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Marebito (The Stranger from Afar)
  • Studio: Tartan
  • Release Date: Dec 9, 2005
Metascore
50 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 5 out of 13
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  1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    83
    It's not really scary, but it reaches a level of insanity so unhinged and dispassionately wretched that it defies description. Inspired, but not for all tastes.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    An outrageous horror flick.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    75
    Shot on digital video as murky as Masuoka's imagination, its creeping sense of dank dread is as slow to build as it is hard to shake.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tim Grierson
    70
    Marebito's ghoulish delight in gore will turn off the squeamish, but tougher souls will recognize that the over-the-top shocks are Shimizu's way of illustrating how terrifying the risk of human connection can be.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    70
    Provocative rather than scary, and it's made with visual flair.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    67
    Unlike the elliptical, often explanation-free "The Grudge," Marebito is wordy to the extreme. Konaka's near-constant narration underlines every point the movie is trying to make, ruminating bluntly on the meaning of fear, and how we suck on media violence like, yep, vampires.
  7. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marrit Ingman
    50
    Shot in just over a week with a minuscule budget, this artsy thriller feels like a one-off from Shimizu's Ju-on films but is probably worth a look for fans.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    50
    In casting about for new sources of fear, Marebito achieves its own level of mediocrity.
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    38
    Never gives us what it promised: a glorious, totally new sense of horror.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    38
    It's actually a pretty lousy thriller.
  11. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Richard James Havis
    30
    A disturbing supernatural drama that leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
  12. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    30
    This all-digital indie is, by genre standards, either a misfired doodle or an attempt to Lovecraft-ize the popular movement. Or both.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Jay Weissberg
    30
    Japanese horror doesn't get more tedious.
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User Reviews

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User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. JeffreyT.
    8
    A fascinating descent into madness, with a fear-obsessed cameraman distancing himself from humanity with the buffer of his camera, only to learn that he should be turning that instrument around to look into his own dark soul. Eerie, mysterious, creepily sensuous, MAREBITO is being read too literally by some reviewers and should be appreciated for its deeper layers of psychological horror. MAREBITO has the disorienting feel of nightmare.… Full Review »
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