Ju-on: Black Ghost

JU-ON: BLACK GHOST is a short Japanese horror film, a follow-up to the earlier two GRUDGE movies and a film made back-to-back with JU-ON: WHITE GHOST. I watched WHITE GHOST previously and it was much the better film: the plot held together better, there were many reasons to watch, and it was pretty spooky. BLACK GHOST by comparison doesn't have much going for it.

The story once again revolves around the long-haired ghost from the original, and as in WHITE GHOST the narrative plays out as a series of vignettes involving different but linked characters. Sadly, the whole is a lot less than the sum of the parts here. The main haunted characters are a mother and daughter; a second child died in the womb and is now possessed by the original angry ghost spirit which is looking for revenge.

The performances are okay, but this film looks really cheap and the scares are too well telegraphed in advance. Saying that, there is one great effects scene at the climax involving a distended stomach, the one decent moment in the film in fact; a shame that more of it couldn't have been like that.

The Japanese short (1 hr) horror films Ju-On: White Ghost/Ju: On Black Ghost were both released on 27th June 2009 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the start of the Ju-On (Grudge) franchise. White Ghost was directed by Ryuta Miyake and Black Ghost by Mari Asato. Each film deals with the massacre of a family by what turns out to be supernatural means (the events of White Ghost are fleetingly referenced at the beginning of Black Ghost), but other than that they are unrelated to each other. And be warned - they are in that trademark Ju-On non-linear style of storytelling, so piecing together what happens can be a challenge if you fancy it (or just look at the Wikipedia entries for each film - they summarise the events for both chronologically).

White Ghost is easily the better of the two. The story's actually pretty deep, and deals with (amongst other things) the sexual abuse of a child. It also has a fantastic and gory third act and one of the creepiest openings ever for a haunted house movie (the cake delivery).

Black Ghost starts off well but never really achieves the level of creepiness of White Ghost. It also doesn't help that some of the adult female characters look so similar (it does, however, have the stunning Kana Tsugihara in a small role near the beginning).

White Ghost and Black Ghost both have some well-shot and atmospheric scenes, but White Ghost utilises them better - and has a much better payoff.

White Ghost -- 8/10, Black Ghost -- 6/10.

I am a fan of the Ju-On series. Seen all four of the previous Japanese movies and all three American versions. This I must say is the worst I've seen (haven't seen Shiroi Rôjo yet). It's plain generic Asian horror. Nothing to do with the rest of the Ju-On series. Toshio appears in a scene but it's just tucked in. No relation to the plot at all. Then there's Kayako's signature noise every now and then, but also for no reason at all. I also couldn't find any climactic moments or the constantly tense ambient in the other movies. After 6 years without anything happening with the series, and now these two movies being released to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary, one would expect them to be something special. Unfortunately, they're not. Truly a sad disappointment.

I found the movie to be mediocre, it could've just been released a year later instead of in the same year. The scares were okay but it just wasn't that scary enough. Not an awful movie but not a great one either. The rattling sound effects were a little annoying.

This film is not extraordinary in any way. With that said, I still believe it's worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of the Ju On series. While I understand that some might be a little disappointed that the surrounding lore of the series isn't very present at all in this film,I found it as something of a plus. As someone who has no history with this film series, coming into this one blind, I was afraid that this film would be heavily reliant on the surrounding lore of its universe. So I was happy to see that everything was easy to understand. While, of course, I would never, in good faith, recommend someone make their first foray into a film series by starting in the middle (save for the Star Wars series) I don't think this is necessarily a bad film to help introduce someone to this series.

This film isn't the scariest I've ever seen. There were only a couple moments which I thought were unsettling, but I can't match the sentiment of some other who have said that this is sillier than it is scary since I don't think there is much silliness in this film at all, but your mileage may vary. Humor and horror is all subjective so keep that in mind.

The performances are pretty good, especially the performance for Fukie. There is only one moment towards the end where I felt things got a little campy but for the vast majority of the film the acting if fine.

The film's run time is very short, and for western audiences it might feel too short as it is not even an hour long. But the film is surprisingly well-paced and the use of the short amount of time it takes up is surprisingly great. It does what it needs to do, there's hardly any filler, and it feels substantial-everything you're shown is important in some way.

The biggest issue with this film is that it simply doesn't leave too much of an impression. It's fun while watching it but you're not going to be thinking much of it shortly afterwards, and I think that's the biggest fault in this film. It exists, I think, mainly to give more Ju On content regardless of how little of it it might have to offer. I think that's why this film has such a middling reputation and I can't help but match the sentiment of that critique. It's not badly made, it's not offensive, it's not even bad, it's just a semi-forgettable romp that's only really engaging in the moment you're experiencing it.