7500 | 2/5

SINGAPORE — Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s American “supernatural” film is chaotic and convoluted.

The movie follows several characters boarding a plane to Japan, with the most prominent being Amy Smart and True Blood hottie Ryan Kwanten, as a couple going through a break-up after experiencing their third miscarriage. In the adjacent aisles sit a stoic gentleman and his mysterious wooden box; a bridezilla and her exasperated hubby on their honeymoon; and a goth who can quote like Confucius.

One of them dies mysteriously during the flight and things start getting creepy. The corpse disappears, and the passengers start playing detective to solve the case of the missing mysterious dead man. Then comes another parallel story line completely unrelated to finding the missing dead guy

It’s Shimizu’s second time dabbling in directing American horror, with the first being The Grudge (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar) in 2004. Although he has always wilfully stumped his audiences throughout most of the movie - and he still maintains the twist-ending element with 7500 - Shimizu’s concise style seemed little “off”, to say the least, as he attempted to force several themes into the movie in the hopes of creating a horror-thriller. But he ultimately disregards the central story line and brushes off the loose ends.

Sure, his cinematic touches to underscore the movie were undeniably passionate, and his movie-making flair and keenness to deliver something even greater shines through (what with his artistic close-up shots and of course, the Shimizu trademark: Unmanicured hands reaching out to grab its victims). Nonetheless, the garishly gaping holes in the plot means the audiences aren’t able to focus on any storyline. It’s just a great big blur, and we don’t like it.

Shimizu’s a fantastic director, but perhaps his unbridled ambition to roll all of it into one giant hybrid movie hasn’t been one of his brightest ideas to date.

(PG13, 80mins)