The Rage and Fury Omnibus, Part VIII: This is the end, my only friend, the end...

OK, first things first...there are, in fact, two more movies in the "Ju-On/Grudge" franchise. I will, however, not be covering these films in this he-ah omnibus. Why, you ask? Well, laziness, for the most part. These films just came into my possession a few months ago, at which point I posted them as Horror Nerd Cinema Bonuses. My short, short review - these flicks, while not directed by Shimizu and not featuring Takako Fuji, are pretty friggin' good, and definitely worth your time if you've got some spare change and a region-free DVD player. If you just can't go on living without some of my patented hard-hitting analysis, here you go:

http://ihrregistry.blogspot.com/2010/05/horror-nerd-dvd-bonus-ju-on-white-ghost.html

OK, now that all the movies are out of the way, I figured I'd end this little self-indulgent manifesto by posting a few thoughts on just what I find so appealing about this series. There's evidence to the contrary on a few message boards that the Horror Nerd may or may not frequent, but "Ju-On/Grudge" enjoys a very deep grassroots fandom. Just like the people who can quote every word that Bruce Campbell utters in Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" trilogy, there are a number of diehard Saeki clan fanboys/girls who can likely name every chapter in the Japanese series in chronological order. And if you have no idea what that last sentence is all about, you either (a) haven't been reading my blog, dammit! (b) aren't a fan of "Ju-On."

The first complaint I hear from people who dislike this series is that it's the same as every other J-horror film. Nothing could be further from the truth. "Ju-On" is so utterly unique within the confines of not only J-horror, but the horror genre itself. I could probably be proven wrong by some absolutely godly horror fan with encyclopedic knowledge, but the Japanese movies in the "Ju-On" franchise are the only horror films I can think of that use the "Chapter jump" structure, linking between not only different events in the same films, but within the larger framework of the series. Whoa, what was that all about?

Screw all the intellectualism, if you want badass villains, this is the place to be. Nowadays, we're used to seeing horror movies with emo bad guys, usually with some unnecessarily tragic back story that's meant to make us blur the lines between good and evil. This plot dynamic has even snuck into the holy trilogy of horror movie villains, as Rob Zombie haphazardly gave Michael Myers an incredibly dumb and cliched troubled childhood. This year's "Nightmare on Elm Street" remake devoted a lot of time to the notion that Freddy may have, in fact, been FRAMED for the molestation that got him lynched by the angry mob. And Platinum Dunes' "TCM" reboots? Ugh, just ugh.

Not so here. The characters of Kayako and Toshio most assuredly met a violent end, sure, and are sympathetic on some level. The films, however, show us none of this; their pasts exist only as legend. What we see of them are their actions; how they genuinely enjoy not only killing their victims, but scaring the ever-loving s**t out of them beforehand. Most importantly, they're also played by supremely talented people in each and every film, with Takako Fuji and Yuya Ozeki serving as the embodiment of evil.

If these pictures from Deviantart aren't evidence enough, people tend to make a strange connection with pure evil played extremely well. In much the same manner that Robert Englund became a household name in the '80s playing a child-molesting, burn-scarred supervillain, Takako Fuji enjoys similar levels of superstardom in her native Japan for playing the perfect J-horror killing machine. Sociologists fail to explain this phenomenon, but it's there, and nobody can deny it. Give us an unrepentant monster, the absolute biggest, baddest force that nobody in a series of films can even hope to contend with, and we will get behind them. The "Ju-On" and "Grudge" series did this extremely well. Hell, it wasn't until the American "Grudge 3" that there was even a HINT that Kayako was beatable, let alone killable. And yeah, I know that ain't a real word, spellcheck, but suck it.

The end-all, be-all of this manifesto, however, is that this entire series was the result of the conviction of one Mr. Takashi Shimizu, a guy that I hold the utmost level of respect for. "Ju-On" was his baby that he nursed from a small segment on a Japanese horror anthology show, and saw blossom into a horror juggernaut on two continents throughout the first decade of the 21st century. It survived re-castings, remakes, retreads and that truly strange third U.S. film to post two new entries just one summer ago. And while Shimizu hasn't been involved in the series since 2006's "The Grudge 2," he has stated in the past that after he has accomplished other goals in his native Japan, he is interested in filming "Ju-On 3" for Japanese audiences - WITH Fuji back in tow. Of course, this reporter is still hoping for the ultimate dream project that would send not only myself but the many dedicated "Ju-On/Grudge" fans into a collective nerdgasm...

...Wait for it...

"Grudge 3D."

Just imagine that for a moment, will you? The movie series that had the jump scare perfected like no other, with the ability to leap its villains out at the crowd in ways that succeeded in making the audience gasp and let out a breath of fresh air like no other, in live, vivid 3D. A Kayako crawling right off the screen at the viewer, Toshio popping up in the most inopportune places, and any other number of ways for the group of cursed characters to meet their doom - all in living, breathing three-dimensions of glory.

Of course, I know that this is nothing more than a pipe dream at this point. It hasn't even been rumored, let alone talked about. However...there is a "Ring 3D" coming out sooner or later. If that does well, life could possibly be injected into this project, as "Ring" was the series that duked it out with "Ju-On" for supreme J-horror rulership throughout much of the late '90s and early '00s. Thus, what we as horror fans all need to do is attend "Ring 3D," preferably multiple times, to ensure that this happens and ensure that the Horror Nerd can die a very happy man.

This is the end...my friend. The end of the Rage and Fury Omnibus, and the end of me waxing rhapsodically about Kayako, doomed families, guys named Takashi and Taka, and meandering chapter structure. I'd say more about how much I love "Ju-On/Grudge," but after eight posts exclusively about this subject, I don't want to think about it for a good long while.

Happy Friday the 13th!!