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Tartan Films Distribution Limited (d/b/a Tartan Video USA) is scheduled to release Yûichi Satô's Pray (Purei) - a.k.a. "Prayer" - on DVD (TVD3036; NTSC, region 1, Japanese w/ English and Spanish subtitles) in the U.S. on April 11th. As was reported here on Twitch back on October 15th of last year, Tartan purchased U.S. and U.K. distribution rights for Pray and Yoshihiro Nakamura's Booth (Bûsu) from Pony Canyon K.K. (K.K. Ponî Kyanion) at the Industry Center of the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) in mid-October.
The official website for Pray and Booth is still online, and there's a streaming trailer for the two movies on that site. There's a lower-quality but downloadable version of that trailer on the website of Slow Learner Y.K. (Y.K. Surô Rânâ). As was reported here on Twitch back on September 1st of last year, Pray played at the Cinema Rise in Tokyo from October 15th to November 4th; Booth played there from November 5th until November 25th.
The screenplay for Pray was written by Tomoko Ogawa. The movie's principal cast was as follows: Tetsuji Tamayama, Asami Mizukawa, Mitsuyoshi Shinoda, Katsuya Kobayashi, Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Sanae Miyata, Fumiyo Kohinata, Karen Nakazawa, Ei Morisako, Kôya Horimoto, Erika Asakura, Fumi Higuchi, and Kôko Mori.
The screenplay for Booth was written by (Yoshihiro) Nakamura. The movie's principal cast was as follows: Ryûta Satô, Hijiri Kojima, Mansaku Ikeuchi, Makoto Ashikawa, Maiko Asano, Masaki Miura, Mai Takahashi, Masaaki Maeda, Kei Sunaga, Akira Matsumura, Matomu Onda, Miyû Sawai (a.k.a. Miyuu Sawai), Akira Satô, Hiroshi Ôtsuka, Rumi Yamamoto, Shô Ôkura, Fumi Higuchi, Takeshi Nagaya, Yûki Iioka (7th listing on the left), Daisuke Kobayashi, Masato Sunakawa, Reika Tonegawa (given name may be "Rinka", "Suzuka", etc.), Mio Nagao, Miho Hirata, and Kiyoko Saitô.
Below are synopses for Pray and Booth from pages for these movies on Pony Canyon's website.
Synopsis for Pray:
Mitsuru (Tetsuji Tamayama) and Maki (Asami Mizukawa) kidnap a young girl and hide out in an abandoned school. If they get the ransom money as planned, it will buy them the drugs... and the ticket out of their stagnant lives.
But Mitsuru makes one gross miscalculation. Their hostage, Ai Shinohara, already died one year ago.
Strange sounds echo through the hallways. The girl disappears and reappears.
One by one, the kidnappers die bizarre deaths, their wrists severed from their bodies.
"Who... are you?"
The mysterious girl slowly extricates the deeply buried memories of one man's tragic past....
Synopsis for Booth:
Shingo Katsumata is the popular host of a late night radio program called "Tokyo Love Lines". One day, at the station, there was a sudden change of studios and he had to use a different, unfamiliar one. A studio which came complete with a legend, as back when the station first opened, an announcer died there, mysteriously.
This night Shingo's program began as usual with phone calls from listeners talking about problems with their love lives. The topic was "unpardonable words". He was listening to a caller, a grade school student, talking about her problems with boys and suddenly he heard eerie laughter and a different female voice whispering "liar".
Interference? If not, then what...? There was panic inside the studio but regardless the show had to go on. The accusing voice threatened Shingo on the air with suspicions, which recalled past betrayals and a young man's arrogance. It was as if Shingo had fallen victim to a curse and that he was being marked for death.
Pray and Booth trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Pray and Booth trailer (lower quality; downloadable 4.7 MB WMV file)
Pray and Booth official website
Pony Canyon: Pray
Pony Canyon: Booth
Tartan Video USA: Pray
