Note to Platinum Dunes - THIS is how you reboot a franchise. While everybody and their dog was busy talking about the guy in the red-and-black sweater, I was busy watching these little-seen gems from the land of the rising sun. In fact, I'm dead certain that I am the ONLY person reading or writing this who has seen these. Nonetheless, the "Ju-On" and "Grudge" series have very dedicated fans...myself included. Hell, between a region-free DVD player and the disc from Amazon UK, these two movies cost me $80. I don't regret it. It's the fanboy curse. There's nine films that make up the complete "Ju-On/Grudge" experience, and they equal what is, without a doubt, my favorite movie series.
During my initial J-horror buying binge, two of the first movies I bought (for the grand total of $6.78, making them the best investments I've ever made in terms of use per dollar spent) were "Ju-On: The Grudge 1 and 2." The first one I'd seen before; me and T-Go rented it a few years back when the first American "Grudge" was released, and wanted to see the series in its roots before watching the remake in order to sound faux-sophisticated. At the time, I was very underwhelmed, finding it slow and plodding. It also didn't help the flick that, as per usual during those college days, I was surfing the net and only giving it half of my attention.
Flash forward four years to the summer of 2008. I pop "Ju-On: The Grudge" into the DVD player, in the middle of the night, with no distractions, and BAM - the movie knocks me right the hell over. There are horror fans who decry almost all Japanese horror films for their sameness, but, to this reporter, "Ju-On: The Grudge" is utterly unique not only within the horror genre, but among the "ghost girl" movies that dot the J-horror landscape, as well. It's broken apart chapter structure, which makes the viewer active, constantly thinking and looking for the connections between the doomed characters, is cool to the max. While first-time watchers suspect that all of these people are doomed no matter what, we're still on the edge of our seat, praying for Rika or Hitomi or Tatsuya to find SOME way to escape the death sentence they've inadvertently sentenced themselves to. And then there's Kayako...
Of all the horror villains I'd seen before, and since, Kayako struck a very deep chord with me, for whatever reason. It's a completely unapologetic villain, completely happy committing atrocities on very innocent people, which stands in stark contrast to the "Emo-ization" of the villain that we've seen at multiplexes in the last few years. More than anything else, however, Kayako is memorable; writer-director Takashi Shimizu gave trained contortionist and ballet dancer Takako Fuji an insanely creepy set of trademark movements and mannerisms. Shimizu was the painter, Fuji was the canvas, and with a bad girl as bad as Kayako, it's no wonder why this flick crossed over into the States and spawned a franchise of its own.
Last year marked the tenth anniversary of the "Ju-On" series, and as such, original creator Shimizu and producer Taka Ichise commissioned the production of THESE particular films (long enough introduction?). Kayako is gone, but what remains is the spirit of the series - the opening text that clues us on on just what our characters will be facing, the music lifted directly from the first two V-Cinema films, and most importantly, more than a few scenes with genuine power to get under your skin and make you THINK, not only about the scary stuff, but for the characters who the unfortunate acts are happening to. They are not as good as the series at its absolute best, but both are definitely highly entertaining entries in this amazing series. Not sure if they'd be worth eighty dollars to the sane person, but if you've already got a region-free player and a few bucks to spare, there's some guaranteed chills waiting for you here.
"Ju-On: White Ghost," written and directed by Ryuta Miyake, is the darker of the two stories. Much like the other Japanese "Ju-On" films, it is broken up into character-focused chapters (ten instead of the usual six this time). The film introduces us to several interconnected people, most notably Akane (played by Natsuki Kasa as a small child, and Akina Minami as a teenager). Her father is one of the unfortunate early victims of this film's version of the Ju-On (for the uninitiated, a Ju-On is the living curse that destroys, with surgical precision, anything and anyone it touches) is a VERY creepy-looking older woman, carrying a basketball for yet-unknown reasons.
