Tomie: Unlimited (2011) User Reviews

Unlimited craziness

[vainblood · 6/10 · 17 January 2012]

Here comes the first not so positive review of this movie because I had high expectations and by the end I was a bit disappointed.

First I want to say that I'm a fan of Asian horror, so I'm not the average viewer just coming here to bash it. It's very original in it's plot and imagery, and that's what makes it worth watching in my opinion. It starts as a pretty serious story with the emphasis on suspense but then it turns into something else entirely and here the problems begin. There is just too much of everything and I found myself laughing because it was so ridiculously overdone. The cheap but disgusting effects doesn't exactly make it better but the acting is good and keeps it together in one piece, allowing you to explore this descent into madness for what it's worth. First there is one Tomie, then one and a half, then three...wait, how many was that again? Yes, it's like that...

I think the point was to make something different that stands out and as such it's very successful. Sometimes you even stare in awe because you don't know what to expect the next second and that's very good because it's impossible to predict the ending. But overall it's too weird and disjointed to be a solid piece of horror. I can recommend this to the hardcore fan but not the average viewer, unless you want something new that crosses the line.

The weirdest Tomie yet

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 23 February 2022]

TOMIE: UNLIMITED (2011) is the last and perhaps oddest of the strange Japanese TOMIE film series. These are all stand-alone movies connected by the recurring character of Tomie, a female high schooler who brings death and destruction to all around her. This quick-paced little movie was brought to us by the guy who made MACHINE GIRL, and it certainly ups the ante when it comes to bizarre, SFX-fuelled body horror. A low budget and unconvincing film throughout, nonetheless it offers up MYSTICS IN BALI-style floating heads, bodily dismemberment, HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING-style shoulder growths, centipedes made of human heads, a Tomie kaiju and sundry other creepiness. It plays out as a nightmare captured on film and, kind as I am to its failings, I found it the most entertaining of all TOMIE movies.

The last Tomie

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 10 January 2021]

After eight Tomie films, the time seemed ready for a reboot and Tomie Unlimited - kind of like Marvel's Unlimited newer universe - was the answer. Noboru Iguchi (Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead, The Machine Girl) would be the creative force to make this one happen.

The movie starts with Tsukiko Izumikawa (Moe Arai) taking photos when she runs into her stepsister Tomie Kawakami (Miu Nakamura). The two both are in love with the same boy, Toshio Shinoda (Kensuke Owada). Tsukiko hates her stepsister yet is in love with her beauty, unable to stop taking photos of her, even as a steel cross falls from a building and kills her.

A year later, on her eighteen birthday, Tsukiko is trying to get back to a normal life, which changes forever when Tomie returns. On the first night, she grabs an electrical cord and demands that her family beat Tsukiko for letting her die.

Meanwhile, Tomie has grown a scar in her shoulder that contains a talking tumor before her father kills her and her mother tears apart her body. This unleashes multiple Tomies, from small heads that can infect others to her main head that asks her father to kill his wife and feed the remains to her.

By the end of the film, women all over Japan, including our heroine, have all become Tomie, all destined to die at the hands of men, all fated to come back to ruin the sanity of everyone they encounter.

After watching all of the Tomie films, this is up there as one of my favorites in the series. It has just the right mix of abject horror and ludicrous humor. And the floating head of Tomie conjures pleasant memoirs of Mystics In Bali and that;s a good sign.

One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time

[Jawnyblaze · 1/10 · 8 September 2012]

Rarely do I take the time and effort to write something about a movie I've watched, but after suffering through this entire movie I felt compelled to warn anyone who might consider watching it. If I can prevent one person from wasting their time on this wretched movie, this review was worth my time.

We'll start with the acting. It was awful. Only the "heroine" of the movie, Tsukiko (Moe Arai), looked as if she might belong in a professionally made movie. Her performance wasn't good by any stretch, but it wasn't laughably bad like EVERY SINGLE other main actor. The villain, Tomie (Miu Nakamura), was annoying from the very beginning of the movie. And she only got worse as the movie crept along. The parents' performances were ridiculous, but not overly annoying like Tomie.

