares, but at the same time, it really didn't deliver anything new.
For fans of J-Horror, Dream Cruise may seem a bit clichéd and really offers nothing you haven't seen before. Still, Tsuruta manages to deliver the creeps a few times and while that might not save the flick, it still gave you some value for the money.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Dream Cruise
MOVIE YEAR: 2007
DIRECTOR: Norio Tsuruta
WRITING CREDITS: Kôji Suzuki
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Daniel Gillies, Ryo Ishibashi, Yoshino Kimura
COUNTRY: Japan, USA
RUNTIME: 59 min
RATING: 6/10
Masters of Horror (S02E13): Dream Cruise Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S02E13): Dream Cruise Trailer Click here
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