Ju-on (2002) Reviews

• Non-Linear, yet Effective and Creepy.

  nycritic2005-03-15

  Although the word "grudge" doesn't quite fit the bill as part of the title of a horror film -- one thinks THE CURSE would have been more appropriate but such is the "curse" of translation -- JU ON holds up extremely well as a horror film. Built upon a notion that when someone dies victim of extreme rage, the emotions are left behind and this overpowering, negative emotion will kill anyone who comes into the house, JU ON first gives us a grainy montage at the start of the story of what seems to be a man killing away his entire family. This sets the events that come next, told in a non-linear way so as to disorient the viewer of what has happened/will happen like for example, why is the old lady seemingly living in squalor in this otherwise impersonal looking place, and what part does her most recent caretaker, Rika (Megumi Okina) have to play there? I've always believed that using subtly disturbing images instead of bringing the horror up front in a broad manner creates more of a punch for the viewer. Amping up the dread, even when the horror seems inevitable, creates a sensation of anguish because one knows that something is terribly out of kilter in this house. What director Shimizu does here with introducing the old lady in the unkempt house by having us see her hands weakly bang on the rice door, and then having her stare vacantly out to nowhere as Rika tries to clean up the place only to later meet the entities in the house, is unsettling as anything else that comes later. She whispers, mantra-like, something closely rendered to an "I told you so" and one only has to see the mounting horror in her old eyes to know something horrible is about to happen to her while Rika witnesses this and faints in horror. It doesn't matter that one sees the little boy running around and then mutely screaming in that cat-like shriek, or the shadow and croak of someone even worse... it's the inexorability in which this curse comes forth and attacks this old, defenseless lady, and then each person who has come/will come in contact with it, and when it becomes clear that the curse is not bound only to the haunted house but is in fact a growing web of death, the rug gets neatly pulled out from the viewer's feet, because safe becomes only a word and something wicked this way comes. This is a film that people will love or hate. I don't think there will be an in-between feeling. The way that these ghosts manifest themselves as if they were part of the living, leaving hand-prints and footprints behind, the way that horror draws itself on screen -- in barely there suggestions like when Rika is wheel-chairing an elderly man who is making faces; we see the one second reflection on a glass door of Toshio, the malevolent boy --, the way the actors react to fear which is anti-Hollywood, the non-use of swelling music but the use of eerie sounds, this is one very spooky film which can stand aside some of the greatest ever filmed. Quiet yet intense, relying on atmosphere and dread, JU ON is very chilling, and very effective. This is the horror that is rarely done today.

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• Occasionally awkward, but very good overall

  BrandtSponseller2005-02-06

  Rika Nishina (Megumi Okina) works for a social services agency in Tokyo, although she's never seen any clients. When a new case comes in and they're short on staff, her boss has to send her out. Her first case is a doozy. When she enters the client's home, no one seems to be there, and the house is a mess. She hears scraping on a door--the old woman she is to care for is there, but in a semi-catatonic state. Soon after, she learns that there is much more wrong than bad housekeeping and a neglected old woman. There just may be threatening supernatural forces behind the scenes. This film is really the third in the Japanese Ju-On series. I won't usually watch a series out of order, but this is the only Ju-On film officially and thus easily available in the U.S. I was very anxious to watch the American remake, The Grudge (2004), and actually watched it the day before watching this film. The first 40-something minutes are closest to the American remake, but it was surprising that this film is much more linear. It's also more episodic. Neither of those facts are negative here, and both lend to a somewhat easier understanding of the broader mythology behind the Ju-On "monsters", which is presented much more clearly in this film. However, the episodic nature also means that the viewer has to pay attention to the various characters and their names, or there is a good chance that one will get lost--this story touches on many different people, in many different scenarios. Occasionally, there are characters brought into each other's episodes, sometimes as subtly as a name mentioned in a news report. These cross-references, which can also slightly break the linear timeline, are effective if one is alert. There are things that writer/director Takashi Shimizu does better in this version, and things he does better in the American version. In this version, I loved the brutal opening sequence. Although it's somewhat present towards the end of the American version, it is much more effective here. I enjoyed the more traditional Japanese home--this film was shot on location in an actual house, whereas the American remake was shot on a house constructed on a soundstage. The Japanese house is more claustrophobic. On the other hand, the soundstage house was a bit grungier, which works nicely in the context of the remake. I liked this film's transition in the famous "stair crawling" scene (although I thought the flashbacks weren't necessary), and I also loved some of the more dissonant music here. The biggest differences occur after the first forty minutes, when Shimizu expands the number of monsters. The film seems to threaten a Romero-like plague that I'd like to see explored more in other Ju-On films (if that hasn't been done already). The bottom line though is that this is a nicely atmospheric horror film, with a creepy scene per minute. There were a couple very minor flaws--occasionally awkward performances or editing being the primary one, but overall this is highly recommended. It earned a 9 out of 10 from me.