The story made no sense. Every time I thought I might be starting to understand where the movie was trying to go, it abruptly changed scenes and completely ruined any progress it may have been making.

The special effects were TERRIBLE. I've seen better special effects in '80s B-movies. Not much to say here other than the movie looked cheaply made.

I'm no expert on Japanese horror movies, but I've seen a fair share and I've liked a lot of them too, but this one had absolutely no redeeming qualities to speak of. It wasn't even "so bad it was humorous." At no point in the movie did I crack a smile or think "you know, maybe this ISN'T the biggest waste of my time I could have possibly spent." Maybe there's just some cultural thing I'm not getting. It's possible there's an audience for a movie like this, but you'd REALLY have to be into bad horror movies with bad plots that make no sense, bad acting, and bad special effects to appreciate this movie.

In summary, I can't remember a movie I've ever enjoyed less.

Not good

[ashfordofficial · 2/10 · 8 September 2022]

1. The ninth installment and reboot of the Tomie film series. A sloppier and messy reboot with questionable direction, performances, dialogues and overall quality. A CGI mess with gorier and nastier body horror elements.

2. The ninth installment and reboot of the Tomie film series. A sloppier and messy reboot with questionable direction, performances, dialogues and overall quality. A CGI mess with gorier and nastier body horror elements.

3. The ninth installment and reboot of the Tomie film series. A sloppier and messy reboot with questionable direction, performances, dialogues and overall quality. A CGI mess with gorier and nastier body horror elements.

A Tomie movie that's actually worth watching!

[ebossert · 7/10 · 29 December 2011]

The "Tomie" franchise is probably the most disappointing series of horror films I've ever seen. Despite an interesting premise (involving a demon girl who cannot die and causes violent obsessions from her acquaintances), every single installment (up to this point) has been painfully boring and sleep-inducing. When I heard that they were making a new one, I had zero interest. Then I heard that Noboru Iguchi ("The Machine Girl') was directing it, so I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did.

Here's a plot summary from Asianmediawiki: "Tsukiko (Moe Arai) is a member of the photography club in high school. On her way home with friend Kae (Aika Ota), Tsukiko runs into older sister Tomie (Miu Nakamura) who goes to the same high school. Tomie is also with Toshio (Kensuke Owada) - a guy Tsukiko has a secret crush on. Tsukiko is consumed with fierce jealousy over her sister, but at the same time is intoxicated with Tomie's beauty. Tsukiko keeps pressing the trigger on her camera. At that time Tomie tells her sister that she knows what she is feeling. When Tsukiko stops taking pictures, Tomie is crushed by a steel frame that falls from a building under construction. One year later, Tsukiko still suffers nightmares over her sister's death. Slowly, her daily life returns to some sense of normalcy. On Tomie's 18th birthday, her parents and Tsukiko stand around a birthday cake in her honor. At that time someone knocks on their door. Tomie stands in the doorway with rich black hair and her beauty shining even more brightly. Her parents are delighted to see Tomie and welcomes her back with tears pouring out. Meanwhile, Tsukiko stands there unable to believe what is transpiring. Tsukiko's nightmare now turns into reality and her terror is only set to begin."

There is no question that Iguchi infused more entertainment value in this one film than all of its predecessors combined. It starts off with a bloody death scene and becomes more outrageous and blackly comical with each passing minute. There's more creativity than one might expect in terms of the horror elements, and the actresses are good. It fails to rise above simple popcorn horror, but it is fun to watch for its WTF moments.

I hope Iguchi directs another "Tomie" film, because he's the only director who has displayed enough energy to make it entertaining.

"What you want is what you never get".

