Creepy

Acclaimed Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Cure," "Pulse") directs a plodding thriller called "Creepy" about a former detective who is asked to investigate a missing family case, only to realize he has a potentially bigger problem with his new neighbor.

Based on the novel by Yutaka Maekawa, the ad campaign for the film reveals the biggest twist of the movie -- a twist that doesn't occur until fifty minutes into the two-hour-plus film. The twist is that after Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and his wife Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi) move to a new home, they meet their new neighbors, which include Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa), his daughter Mio (Ryoko Fujino) and a mother we may or may not get to see. While Nishino is clearly lacking social skills and runs from both sweet and gentle to unnerving and "creepy," it's not until his daughter corners Takakura and reveals "that man is not my father" that we know something is not quite right in that house.

Meanwhile, Takakura is asked to help investigate the disappearance of a family in a nearby town, and eventually these stories begin to link. The problem here is that nothing that occurs onscreen is a surprise. The audience is always a few steps above the characters, which makes for a really dull thriller.

The performances are decent, and Kurosawa has his own style as a director, but in this one he misses the mark. There is barely any suspense here and when all the bad things get revealed it is casually displayed without any menace or curiosity.

"Creepy" is not.