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• Pretty Good

  Gafke2004-05-28

  "Ju-On, The Grudge" is not an easy movie to find in America (or at least it wasn't when I first wrote this review) , and after hearing it hyped to the heavens in magazines such as Fangoria and Rue Morgue, and by word of mouth as well, I knew I had to see it. I finally tracked it down in LA and watched it the very first chance I got to do so. Ju-On is a chapter story about a haunted house in a Tokyo suburb. The film begins when an inexperienced social worker shows up at the house and comes face to face with the horror within. The story jumps around from past to present, its chapters focusing on one character at a time until it has come full circle. Everyone unwise enough to enter the cursed house winds up dead, the haunting spreading like a virus. It seems that a terrible murder once took place in this house and the rage surrounding the act of violence has spawned its own evil curse. To enter the house is to be immediately infected and the haunting follows people home, driving them to near madness before dragging them away, never to be seen again. Ju-On bears more than a passing resemblance to its popular predecessor "Ringu" and is nowhere near as frightening, but it's not a bad film by any means. Butchered mother-ghost Kayako is very Sadako-like, crawling around with her long black hair in her face and moving with unearthly jerkiness. Her blue-white face is quite startling with its huge staring eyes and occasional splashes of blood. Her ghost son, Toshio, is both sad and frightening, appearing both as a normal boy and a pale, wide-eyed ghost. Many of the films most frightening sequences feature the murdered woman Kayako: her head full of black hair peeking around a corner, her shadow moving down a corridor and filling a security camera, a head-on shot of her crawling through an attic at night with only the beam of a flashlight illuminating her. The sound effects are quite disturbing as well and the performances are convincingly well done. I wasn't as scared by this movie as had been promised I would be, but that's what happens when you buy into the hype. I was simply expecting too much, and I got a pretty good ghost story instead. Ju-On is good. It's not great, but it's a decent, straightforward ghost story with more than enough scary moments to please most horror fans. Ringu was scarier, but Ju-On is a noble effort. Like most Asian horror stories, it remains ambiguous and open-ended, leaving room for both a sequel and the chance for you to decide for yourself what the curse of The Grudge really is. 7 out of 10 stars.

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• Hark, the Grudge: and lo, I wet myself.

  Blotchy2003-09-10

  If you only love American cinema and hate everything not English, you'll hate it. If watching Ringu makes you feel that you somehow know a lot about foreign movies, you'll just sit and compare the two. Which is too bad, because they're both great in their own right. On it's own, Ju-on is fantastic. It boasts itself as a simple contained story without stretching on into some sort of epic. Where some movies will say: "We've got a weaved story that's real creepy", Ju-on seems to say: "You came to watch a ghost story, and that's what you're getting. Now sit there as we shove your heart through your butt-hoop." Folks, if you have issues with dead stares and good use of dark angles and sound, it's extremely creepy. Studios aren't giving Sam Raimi millions of dollars to re-make this film in Japan alongside its original director for nothing. If not my word, take their's. The only reason this film got noticed in the first place is because of its original two-part TV airings in Japan that created such a buzz, they re-shot it for film. -- Or maybe you'll take the advice of people who've watched too many brainless popcorn summer movies and never watch it. Ju-on's an Excellent flick.

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• Ow my freakin'god!

  jazzamind2006-09-23

  I like to think of myself as a grrrl who is able to handle a lot, when it comes to horror, though I have developed a preference for the more psychological kind...The kind that takes you by the throat and does not let go... I thought Ring (original) was indescribably scary, especially since I watched it alone, in the dark ,in a deserted house, AND ON VIDEO, these factors definitely added to my level of scariness...The end of that movie, was literally spinechilling and I found myself clutching the blankets and holding on for dear life when in THAT movie happened what happened when it did happen. Thought that was the scariest movie ever! Nothing could top it, right? Well I could not have been more wrong... How totally unprepared was I for what was about to come when I popped Ju-on(original version again), in the DVD-player... Ow my freakin'god, I was so scared through the whole film by the terrifying atmosphere throughout... And how about the sounds... When the ending came i was so scared I could hardly breathe, I had the imprints of my nails in the palms of my hands, and could not speak or move... The aftermath of the movie was me being SO scared I was too chicken to go to the loo... I checked my closets, and my blanket numerous times,and this went on for months... had nightmares too...and was totally afraid of the dark allover again...like when I was a kid or maybe even moreso... I have seen a lot, but this one is definitely the most scary,and I do not think I ever wanna see it again...

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