Witchfinder General 666 While the first episode contributed by a Japanese Director, Takashi Miike's "Imprint" (Season 1, Episode 13) stands out as the absolute highlight of the entire "Masters Of Horror" series, this thirteenth episode of the second season, and second 'Japanese' MoH episode, Norio Tsuruta's "Dream Cruise" is mediocre at best. While one has to admit that "Dream Cruise" delivers acting talent, atmosphere and even genuine creepiness, the episode completely lacks one important element - originality. An avid lover of Japanese cinema, I am personally still not too fond of the majority of the recent Horror-output of this great cinematic country. There are many exceptions, of course (such as Miike's Horror films), but it seems that ever since the doubtlessly original "Ringu" had such huge success, the same formula has been repeated to a tiresome degree. And seeing "Dream Cruise" is just another repetition of the countless "Ringu"-clones, many of which instantaneously get remade as annoying Hollywood blockbusters. While the episode definitely has its creepy moments, everyone familiar with recent Japanes Horror films will inevitably have the impression to have seen it all before. Japanese Businessman Eiji (Ryo Ishibashi) takes his wife Yuri (Yoshino Kimura) and his American business-partner Jack (Daniel Gillies), who is also Yuri's lover, on a cruise. While the wife and the business-partner are not sure whether or not the husband knows about their relationship, the luxurious Yacht also seems to be haunted by something else... As stated before, the episode has its moments and the imagery is often chillingly creepy, but the lack of originality still lessens this one's value a lot. Ryo Ishibashi, who is probably best known for his role in Takashi Miike's "Audition" (1999), is a brilliant actor and he is once again great here, as is beautiful Yoshino Kimura as his wife. I can't say Daniel Gilles' performance impressed me, but he wasn't bad either. The greatest praise has to go to Miho Ninagawa, who is incredibly creepy in her role. Still, this does not entirely save this. The lack of originality is tiresome, and there is a stupidly sentimental sub-plot which annoyed the hell out of me. Even so, this is worthwhile for fans of the series.

Johnathan B Although I did enjoy the movie, it was nothing new. A woman with long hair is done wrong and now reeks pain and suffering on anyone who enters her house, oops, I mean space of water. Long hair getting into everything, possessions, did it or didn't it happen situations etcetera, etc. I did enjoy the movie like I said earlier, but I think it is time for J Horror to come up with something new. Expand the genre. Didn't care much for the the DVD extras either by the way. By the standards out today, there is not an excuse to not have deleted scenes or bloopers or separate actor and director commentaries. What the original writer thought would have been nice. Use a camcorder if your worried about extra cost. If Brain Damaged movies can do it, they can too.

jargenfornow this one had some decent parts...the first appearance of the ghost woman and the way she moved up until she disappears was creepy as hell, for example. this story could have been 15-20 minutes long, though. it just goes on and on and on. it gets to the point that it's annoying how clumsily paced it is. the final "payoff" at the end isn't even good enough to sit through this entire episode to see. i only forced myself to get through it so that i didn't have to watch it again. this was probably my least favorite episode of the second season. this is really saying something, too, because the second season had some weaker episodes.

Fedaykin_Sadako I was pretty disappointed in the adaptation which is wholly unlike the story that is in the Dark Water collection. I wasn't asking for a faithful adaptation, it just was not what I was expecting. Also, I wasn't too terribly fond of Daniel Gillies' performance, but the Japanese cast were very good (yay for Ishibashi Ryo!) I give the film an eight simply because Tsuruta-san knows how to work the ghost angle and the Naomi stuff is really good. She's just enough of Yamamura Sadako to bring a smile to a knowing fan's face and is chilling enough to leave an impression on a casual viewer. The CGI enhancements were subtle and effective...the first time I think I've ever been able to say that about supplemental digital effects...and the practical make-up was well-done.Not a bad entry in the series, but I think it should have aired earlier in the run.