Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 05: The Ghost Of Yotsuya! (2014) Film Review – Isekai and Shiraishi’s paranormal universe!

Posted on by Dominic Duquiatan

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Picking up after the vile incident of the fourth Senritsu Kaiki File, Kudo assembles his team once again to film paranormal activities and to… discover isekai? Yes, you heard that right. That’s just one of the surprises Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 05: True Story of the Ghost of Yotsuya has in store.

Koji Shiraishi, the tenured found footage director, proves in this fifth installment of his lesser-known yet undeniably essential found footage series that he’s still got it as he delivers on what’s been teased throughout the previous films, especially in Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 04: The Truth! Hanako-san in the Toilet  – a Japanese paranormal universe.

The film opens by introducing the possibility that all the paranormal activities are connected in a surprising yet logical way. Director Kudo (Shigeo Osako) presents three reasons why, despite the tragic events of their past investigations, they must resume their work. One reason is, of course, the probable existence of Isekai. Another is a dream in which Medium Makabe from File 04 tells Kudo that his paranormal investigations are tied to his parent’s deaths. And, naturally, the third reason is money.

Assistant director Ichikawa (Chika Kuboyama), along with cameraman Tashiro (Koji Shiraishi), having endured four grueling and psychologically exhausting investigations, finally demands a raise. This sets the tone for what’s to come—the stakes are high as personal interests now hang in the balance.

In a humorous and dark twist, Ichikawa ends up working hard for that raise, becoming ensnared in the wrath of Yotsuya. After a film crew shoots a low-budget coming-of-age film without performing the necessary purification rites, their lead actress becomes haunted by the ghost of Oiwa.

The film sticks to its signature mockumentary format, incorporating an informative background on the Yotsuya Kaidan, convincing interviews with experts, and frequent replays and flashbacks. These elements make the movie self-aware, threading the narrative together seamlessly. This is a good thing because by the film’s end, these interjections help the audience recall and connect past and present events cohesively, especially now that the series is already in its fifth part.

What truly stands out, though, is Ichikawa’s involvement in this installment. This is the first time we’ve seen her play such a central role, as it’s usually Kudo who finds himself in life-threatening situations. In File 05, we see Kudo explode in anger with Ichikawa at the center of it, but we also get to witness how their relationship has evolved over the course of the series. Knowing that Ichikawa keeps the crew grounded, watching her suffer puts the team in a dire situation unlike any they’ve faced before.

The concept of creation is another unexpected yet powerful theme in this film. From the unsettling recreation of Michelangelo’s Hand of God, to the eerie past of how the Oiwa story was made, to the creation of the Senritsu Kaiki files itself, the film explores how human beings possess the consciousness to create—and the responsibility that comes with it. If this responsibility is underestimated, our greatest achievements can easily become our greatest failures. This theme, established in the first four films, is now brought to the forefront, highlighting how Kudo’s documentary series sacrifices the sanity of others without necessarily helping them, which is their sole purpose, to begin with.

The chosen subject, which is the idea of the creation of “ghost story” itself, was ideal for introducing this theme, as stories from the past, like Yotsuya Kaidan, have profoundly shaped how we perceive Japan, its cultural shifts, and its belief in the supernatural during the era in which the story was born. Belief in powerful, fearsome spirits is deeply rooted in Japan. During the Edo period, horror stories known as Kaidan gained popularity, with many writers collecting unique ghost stories from cities and towns across Japan. This underscores why storytelling is such a powerful human creation—because literature acts as a pathway, tracing the evolution of our culture over time.

And what’s a Senritsu Kaiki film without a gripping sequence that leaves you thinking long after it’s over? If the constant ghostly encounters throughout the film aren’t enough to hook you, wait for the 13-minute one-take exorcism scene. It showcases Shiraishi’s mastery of the medium, maximizing Kuboyama’s acting talent and turning low-budget effects into something genuinely spine-chilling in a highly immersive sequence.

This is, without a doubt, Senritsu Kaiki’s most emotionally driven film so far in the series, and it’s incredibly effective in that regard. Koji Shiraishi understands that in order for this intricate world-building to work, he also needs to develop the relationships and dynamics of the main characters over time. File 05 showed the real potential of how Shiraishi’s paranormal universe would strive through time. Now in its fifth film, Senritsu Kaiki Files shows no sign of slowing down.

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