A sleazy promoter lures a bunch of underage Japanese “idols” to an abandoned school for a photoshoot. During the shoot, crew members catch glimpses of their evil doppelgängers strolling the hallways, and foolishly wander off to look for them. When they eventually catch up to their deadly doubles, they meet a grisly end.
Alter Ego is short and sweet. It’s only an hour long and it gets right to the point, which is greatly appreciated, especially when you have a plot as thin as this one. Despite the potentially lurid subject matter of underage girls being tricked into an illicit photoshoot, it’s all kind of tame. It’s hard to say if it would’ve made a difference had the film really went for broke though. It doesn’t quite completely work in this form either, but it’s moderately effective for the most part.
The concept is reasonably solid, especially for a low budget movie. I mean, the plot is a perfect set-up for thrifty film producers. You don’t need to spend money on a bunch of fancy effects. (The big special effect looks like a funhouse mirror filter you could get on your iPhone.) All you really need are extra costumes, someone to double for the actors, and some clever editing. (The single location helps keep costs down too.) Heck, the effects of the people being twisted into human pretzels look pretty good (even if you can spot the seams).
Once a doppelgänger infiltrates the group, the paranoia is ratcheted up a notch. It’s here where we get a mirror scene that plays like a low-key version of the blood test sequence from The Thing. The finale is decent as well, and the wraparound segments aren’t too intrusive to the narrative. If you’re looking for a quick fix of J-Horror this Halloween season, you can do much worse than Alter Ego.
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