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 22 August 2018]

The ninth and latest adaptation of Junji Ito's classic manga omnibus and directed by Noboru Iguchi (MACHINE GIRL, ROBOGESHIA) TOMIE: UNLIMITED dispenses the creepy, humming atmosphere, deliberate slow pace for unsparing violence, bizarre frights and ridiculous effects. You can see this film had more of a budget to work off, although what I did like from some of the early Tomie films (TOMIE, TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE, TOMIE: REPLAY (my fave) & TOMIE: REBIRTH) were the smaller budgets in provoking an eerie, gritty reality from such raw resources. Sometimes a budget doesn't complement the vision however Iguchi takes advantage letting creativity unfold through lively imagery of the monster portrayal of Tomie; from its slick visual panache through to crazy imploding situations (lunchbox horror and heads with tentacles linked together like centipedes?!). He doesn't hold back with plenty of gushing blood, some icky practical effects (moving headless corpse, dangling tongues & growth deformities) and glaring CGI in between.

The tone is different, less brooding more so callous and over-the-top, while the concept remains the same; the alluring evil entity that won't stay dead, manifesting over and over again, tormenting and manipulating men to the point they become obsessed, jealous and drone-like leading them to brutally murder her. She's the voice in their heads driving them out of their minds. Rinse and repeat.

High School student Tsukiko (a somber Moe Arai performance) always felt inferior to her popular, beautiful elder sister Tomie. One day at school Tomie is killed in a freak accident right in front of Tsukiko. It had been a year, and she's still haunted by nightmares night after night of the incident. Her parents prepare a birthday cake to celebrate what would've been Tomie's 18th birthday. Then there's a sudden knock at the door and a voice stating that it's Tomie. Thinking it's a cruel joke, they open it to see their beloved daughter. The parents are blinded by joy by welcoming her in, but Tsukiko is struck by fear and finds herself at the mercy of Tomie.

Other than the ambiance tone, what else struck me about this particular entry was the narrative felt streamlined compared to other attempts; easy to understand and follow on-going motivations. Sure there's ambiguity around the Tomie character, where fantasy and reality are blurred, but the plot's structure is not confounded, or overly complicated. Wild ideas do crop up, antics fall on the camp side and further along the story goes the batty it becomes, but the inner turmoil, anxiety and suffering of the main character through solitude is the driving force. Tomie picks up on that, making her life hell turning everyone against her in an attempt to make her doubt herself. She wants Tsukiko to know no one loves her, and there's no escaping this curse, but through her she can feel what love and affection is all about... for just a short instant and it's truly a cruel fate Tomie delivers. Miu Nakamura's attractive, yet edgy turn is fitting in her mannerisms of Tomie and not forgetting that distinctive laugh.

Interesting trivia note after watching the film I checked out a one hour length interview which breezed through Noboru Iguchi's career, his influences and discussed the production of TOMIE UNLIMITED. Sounded like a big horror fan and it was cool to see him go into slight detail mentioning the likes of THE DEVIL'S RAIN, FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD and ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS on personally impacting him.

The best Tomie movie I've watched

[katzedernacht · 9/10 · 6 March 2018]

It's 9 films from this franchise, I am watching them all, so far I've watched 4, this is by far the best Tomie adaptation, besides from "Tomie the beginning", this one shows us the latest Tomie, she's selfish, manipulative, demanding, materialistic, arrogant, prideful. Hysterical to watch, there's some very interesting FX moments, if you have read the manga you won't find it silly or over the top, it is like that in the drawing, so , this is the best that one can do to try and show that.

The director did a great job and I can't praise the actress Miu Nakamura, if you are used to watch live action movies from manga or anime, you know she did a very good job being Tomie.

Easily one of the best Tomie films

[dopefishie · 6/10 · 15 June 2021]

Easily one of the best Tomie films. Not high praise because so many of those films are quite terrible. This one rises above the rest with better acting and better pacing than the rest!

But the special effects are god awful.

Don't expect too much. Just have fun with it!