JU-ON: The curse of one who dies while in the grip of a powerful rage. It gathers and takes effect in the places where that person was alive. Those who encounter it die, and a new curse is born.Well, if you're a devoted fan of all the crap that I post (all three of you), you know that I've already reviewed this movie - several times. I've harped about it on various message boards, I inducted into the International Horror Registry, and it's all for a reason. "Ju-On: The Grudge" (or simply "Ju-On" to many, and even "Ju-On 3" to Japanese audiences) is probably my second favorite horror movie of all time, one of my ten favorite FILMS in any genre, and still a flick that I can pop in any ol' time and either drift off to sleep or pay my full attention to, picking out various camera tricks and subtleties in character shifts that I had never noticed before. As an example, I just watched this film a few days ago, and I had never picked up on the fact that Katsuya (we'll be getting to him later) is acting like Takeo, and may in fact be possesed by him.
Information that you already know - this is the first "Ju-On" movie I ever saw. I don't count the first American "Grudge" film, since I was surfing the internet and playing "Castlevania" in the background at the time. It blew me away, and continues to blow me away. It's without question my favorite horror movie of the previous decade (which is called what, exactly? The Ohs? The oughts?), a horror film where all of the elements - acting, writing, direction - are firing on all cylinders. As with the previous movies, it's done in "short" form, with a series of six segments making up the flick's 90-some minute running time, but MUCH moreso than the direct-to-video "Curse" films, this is a movie where all of those parts add up to one unbelievable, cohesive WHOLE, better than any other movie in the nine-film franchise.
Another thing that leapt out at me a few days ago (as it has before) is just how LITTLE Takako Fuji is onscreen in this one. It's funny; Japanese audiences had to be expecting something pretty epic when the announcement came that these two cult favorite V-cinema films were being given the big bucks to make a fully-loaded theatrical movie, complete with all the production values and CGI you could ask for. No doubt they expected Kayako transforming special effects-driven monstrosities, bringing victims into some sort of web with her tentacles of doom, and whatever other crap I cam come up with running off three hours of sleep. Instead...she's shown INCREDIBLY sparingly, usually only for the money shots. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the scariest cat in all of horrordom Toshio actually has MORE screen time than the all-time J-horror queen in this one. Most unexpected, and most effective.
Nope, what we get with "Ju-On: The Grudge" is a STORY, and that story is told in separate parts all adding up to one hell of an emotional wallop finale. The plot threads are separate but equal: Rika Nishina (Megumi Okina) is your Sarah Michelle Gellar character, the poor doomed caregiver who pays the visit to the house of death; we get the husband-wife-mother familial unit also cribbed for the first American remake, along with a sister who gets the movie's single best sequence; and there's the tragic case of the original Saeki murders' investigator, which picks up several years down the line.
Let's take a look at the segments that make up "Ju-On: The Grudge"...Rika: As mentioned, this is your star character, and the inspiration for SMG's Karen Davis character. As played by Okina, she's sweet and charming, completely innocent and undeserving of the death sentence she walks into. The segment is classic "Ju-On" slow burn, all building up to the first reveal of Kayako - but not in the form we're used to.
Katsuya: This part is a double whammy; the main DEATH in this segment is Kazumi, the wife of Katsuya (a businessman). The Tokunaga family - complete with a mute mother-in-law who stays up till all hours of the night - make up the current residents of the ol' Saeki abode, meaning that their lease on life isn't very long. There's two great jump scares in this segment, along with yet more slow burn leading to the next chapter.
Hitomi: Oh yeah - my favorite chapter in the entire "Ju-On" saga, right here. ALSO cribbed for "The Grudge," Hitomi (Misaki Ito) is Katsuya's sister who had just arrived at their household at the end of the previous segment. No developments here - just one long execution, as both Kayako and Toshio pursue, torment, and eventually get this scared-to-death (and again, wholly innocent) victim. Awesome stuff.
Toyama: While it's a sort of sigh of relief after Hitomi's story, this one really kicks you in the nuts emotionally. Years after the original incident, Detective Toyama (Yoji Tanaka) is still haunted by the case of the Saeki murders. He has read the reports of the deaths cropping up, all with the house as the impetus, and resolves to burn the damn thing to the ground - of course, with disastrous results...Izumi: At this point, the movie flashes forward several years. Toyama's daughter - a little girl in the last segment - is now in her teenage years. It was shown in the "Toyama" chapter that Izumi and her friends entered the Saeki house on a dare. This segment is similar to the "Hitomi" chapter, although it might be even scarier, because the extent that the curse has effected Izumi's life is shown in detail. Hell, this girl plasters newspapers on her walls - not to avoid looking out, but to stop things from looking IN.
Kayako: And this is where it all comes together. In the same time frame as the "Izumi" segment, we are shown Rika, several years after the incident at the Saeki house. She appears carefree and enjoying life, and then the things that haunted her several years ago come back. Tender, tragic, and emotional, this ending is pure perfection, and also gives us a very cool big-budget recreation of the "Kayako crawls down the stairs" sequence in the ONLY scene in this movie with a clear camera shot of Takako Fuji in the role!
Finally, there's that CLASSIC ending montage, showing one "MISSING" poster, and then another, and then another...and then the empty streets of Tokyo...Overall, I can't say enough good about this film. It continues to amaze me every time I watch it, not only for its scare scenes, but its sense of FOCUS that is truly rare among J-horror films, and MOVIES in general. Writer-director Shimizu, given a large budget and stellar cast, could have settled for a cooler-looking version of "Ju-On: The Curse." Instead, we get a story that builds to a true heart-breaker of an ending, and the conviction - the feelilng that Shimizu KNEW what he was trying to accomplish with every scene and shot - shines through in vivid color. As such, this movie is absolutely essential for horror fans, and I wouldn't NOT recommend it to movie fans at large either!
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