Forbidden Siren (2006) Siren | Region-Free (DVD)

Title: Forbidden Siren (2006)

Alternate Title: サイレン (Sairen)

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Plot Synopsis:
A writer relocates to the remote Yamijima Island with his daughter, Yuki, and young son, Hideo. Shortly after settling into their new home, a neighbor warns them of a local rule: when the island’s siren sounds, no one should venture outside. As Yuki becomes acquainted with the island’s eerie atmosphere and its enigmatic residents, she uncovers unsettling secrets tied to the siren’s wail and the island’s dark past.

Cast and Crew:

• Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
• Writer: Naoya Takayama
• Cast:
  • Yui Ichikawa as Yuki Amamoto
  • Leo Morimoto as Shinichi Amamoto
  • Naoki Tanaka as Dr. Yutaka Minamida
  • Hiroshi Abe as Kei Tsuchida
  • Naomi Nishida as Satomi

YouTube Trailer:
Forbidden Siren (2006) | Trailer

IMDb Link:
Forbidden Siren (2006)

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. jryn7 – ★★½
   “Another from the tail end of the original J-Horror wave. Forbidden Siren is based on the series of Siren video games, and sometimes feels like a video game, with hidden rooms, English words thrown into the middle of Kanji, and statues that look like the painting of ‘The Scream’.

   Forbidden Siren has an interesting opening, talking about the disappearances of the population of the Roanoke colony and then the crew and passengers of the Marie Celeste. Then in 1976 the film shows rescue workers looking for the inhabitants of Yamijima Island in the midst of a terrible storm. They find only a sole survivor who seems mad, who warns them if they hear the siren, they must not go out.”

2. Sheena – ★★★★★
   “I believe my great fortune in appreciating a lot of Japanese cinema lies in the fact that I am and always will be an outsider while I live here. All the staring and xenophobia can eat away at your patience and sanity. The folklore and history can overwhelm and leave you in wonder simultaneously. Welcoming you into their society is as easy as it is for you to acclimate to it.

   Forbidden Siren suffers from a low budget, but I refuse to let it diminish what is a modern folktale. It felt like a throwback to classics like Onibaba and Kuroneko and to accomplish that, you will need to sacrifice your much beloved budget. This was gritty and makes your skin crawl. I loved it.”

3. Freyr – ★½
   “Watched during my Summer of J-Horror II.

   A bonus addition to the list because our group watch pick lined up with it. This is hilariously bad, the editing and camera work is super 00s era schlock, it’s melodramatic, and the lead makes the worst possible decisions every time, all the time. But it’s amusing as hell and the score is a banger, like damn does it go off during the excruciatingly long walking scenes.”

Meta Description:
“Forbidden Siren” (2006), directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, is a Japanese horror-thriller that follows a family’s unsettling experiences on the isolated Yamijima Island, where a mysterious siren’s wail is linked to the island’s dark secrets.