Mitsuru (Tetsuji Tamayama) and Maki (Asami Mizukawa) have kidnapped a young girl in hopes of getting a ransom out of her. They are drug dealers that are in need of some cash, so they have been looking around for a child from a rich family, and believe they now have one. They take the girl to a school that has been closed up for good. As it turns out, which we find out later on, this used to be Mitsuru's school when he was a kid. Having given Ai (Karen Nakazawa) some sleeping pills in her water, Maki sets about calling the parents in order to tell them that they want 50 million yen for her safe return. The parents inform Maki that this must be some sick joke because Ai has been dead for one year to the day. When they go to check on Ai, she is gone. When some of Mitsuru's friends show up, who seem to know about the plan, things get more complicated, especially when one of the turns up dead.
Pray gets some praise because it isn't your typical Japanese ghost story film. It doesn't have the long haired ghosts that always looks wet. As it turns out, it is also different because there are two ghost stories going on. I won't spoil what either is really about, but the twist and turns do reveal that neither have to do with a kidnapped girl. The different twists are sometimes easy to see coming, and sometimes I was a little surprised by them. The movie itself, which was directed by Yûichi Satô, was a little slow and repetitive at times. They would lose Ai for a while, go in search of her and manage to find her. Repeat this a couple of times and there you go. Things did get a little more interesting when the friends showed up, and the twists in the plot they ended up representing. Despite all this though, I wasn't really into Pray all that much. I didn't find the two kidnappers all that interesting. There was something in Mitsuru's past that is hinted at, and eventually revealed, but that was about it. There was also a bathroom that seemed important since they kept going back to it. The bathroom was explained eventually, but not in a way that everyone got.
Pray ends up being a little gory, but I don't think it is enough for gore hounds to really care about. Hands get cut off, but we don't actually get to see that. Just the hand, and body, in a pool of blood. A few stabbings, and one getting a blunt blow to the head that didn't look hard enough to hurt, but was hard enough to kill apparently. The acting was okay, but a couple of the actors really took it to the next level towards the end of the movie. I would say who, but it might spoil things a little if I did. You can also find Mitsuyoshi Shinoda and Toshiyuki Toyonaga.
The two ghost stories was a nice idea, but it left the very end of the movie a little confusing. There are a lot of ideas thrown around about the ending, but nobody knows for sure if they are right. I didn't really find Pray boring, but I didn't find it all that exciting either. The twists were nice, but for me they didn't add a lot to spice up the plot much. The saving grace was towards the end when writer Tomoko Ogawa starts to pull at the heart strings. I'm not afraid to admit that it did make me tear up a bit. If it wasn't for that, Pray would have been given a lower rating. Pray isn't a bad movie really, just there. If you are looking for something a little different than the average Japanese ghost, give this one a shot. If you should watch it, give your thoughts on what you think happens at the very end.
3 out of 5 Would have been better if the little girl was creepy
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