JU-ON: A curse of one who dies with strong resentment. Accumulates in the place where the dead were while alive, and turns into "karma." He who comes in contact with the curse loses his life, and a new curse is born.You know, I still remember the night that I saw my first "Ju-On" film. Believe it or not, it was only a (comparatively) short time ago - the summer of 2008, to be exact. I'd just discovered this different, vast, heavily populated by female ghost genre called J-horror, and two of the first movies that got my Amazon buy were "Ju-On: The Grudge," Parts 1 and 2. Of course, back then, I had no idea that these movies were actually the THIRD and FOURTH movies in a franchise; all I knew was that I'd half-watched "The Grudge" a few years ago, and that this was the original version. I paid exactly $8.19 for those two films, shipping included.
I popped the DVD in sometime around 1:00 in the morning. Normally, I'd give new horror movies 75% of my attention; the remainder of my brain was occupied with either internet surfing or this crusty, ancient Casino game on my laptop (that still gets heavy use to this day). That night, however, the computer didn't even get a look; from the moment the movie started, I knew I was watching something special. The characters leapt right out of the screen; virtually nothing about them is known with the exception of what is shown. The movie ticks by in a series of "Chapters," the character-names serving as de facto short stories, their names spelled out for us like an obituary. This was one of the DARKEST movies I'd ever seen, but strangely enough, its bleakness was refreshing. Engrossing, even. Of course, it also doesn't hurt when you've got the coolest villain to come along since Freddy Krueger, but you get the gist of this story by now. "Ju-On: The Grudge" instantly became one of my favorite movies, and I spent the better part of the next two months seeking out all of the other films, both Japanese and American. I'm still not bored with them. Those two movies that I bought for the price of a Perkins Supreme Burger have gotten constant airplay in my DVD player, keeping me interested in active watching sessions, lulling me to sleep like a comforting blanket during the night.
Which brings me to this film - "Ju-On: The Curse." THIS is where it all began, ladies and gents. A micro-budgeted film shot on digital video for Japanese television, based on two popular segments from a Japanese horror anthology TV series. These segments were shot by a young wunderkind named Takashi Shimizu, himself a student of J-horror great Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Shimizu's style is distinct; rather than tell long stories, he splits his "Ju-On" films (and to a lesser extent the American "Grudge" films) into interconnected segments, all connected to a house that equals death and two ghosts who spell vengeance. As can be expected of a franchise that now totals nine films, the flick was infinitely popular on Japanese TV, garnering fantastic word-of-mouth for its acting, truly brutal ghosts, and one-of-a-kind villains. As a movie, "Ju-On: The Curse" is damn near perfect. This movie is SLOOOWWWW BURNNNN, baby. The tension builds and builds and builds through many of the segments, FINALLY releasing it in the moments before the screen goes black and the next doomed character is introduced. In short, this movie is a damn fun time.
THE MOVIE!!
Explaining the plot of a "Ju-On" film is a challenging experiment. In short, the movie isn't focused in the slightest on plot. The formula is in place for the rest of the series, though, in this first entry: introduce a character, show character in peril, kill character, usually with a phenomenally well-executed jump scare. The first story is focused on a teacher named Kobayashi - nice young man, all things considered, and played very well by Yurei Yanagi of "Ringu." Kobayashi has a very pregnant wife and a deep concern - one of his students, Toshio Saeki, hasn't been to school in over a week. And so Kobayashi makes the fateful journey to the house...
See, there's a house in Tokyo that nobody should EVER go into. This film shows two unfortunate families that have the AMAZINGLY bad luck of moving into the house, and through its interconnected stories, virtually EVERYONE connected to the house...police officers, family members, friends...winds up dead. This house is what the title of the movie is all about -Ju-On, the powerful pall of people who die in violent circumstances, often with rage in their hearts.
There indeed seems to be a lot of rage present in this movie. "Ju-On" is very much a J-horror movie, with ghosts as villains and a decidedly non-gory tone, but this is something like the slasher movie of J-horror ghost films. We get many characters in this movie, and a lot of them are teenagers. Even better, most of them are attractive females, just like the countless '80s slasher films with masked killers. The most striking death in the entire film is the first true onscreen murder of young Yuki (Hitomi Miwa). Finding herself alone in the house after being called over to tutor, she walks out into one of the creepy upstairs hallways only to find it completely dark, and suffocatingly alone. She is chased by a cat into a closet where a hole in the ceiling is present. Yuki investigates the hole, only to come face-to-face with a yet-unknown white-faced woman...and then we hear the croak for the first time. Awesome stuff in a movie full of it. In addition to that death, there's the infamous "ripped off jaw" sequence that the 2004 American remake cribbed, and the girlfriend of one of the house's inhabitants (Chiaki Kuriyama, Go-Go of "Kill Bill" fame) meeting a sinister kid who bears a striking resemblance to Toshio.
All of these bizarre crimes come together in the "Kayako" segment of the film, which also gives us the climax of Kobayashi's story. You see, Kobayashi knew Kayako (played by Takako Fuji, who absolutely DEVASTATES in this role, making this character just as much her own as Robert Englund did with Krueger) in college, and now she just so happens to be Toshio's mother. Finding the house empty except for Toshio, Kobayashi makes his way upstairs and finds a journal that answers all of his questions. Kayako is unhappily married, in love with Kobayashi to the point of delirium - even to the point of stalking. Mere hours before his arrival at the house, her husband Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) - a violent, jealous man - found the journal, and brutally murdererd her, slicing Kayako's throat. As it turns out, Toshio himself is a ghost as well, inviting Kobayashi into the game to give Kayako's story a sense of closure. The mother-and-son duo are the villains of this film - one a powerful Onryo ghost, the other a playful and sinister child of death. It is shown that Kayako actually claimed Takeo as her first victim, and all the other poor souls in this film are flies to this pair. While the story (which probably isn't explained very well) of "Ju-On: The Curse" is interesting and involving, make no mistake, this is a movie that works because of its villains. In creating the characters of Kayako and Toshio, Shimizu struck gold that would launch him to superstardom and enough money to buy his own solid gold island. In addition, the casting of Fuji - a veteran theatrical actress and trained contortionist - was a stroke of genius rarely seen in the movie world. In all six films that Fuji would portray the character, she gave the character such an eerie presence, a menace almost completely alien to American movie audiences...the feeling that this person, even in death, wanted to do bad, bad things to people whose only sin was crossing the threshold into her former home. Her trademark death rattle - a kind of "croaking" sound, eerily reminding us of the way she met her death - became the Japanese equivalent of Jason's legendary "Ki ki ki ma ma ma" chant. At any rate, five gold stars for Ms. Fuji and Shimizu's creation of the character.
Amazingly enough, this whole sad, sad affair would only get better as it went on. It would reach peaks and hit a valley, but as the introduction to a legendary curse, "Ju-On" in its original V-cinema form is essential viewing. What it lacks in speed it more than makes up for in its ability to get under your skin and burn itself into your cerebral cortex, likely in the moments when you REALLY don't want those kind of thoughts in your mind...
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