Masayuki Ochiai was born in 1958. Ochiai grew up in the Western
Tokyo suburb of
Setagaya, where the studios for
Toho,
Nikkatsu and
Daiei Film were located. He recalled watching fantasy televisions shows, including American shows such as
The Twilight Zone and
The Outer Limits as well as Japanese shows such as
Ultra Q. Ochiai stated that the shows influenced in "not so much in style, but in how they got me excited. Today, when making films or TV movies, I work hard ont create that same kind of excitement, hoping todays' audience can experience the joy I felt when i was young." Ochiai's main influence to become a director was
Charlie Chaplin after seeing
City Lights and
The Kid while in junior high school. He went to the Nihon University College of Art, and believed that at that time that Japanese films were not doing well and it would be impossible to get to work on
feature films and went into work as a television director. Ochiai made a short film for the dramatic series
Yonimo Kimyou Na Monogatari called
Midnight Call in 1990. Ochiai also directed episodes of the television series
Night Head for
Fuji TV and the science fiction themed
Black Out. His film
Parasite Eve was based on the
novel of the same name which was very popular in Japan. Ochiai reflected on making the film, stating he was "not really happy with the circumstances I was under when I had to create [
Parasite Eve]...First of all I was forced by the producers to make it a love story. There were so many compromises I had to make that it couldn't be a true horror movie." It was released in 1997 in Japan. Ochiai's next film was
Saimin which was released as
The Hypnotist in the United States and Hypnosis in the United Kingdom. Ochiai recalled he was contacted to work on
Saimin by the company that published the novel. The film was released theatrically in Japan in 1999. After the release of
Parasite in Japan, he made his American feature film with
Shutter, a remake of the 2004 Thai film. ==Filmography==