As "Ju-On: White Ghost" continues, it soon becomes clear that the tone of this story is MUCH different from the Kayako stories. While the original Saeki murders of those films were shown in their aftermaths, this movie shows all of the bad stuff in grisly detail, particularly in what the entire movie builds towards - the birth of the curse, which stems from a typical, loving family, with MAJOR issues and secrets. Tsuyoshi Moro plays Isobe, the black sheep of the family, slowly snapping as a result of constant pressure from his father to make something of himself. In addition, he's a pedophile, who (in extremely memorable, almost uncomfortable scenes) has a more than familial interest in his niece (who also happens to be the childhood friend of Akane). When he fails a bar exam, he boils over, brutally murdering the entire family in a protracted, almost perfect sequence.
Just like "Ju-On: The Grudge," there's a sense of hopeless that runs underneath White Ghost. We know what the curse in these movies encompasses; we know the power that it possesses, and we see the horrific acts that lead to the creation of two distinct vengeful spirits. The bodies pile up fast in this one (Akane's father as a child and her high-school friends as a teen, an innocent delivery boy making a trek to the death house, etc.), but while the movie didn't show us any of Akane's years between her father's death and her life as a high school student...I badly wanted her to live. And *SPOILER ALERT* this is a "Ju-On" film with an upbeat ending, at least by the standards of this series, as the spirit of Akane's childhood friend spares her life and releases her from the curse.
"Ju-On: White Ghost" hits all the right notes for a Ju-On story - likable characters, a good lead female in Akane, and Moro as a truly despicable human villain. As an added bonus, Toshio Saeki makes a fun little cameo stalking the doomed family's dog...
**** 1/2 out of *****.
Mari Asato's "Ju-On: Black Ghost" is more thoughtful and restrained than "White Ghost," but no less effective. The grittiness and more explicit gore is replaced by a drawn-out slow burn in this one, but if you're a fan of this series, you won't mind that in the slightest.
In addition, it's the more streamlined of the two films. While "White Ghost" has a large cast of characters and more than a few subplots, "Black Ghost" is largely about two people - poor little Fukie (Hana Matsumoto) and her mother Yokota (Masanobu Katsumora). The movie opens with a startling scene of Fukie collapsing on her school floor, and in early segments, we get more scenes indicating that not all is right with this seemingly ordinary young girl. She collapses again at her own home in front of her rightly worried parents - immediately after a VERY familar sound emanates from her vocal chords.
Eventually, Fukie is sent to a hospital, where doctors find a very strange and disturbing peculiarity - a cistation in her uterus. Before birth, Fukie absorbed the body of her identical twin, resulting in two people born in one body. Jealous at not being robbed of life, it seems that the spirit of the unborn twin is the Ju-On for this go round. As we've seen so many times before with this series, not everything is as it seems...
"Black Ghost" also has its scary moments, particularly the bits with the kind-hearted nurse who takes Fukie underneath her wing. Her fate is combined with the end of one of the rather unimportant characters we're introduced to early, but when the payoff of Nurse Yuko's story is reached, it really hits you in the gut. In addition to that, the closing chapters of the film introduce us to Fukie's aunt Mariko (Yuri Nakamura), a psychic healer who attempts to undo the damage that the unborn spirit is attempting to cause in the living world. The scenes of Mariko and her family holed up in their home, chanting incantations to keep themselves safe after realizing that the curse has struck them, were very unsettling.
And then there's the murders that bookend the film. I won't spoil them, but it comes as a true surprise when it's revealed just who these unfortunate souls are. Since this movie is also revealed out of order, we know the fates of the victims before the film's ending, making the proceedings all the more heartbreaking as this batch of victims attempts to cheat death.
**** 1/2 out of *****.
So, there you have it - two new "Ju-On" stories, produced by the original series creators, with likable characters, shocks, chills, and Toshio cameos galore. Highly recommended if you're a fan of this series, mildly recommended if you're not (and if you already own a region-free player).
No comments:
Post a Comment