Curse, Death & Spirit (1992) - Hideo Nakata.

Curse, Death & Spirit is a well-made, 65min. J-Horror trilogy by macabre maestro Nakata that I was hitherto unfamiliar with. While the supernatural content is mostly subtle, the youthful cast's performances are uniformly excellent, and these ghostly, slowly-creeping tales of restless, darkly disembodied spirits proved to be a compelling watch. While I found spine-tingling interest in all three softly spooky stories, the palpably eerie 'The Haunted Inn' instalment was the most impactful, at times genuinely chilling, it arguably acts as a sinister primer for the resolutely game-changing, epoch defining grimness of The Ring. In closing, horror fans who especially favour the mayhem engendered of diabolically distempered dolls should certainly appreciate the first story entitled 'The Cursed Doll'.