Three American tourists venture to Japan for vacation when
they come across a map and diary to a secret temple in the film TEMPLE
(2017). The set up is pretty basic with
Kate (Natalia Warner) taking her boyfriend James and best friend Christopher
(Brandon Sklenar and Logan Huffman, respectfully) on a trip to hopefully get
Christopher to reconnect with the world.
Since Christopher speaks Japanese, he’s the best person to help them all
navigate through an unfamiliar country.
When they come across an ancient diary detailing an exotic
temple the three decide to go on an adventure.
It’s a short trip away but it is far from civilization and anything they’re
ever known. When they get to the temple,
they realize that they are not alone and that spirits of the dead prevent them
from leaving the temple twisting their minds and what they believe to be
real. Their hope to survive the night
continues to fade as one by one they become consumed by that which inhabits the
temple.
Although the story is pretty derivative, the actors do a
really good job of bringing life to their characters and to the film
itself. You’ll get more nuance to the
characters than is typical of these types of films. The script is written by Michael Barrentt
(who also directs) and the story is by Neal Edelstein, Shinya Egawa, and Mike
Macari. If you enjoy the slow burn then you
might enjoy this film but if you’ve already had your fare share of ghost
stories (with haunted locations) then you can skip this film as even though it
is well made it doesn’t really offer anything that you haven’t seen before.