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 Ju-On:
The Grudge (2003)
A film review by Marc Blackie
Written and Directed by Takashi Shimizu
Runtime: 92 min
Country: Japan
Megumi Okina .... rika Nishina
Misaki Ito .... Hitomi Tokunaga
Misa Uehara .... Izumi Toyama
Yui Ichikawa .... Chiharu
"Ju-On" is one of the most frightening films I’ve
ever seen. Shimizu has crafted some of the most unique on-screen
scares. He is relentless in his delivery, leaving you no time to
catch your breath." - Sam Rami, Director of "The Evil
Dead" series and, erm, "Spiderman".
Oriental Supernatural Cinema arrived on these shores in the late
nineties in the form of Nakata Hideo's movie adaptation of Suzuki
Koji's "The Ring". This genuinely unnerving film struck
a chord with movie goers the world over, coming from a different
mind set and avoiding all of the pitfalls and failings that have
made western horror cinema so predictable. The film has since spawned
two alternate sequels, a prequel, many television series, remakes
(including the surprisingly "not shit" US version, which
while being a watered down MTV-no attention span-pass the pop corn
piece of cinema still managed to send the occasional shiver up and
down the spine), further novelisations, graphic novels and even
a video game.
Further to this, its warm welcome on western cinema screens has
seen a boom in the genre, with an increase in horror movies from
the orient and interest in earlier pieces of proverbially chilling
celluloid. Most notably of these, perhaps, has been the Pang Brothers’
"The Eye", Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Kairo" and Ring
director Hideo's "Dark Water".
These films all retain the same creeping menace of
"The Ring" but to a greater or lesser degree also own
a huge dept to Ringu. “Ju-on: The Grudge” is no exception
to this and there now seems to be a danger that the very elements
that made this new form of horror cinema so invigorating will soon
be swallowed up in the morass of set pieces and clichés.
Indeed, we can quite happily sit down and tick the boxes as we watch
"Ju-On" - Distorted Photos? Check. Dripping Water? Check.
Scary Child? Check. Passed on Curse? Check. Crawling woman with
long dark hair? You betcha...
Fortunately, I still have time for all of these elements and sitting
through this movie had more than a few tingles running up and down
my spine. To be fair, I wasn't expecting much and my copy of the
movie had been lying around for sometime before finding its way
into the player. Kairo disappointed me and I had managed to get
hold of the Ringu television serial, which again, wasn't really
up to much. So, with its constant other movie-inspired moments and
some fairly cheap special make up effects aside, "Ju-On"
just about managed to get under my skin.
The main setting is a normal suburban house and the movie itself
contains several mini stories based on interlocking characters.
At an undisclosed time, a father murdered his wife and the family
pet, before taking his own life, due to the realisation that he
is not the father of the couples’ child. Now anyone who enters
the house enters into the curse of the vengeful female spirit and
the ghost of the six year old boy, whose body was never discovered.
This really is all that there is to the plot and is all that is
needed to set up the individual tales, which as mentioned lead on
from one to the other and occasionally even jump back in time to
explain earlier events. This allows the filmmakers to set up one
scare after another, without having to worry too much about their
context.
 Japanese
children are pretty frightening it seems. As are telephones and
televisions...toilets are to be avoided and be careful of what is
lurking in your bed before trying to hide under the covers. But
one of the great things about this film are its moments of subtlety.
There were many occasions where the viewer barely sees a ghostly
figure reflected or sat in a corner and then the scene changes and
they are gone. Something to be admired, especially as my main critique
of "The Eye" was the filmmakers’ heavy-handed treatment
of many potentially creepy scenes....rather than letting the horror
sink in, "The Eye" tended to scream at the viewer "Look,
it's really scary ISN'T IT!?" where as Ju-on is far more inclined
to let the peripheral vision do all the hard work.
This certainly isn't one of the best horror films ever made, but
is a worthy addition to the growing cannon of Japanese fright flicks.
Now if only they could try to write something not including scary
children or long-haired girls in white dresses who spend their time
walking funny...
Update: Having written this review it has since
come to my attention that "Ju-On" has now been marked
for a US remake, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle
Gellar taking a leading role. I can't help but wish that Americans
would learn to read subtitles, putting an end to this constant flow
of remakes. The fact that Tom Cruise is involved in the forthcoming
US version of "The Eye" was bad enough...
Marc Blackie - 12 January 2004
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