I guess it had to happen eventually. For the first time ever, I've watched a Japanese horror film and did not enjoy the experience.

Shiryoha (aka Dead Waves) just doesn't work. Neither the story nor the actors were the least bit compelling, there's no creepy atmosphere to speak of, there's insufficient lighting in many of the scenes, and -- to be frank -- the film just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Clocking in at a comparatively short 77 minutes, one wonders if some continuity-building scenes ended up on the cutting room floor at the last minute.

To be fair, I have to say that -- as far as I've been able to ascertain -- this was writer-director Yoichiro Hayama's first feature film, so I don't want to come down too harshly on him or his work, but the fact remains that I just didn't care for this one at all.

The story revolves around Hiroshi Usui (Toshihiro Wada), the director of the "exorcism corner" segments on the popular television show Spirit Sightings. The ratings for his segment are headed in the wrong direction, so he needs something good for the next show -- and he thinks he's found it in the sister of one of the show's fans. Tsuyoshi Nagao (Masaki Miura) says that his younger sister is possessed and needs an exorcism. You don't have to be Dr. Phil to see that Tsuyoshi isn't right in the head, as he twitches along and swallows antacids by the handful in nervous agitation. Runa (Shihori Kanjiya), who actually seems pretty normal compared to her brother, doesn't want to be put on television, but the deal is done nonetheless.

Around this same time, we learn that Horoshi's girlfriend recently killed herself, a week after being treated in a hospital for depression. This -- and the disappearance of one of his crew members who called him claiming to hear unknown voices on some of the footage from the Nagao house -- fuels Hiroshi's desire to help a seemingly more desperate Runa (whose exorcism didn't really work). Unfortunately, the deeper Hiroshi gets involved in all of this, the less sense the movie makes. At times, it's not obvious whether a scene is taking place in the present or if it is just a flashback, and subsequent viewings of Runa's exorcism reveal really unusual things going on that were not visible the first time. It's pretty easy for a viewer to lose his bearings -- I know I did.

In what should be a fascinating twist (but isn't), a psychiatrist informs Horoshi that suicide rates have jumped sky high in the hour after each week's episode of Spirit Sightings. Runa herself suggests that awful things will happen if her exorcism video is aired. The idea of "dead waves" (which basically amount to dead spirits riding on television waves into viewers' homes) would seem to hold a great deal of promise, but the film narrows its scope considerably as the end approaches.

Even with such a flawed story, the film should have been more interesting and enjoyable than it was -- but, with the exception of Tsuyoshi Nagao, the characters are little more than empty shells, and there's just no atmosphere to speak of at any point in the film. Basically, what you have here is a confusing horror film that is neither scary nor interesting.