Ryuta Sato plays Shogo, an obnoxious radio personality who hosts a late-night, love-line call-in show. He's popular with his many listeners, most of them teenagers and 20-somethings, but disliked by his colleagues and co-workers, whom he bullies or, in the case of a female newscaster (Hijiri Kojima), tries to have a one night stand with. He's rude, impatient, and repugnant, yet compelling. Sato's acting is remarkable; his facial expressions convey a great deal about his confused and dreadful state.

The film takes place in an old, vacant studio that was, as we see in the opening reel, the place where a radio host committed suicide decades ago. Could the old recording booth be the dwelling of a lingering spirit? When Shogo learns about the legacy of the basement studio, from which he is temporarily forced to broadcast, his concerns start to mount, especially when strange interferences begin to disrupt his shows. A female voice accuses him of being a liar, yet we don't know what he is guilty of. But through a series of flashback sequences, slowly we learn about his shady past, and that his life is inextricably linked to the people who call in to his show, as well as to the unexplainable electronic intrusions on the airwaves.

With a brief, 74-minute running time, director Yoshihiro Nakamura is able to build genuine tension, while misleading the audience every step of the way. Just when you thought you'd tied all the ends together, Nakamura throws another curveball, making us guess at what we are watching. Is it a murder mystery, a ghost story, or a drama that delves into the depth of a very dark soul?

Like most Tartan releases, The Booth DVD holds a fair amount of special features. Besides the obligatory trailers that can be found on every Tartan disc, there's a making-of featurette that focuses on Sato, who humbly talks about his inexperience as a leading actor. An eight-minute Q & A session sees Sato and Nakamura talking to an audience just before the movie's premier. Finally, the "On-Air" interview segment is a short bit that was taped inside an actual radio booth as part of the film's promotional campaign.