TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Gregory Mucci
Back in 1998, a Japanese film called Ringu was released, introducing the world to the long hair and twisted face of Sadako; the biggest thing out of Japan since Sega. With her tattered nightie, rotten fingernails, and abyss like eyes, she managed to crawl her way out of the cinema and into audiences arms. Pulling in a little more than $137 million, Ringu quickly became the highest grossing Japanese film of all time. Two years later, Takashi Shimizu would take an alternate path in distributing his piece of Japanese horror revival, releasing Ju-On: The Curse as a part of V-Cinema; an industry that caters to releasing straight to DVD as a means of avoiding censorship. What came out of lower production costs was a film that helped pave the way for J-horror, spawning a remake that, along with Gore Verbinski's remake of The Ring, would take America by storm using the bare essentials in horror cinema.Featuring six non-linear yet seemingly interlocked stories, Ju-On: The Curse opens with school teacher Kobayashi (Yurei Yanagi), who investigates the absence of a child who has been missing from school. This simple investigation leads Kobayashi to enter the boys unassuming home, one that hides a very sinister secret involving revenge, murder, and a deadly curse. Jumping between Kobayashi's investigation and the occupants of the house years later, Ju-On: The Curse shifts between a cold-blooded tale of revenge with that of a horrific ghost story, shifting the lives of those the curse happens to fall upon. Director Takashi Shimizu manages to weave together six separate chapters all centering around one house, drawing us in with simple story telling and even simpler directing. Using low budget equipment and lighting, Shimizu captures the essence of horror with seemingly flawless execution, sustaining prolonged moments without catering to what we have come to expect from a genre that continually throws the obvious in our face. Shot after shot we are greeted with angles that allow us to drop our guard, lower our defenses, and assume the worst is over. What Shimizu does is toy with our expectations, allow us to get comfortable with what we're viewing before he raises the curtain and shows us what he has been hiding all along.With effective use of its low-budget, its non-linear storytelling, and chilling images of horror, Ju-On: The Curse still manages to falter in its choice of direction, falling victim to the dangers of excess. In Chapter 4 titled Kanna, a dismembered body is investigated by two detectives who discover dead rabbits and a missing jaw bone at the scene of the crime. What unravels is the unnecessary use of CGI to enhance a particularly gory reveal, one that would have been a lot more effective had the director stuck with his eye towards simplicity. Soon afterwards we are greeted with Takeo Saeki (Takashi Matsuyama), the sadistic father of the aforementioned missing child, smashing a garbage bag containing a baby multiple times against a wall. This unnecessary showcase of violence goes beyond the films brilliant use of momentary horror, dragging on and revealing far more than what is necessary to unnerve its audience. Ju-On: The Curse is a film that despite its missteps, is one that provides images that burrow deep down inside our consciousness, utilizing the bare minimum of production to do so. While feeling a bit disconnected at times with its use of non-linear storytelling, Takashi Shimizu manages to provide true horror in tiny bursts, embracing what we don't see and mixing it with what we don't know. Emerging before the hype of Japanese horror in America, Ju-On: The Curse is a film that has forever left an imprint in cinema, influencing years of horror and independent film for years to come.
Linus
A heart thrilling movie with an interesting story, with a ghostly and intense atmosphere, the story in this movie makes it stick out even more. The ghastly sounds of the monster is creepy and the make up is admirably accomplished, the movie quality is not as we are used to in todays movie, however it gives an impression that its real life which adds an extra scary feeling. The composer got the soundtracks just right, perfectly appropriate for this movie, the director really wanted to creep out the audience with the cat sounds from an innocent little pale boy, and the make up on the victims who tend to move around, despite being such bad quality they figured out the camera angles to the very best points to show what need to be shown.
Foxbarking
I did not begin to get interested in Japanese horror until around the time that the American version of "The Grudge" came out. Having always been a loyal fan of the horror genre, when a friend told me that "The Grudge" was so terrifying that he came close to wetting himself in the theater, I decided to see it. After seeing it, I have made fun of that friend every year since. Although I enjoyed the movie, there was nothing scary about it. When I went to college at NIU, I took Japanese as my minor and one of the classes had us watch "Ringu." I enjoyed it so much more than the American version, which was saying a lot since I loved the American version. So began my love affair with Japanese horror and my parallel interest in seeing "Ju-On" in order to see if it were any scarier than the American version.Sadly enough, although I enjoyed "Ju-on" and the sequel, I was disappointed because it wasn't remotely scary. It was only upon giving the film a second chance that I realized it was not the first film in the series and that the one I am reviewing now is.After seeing this original offering in the "Ju-on" series, I finally get it. I have been watching horror for over 3 decades and it takes a lot to scare me. This movie actually gave me the creeps. Even though I knew what had happened due to watching the other movies, even though I knew Toshio was a ghost, there were certain scenes in this short film that actually scared the crap out of me.I think this movie proves that not only does a horror movie not need a huge budget in order to be scary, the big budget can ruin the movie. No CGI and just some makeup on Toshio's face, and the less pronounced death rattle...this was a good and scary movie and definitely the strongest offering in this series. Amazing.
MartianOctocretr5
This is one of those movies that proves budget isn't everything in movie-making, especially where horror films are concerned. It's a true gem of the horror genre, exploring the human psyche as part of its path to the spooky conclusion.A brutal murder of a young woman and her son by the husband and father (who is convinced of the wife's infidelity) opens the story, unleashing the curse of a malevolent evil presence which remains in the vicinity of the violent event. The lingering presence "infects" and tries to victimize, both psychologically and physically, others who visit the crime scene.The story is logically developed, breaking the stories of key characters that encounter the evil into separate chapters, with an eerie mood that is maintained throughout. The people in the story are very real and human, and the terror, helplessness, and madness of victims is acted out skillfully. The creatures are threatening yet develop to be complex characters rather than mindless killing monsters. Their back stories are gradually revealed as things unfold. The look of the beings suits the intent of the film's focus well.There are some truly scary scenes, not on a "jump out at you" basis, but more of the "implied danger creeping toward you from the darkness" variety. There is one profoundly goose-bump-inducing scene involving a security camera. Look for that one--it's a keeper. Good old style late-night ghost story, a must for horror movie fans.
