Photo/Illutration A scene from “Missing Child Videotape” (Provided by Kadokawa Corp.)

“Missing Child Videotape” does not feature screaming, sudden loud noises, people being slaughtered or ghost appearances, but it is scary to watch nonetheless.

“I delved into the fear of incomprehensibility,” director Ryota Kondo said of his debut feature film about mysterious disappearances.

The story centers around Keita, whose younger brother vanished when he was small.

Keita receives an old VHS tape containing footage of his brother just before his disappearance.

Along with his roommate Tsukasa, Keita heads to a mountain where his brother vanished.

Used as an illegal dumping ground for cremation urns, the mountain is also famous among locals as a place where people are spirited away.

“I’m attracted to the fear of things that I can’t really understand,” the director said. “I’m scared of eerie signs that something might happen, as well as characters who are afraid of something unknown.”

The VHS footage is grainy and gritty, while the sound is muffled. Keita and Tsukasa feel a ghostly presence in the mountain, but its identity remains undisclosed.

“Because things are unclear, our imagination is stimulated and our fears are fueled,” Kondo said. “These accumulations are what make us scared.”

Kondo is in the spotlight as a new standard bearer of J-horror, with Takashi Shimizu, director of the “Ju-On: The Grudge” series, attached as general producer.

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