Hinako Myoujin (Yui Natsukawa) has come back to her island home of Shikoku from Tokyo. There, she discovers that her friend Sayori Hiura (Chiaki Kuriyama, Gogo Yubari!) has died and that the girl’s mother, Shinto priestess Teruko (Toshie Negishi), has become lost in her grief.

Sayori’s high school boyfriend Fumiya (Michitaka Tsutsui) has always felt her near him ever since she drowned in a lake. As Fumiya and Hinako find they have a connection, a series of desecrations of the Shinto shrines starts to happen.

It turns out that Sayori’s mother is making the pilgrimage of the 88 Shinto shrines in reverse order, which will weaken the barrier between the living and the dead. This is more of a Japanese folk horror than J-Horror, however, and several mention that not much happens in this movie. I kind of liked its look and pace myself.

Shikoku is one of the films on Arrow’s new J-Horror Rising set. It has extras including commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, an interview with director Shunichi Nagasaki and actors Chiaki Kuriyama and Yui Natsukawa, making of footage, original trailers, TV ads and an image gallery.

You can buy it from MVD.