There are few images in all of horror more unsettling than the sight of the ghost of Kayako, face covered in blood and throat slit, crawling, floating, or simply materializing in front of a fresh victim. Often accompanied by a companion ghost, and more often than not making her trademark "croaking" sound (a cruel reminder of the way this spirit met her demise in life), Kayako ranks as one of the more truly frightening villains in horror history, and a true icon in not only J-horror, but to the horror film in general. And, in my humble opinion, this ranks as the best horror film of the decade thus far.More than anything, "Ju-On" benefits from the outstanding vision and direction of series creator Takashi Shimizu, the man who brought the story of "Ju-On" to life from the get-go and has been responsible for six of the seven films in this series. Shimizu's technique with these films is anything but simple - he has his setup and basic ghost story, yes, but the way in which Shimizu lets his web unfold is very unconventional, especially for a horror film. Every Japanese "Ju-On" film is broken up into chapters, and said chapters are presented out of chronological order. Sometimes, the chapters can even be several months or even years apart, and incorporate characters from other films in the series. While other films in the series gave it their all and were very entertaining in their own right, "Ju-On: The Grudge" is the best of the lot, working phenomenally as both a horror story and an engaging ensemble character piece. Folks, this is a horror flick with a story to tell, and one that also demands you to pay attention to every frame. And once it gets your attention...bam, it hits you over the head with some knock-your-balls-off J-horror.
The ghosts themselves are the spirits of Kayako Saeki (Takako Fuji) and her son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki), the murdered family of Takeo Saeki. In both her human and ghost form, Fuji is absolute dynamite in the role of Kayako; indeed, it is a crime that she is not seen as a horror icon in the same vein that Robert Englund's Freddy or Kane Hodder's Jason is. I also don't understand how many horror fans hold Gunner Hansen, who played Leatherface ONCE, in higher esteem than Fuji's Kayako, seeing as Fuji went through just as much physical torment all SIX times she put on the Kayako face-paint as Hansen did when he played Face...but I digress. Needless to say, this movie shows that you CAN create female villains who DON'T use sex as their main weapon and make them just as scary as their male counterparts.
The events of the murders themselves are explored in the first film in the series, "Ju-On: The Curse", a direct-to-video effort that collected a massive fan following and warranted the release of a rather half-hearted sequel effort (that nonetheless was very popular in its own right). In the first film, it is revealed that Kayako was in love with Toshio's schoolteacher, and kept a journal detailing the teacher's every move. Upon discovering the journal and his wife's feelings, Takeo commits several unspeakable acts in a jealous rage (including killing the teacher's unborn son), before slicing Kayako's throat and murdering his own son.
Upon their deaths, however, Kayako and Toshio become Ju-On - a powerful curse that hangs over the house in which they lived. Throughout the remainder of those first two direct-to-video films, and the rest of the series as well, every person who steps foot in the Saeki house becomes cursed, as the vengeful ghosts follow, terrify and eventually kill all who come into contact with their former home - beginning with Takeo himself.
The first two films in the series covered the back story, and with vast successes in the V-cinema market, Shimizu was given the greenlight for a full-blown theatrical version of "Ju-On". Rechristening the subtitle of the film and setting the events of the story several years after the majority of the events seen in "Ju-On: The Curse 1 and 2", welcome to "Ju-On: The Grudge"...
"Ju-On: The Grudge", in all six of its chapters, creates a sense of dread from the first time we see the cursed house, and does not let go of its hold on the audience for the entirety of the film's 92 minute running time. The film zigzags back and forth between several characters and storylines, all of them related in some form or another to the house that literally kills and the spirits who know nothing besides death, forever feeling the need to bring the destructive act that ended their own lives unto the lives of others.
Amazingly, "Ju-On: The Grudge" manages to actually make us FEEL for its characters in the short amount of time that we know them; there is Katsuya, the owner of the house who begins fearing for his family's life after seeing the ghost of Toshio in an upstairs bedroom; there is Hitomi, Katsuya's sister who desperately tries to escape the vengeful Kayako after doing nothing more to deserve her fate than venturing over to his brother's newly bought house for dinner; there's Toyama, a truly sympathetic character, a former police officer who investigated the original murders of Kayako and Toshio, and as someone who has been inside the house, wants nothing more than to protect his daughter; and years later, his daughter herself, Izumi, who accompanies three fellow students into the now-abandoned house on a dare and is wracked with guilt when the three girls mysteriously turn up dead.
Finally, there is Rika, the bookend story of the film. The ending of "Ju-On: The Grudge" is not an especially surprising one; throughout the film, we have seen several innocent, undeserving people die, and while this movie does not make its villains hateful or detestable (after all, the ghosts themselves are the result of a tragedy of their own, and we get the sense that the curse itself was not the express result of their own will), we desperately want Rika to survive this film's events and end the curse once and for all. What happens to the character in the closing moments of "Ju-On: The Grudge" is poignant, heartbreaking, and scary all at the same time; much like the rest of the film, it pulls on your emotional buttons while also remaining true to its nature as a movie designed to scare your pants off.
"Ju-On: The Grudge" is simply a horror story, and at that, I believe it is more successful than any other film of its kind throughout this decade. It is a story of tragedy on several levels; of the tragedy that creates its villains, as they are, and the tragedy that befalls several unfortunate characters whose only crime is coming into contact with the curse.
I suppose I should speak a little bit on the American remakes that most of you are familiar with (and a few probably think I'm even reviewing, and thus are mightily confused) - "The Grudge" and "The Grudge 2". As extensions of the story, the films are actually decent. For starters, it helps that Shimizu himself was responsible for both of these films, as well, and that they benefited from an already well-established template that the series had for scaring audiences. Thus, the American films don't suffer as much from over-reliance on sound stinger scares or questionable casting; the first American film is quite good, though the second gets a little heavy into some of the more unneeded aspects of Kayako's back story. Much like Michael Myers, I don't really care why Kayako is the way she is; it's scarier when the effort was just about feelings. She was murdered, she's pissed off, and she follows and kills people; don't overcomplicate the formula. Still, the American films are solid efforts, although nowhere near as effective or raw as this film and its theatrical sequel.
More than anything else, it is indisputable evidence that, put side by side, what Asia has been doing with their horror films blows away what we've been doing here in the States for the past ten years. Now, I don't want to chalk that up to skill alone, since there are talented American horror filmmakers. It's just that it seems like if you want ANY sort of soul, heart, or depth of character, you have to look elsewhere for it; all American horror movies seem to know how to do is use that GOD DAMN "jump scare" tactic, where they fire off a .22 in your ear and call their film "scary" because of that. This is a film that tugs at your heart, makes you identify with its characters...and truly knows how to get under your skin.
CCCC RRRRRR OOOO AAAAA KKKKKKK......
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