"Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit" is oddly enough the best of the first four movies. But then again, it didn't really require a lot to outwit the other three movies. However, don't get your hopes up for this movie, because it is not all that great.

For a horror movie, then the movie is awfully devoid of scares and a proper horror feeling. This is, at best, a supernatural thriller mixed in with some stale drama.

The story is fairly similar to what has already been seen in the previous movies. Tomie has come back to torment some people. This time she has come back to torment her lover from 25 years ago, Kazu, and his daughter - also named Tomie (named after the dad's love).

The story is slow moving and doesn't really tell all that much at all, and it could have been done in less the time. Sure there are some nice moments throughout the movie, but it doesn't really build up any big thrills, suspense or scares. The "Forbidden Fruit" part of the movie, I assume, refer to the sexual undertones that lie throughout the movie.

Most memorable in the movie was the performance of Jun Kunimura, playing the daughter, Tomie Hashimoto.

If you enjoy Japanese horror movies, then I am sure that you are familiar with the boring "Tomie" series, as it is one of the founding pillars in modern J-horror. However, entertainment-wise, then there are far better Japanese horror movies available out there.

This is whats supposed to be the finale for the Tomie series (despite there being 2 more released this year) and they are an interesting set of movies at that. The series is based around Tomie Kawakami, for whatever reason she is unable to die and is able to make men drop to their knees at will. Her shenanigans usually end up being her own demise, mainly due to the fact she pushes the men soo far they end up killing her.

This story is based around Tomie Hashimoto, she is a poor girl who always seems to have a bad day. Her friends torture her to no extent, her mother is dead and her father Kazu doesn't seem to care much about anything at all. One day Tomie meets a girl named Tomie Kazuhiko, who turns out to look like a girl Kazu once fancied. Well of course it's the same Tomie and she has came back to claim her first love. Then the fireworks begin, well sort of.

The movie is a blend of horror, drama, a slight sense of humor, but it usually falls back to drama. Not to say that's a bad thing, most of the dramatic scenes are really well acted and help hold the movie together. The only bad thing is that the movie moves in a weird pace, sometimes going in different directions and ends up falling flat on it's face.

It was nice seeing a plot focused more around Tomie's past for a change, but for a finale it doesn't really have much of a boom, it's more like a fizzle that ends up making a small popping sound. Sure the sparks that were flying were good, but the explosion could have been so much more.

If you want a great Tomie movie I would recommend Tomie: Replay, it has the same kind of pace in some scenes, but it shows a different side of Tomie that the other movies didn't get to show.

Junji Ito's famous horror saga continues in Tomie Forbidden Fruit. Having read the manga and seen the earlier Tomie films, TFF is successful at establishing a dark enigmatic mood throughout.

It's very tough not to feel for Tomie Hashimoto and her predicament at school and at home. Aoi Miyazaki does well at displaying her loneliness and less than joyful existence. The father is the eccentric piece of the puzzle where you're not exactly sure where he's coming from. After the climax, he leaves a very lasting impression. Then there's Tomie Kawakami herself whose appearance turns their whole world topsy-turvy. Reflecting back, Nozomi Andô was great as the main character. Her range of expressions had shown the mysterious allure Tomie possesses. At one time, she can be friendly with an open ear and then, all of a sudden, uncaring, demanding, and prone to anger.

TFF isn't your typical Ringu type horror. I felt the relationships between these three was the crux to the story as a whole. Before meeting Tomie, the father and daughter weren't in the best of situations. After Tomie enters the picture, you're left to wonder if this an improvement or a catalyst to make matters worse.