Original Title: エコエコアザラク
Release: 1995
Country: Japan
Director: Shimako Sato
Cast: Kimika Yoshino / Miho Kanno
Running Time: 80 Min.
Written by M. Douglas
Published: 08/29/09
Eko Eko Azaraku: Wizard of Darkness follows transfer student Misa Kuroi (Kimika Yoshino) as she begins a new life at her high school. Misa is not your ordinary student though, and we soon find out that she is in fact a witch with extraordinary powers. Withholding her powers from the class, Misa is forced to use them when she and twelve student are kept late after school hours one day to retake an exam. The students find themselves trapped within the school, unable to escape from the supernatural forces that are looking to consume them. It’s up to Misa to gain the trust of her fellow students in order to discover and rid the school of its evil presence.
Eko Eko Azaraku: Wizard of Darkness delivers on many levels a different form of creativity that makes itself rise above the mediocrity in which its simple premise is based upon. Yes, the film does follow a somewhat unoriginal premise, but the style in which the film goes about presenting that premise is something that I believe was essential in making the film stand out from the cliche field of Japanese horror films. The use of dark magic in Eko Eko Azaraku: Wizard of Darkness was a particularly enticing addition to the film and its usage is pretty realistic in terms of how one would use spell casting in the real world. The use of pentagrams, chants, and hand movements are all elements used to cast spells, which gives the film a sense of realism in its portrayal of magic. Considering that magic is a main component within the film, its use it still kept to a minimum and it didn’t really seem to overshadow what the film had to offer in its entirety, which I think was a good thing.
While all this might seem a little familiar to some, the film does a great job of providing many instances that will surprise the viewer. While the traditional horror conventions are most definitely on display here, there are some significant plot twists that will have you thinking about what had previously occurred in the film and how it plays out in relation to the ending. The film moves at a very brisk pace, but it utilizes its time well to build character development and allow the viewer to become somewhat consumed within the universe it presents.
All the actors do a great job as well, and considering that most of the cast had little-to-no acting work prior to this film, I was impressed. While the setting of the film was rather enclosed–taking place almost entirely in a school–it did give the film a rather claustrophobic touch. This feeling of entrapment was something that I believe was a strength for the film, and it certainly made for some rather bizarre death sequences.
Overall, Eko Eko Azaraku: Wizard of Darkness is still an impressive film for what it attempts to deliver. This is one of those films in which the director and cast understood the material at hand, and they played to that strength. Fans of wizardry and horror will thoroughly enjoy this, and I would even go as far as to say it’s the Japanese version of Harry Potter…with the addition of gore, sex, and Lucifer. Considering that this film came out several years before the “J-horror boom” of the late 90’s, it delivers more than enough to stand on its own as a film that can be considered different from the norm.
