Ju-on: O Grito

It's hard for me to actually be frightened by movies. They have to be realistic in a way that I could believe it would happen to me, and this film "Ju-On: The Grudge" is one realistic movie. This is a haunted house tale with a twist, nothing like "The Changeling," "The Innocents," or films of that caliber, this movie is haunting on a higher level. Everyone who comes in contact with the house gets attacked by the blue ghost of a boy who's mother was murdered. The ghosts in this movie are very realistic and very scary. Definitely recommended.

"Ju-On, The Grudge" is not an easy movie to find in America (or at least it wasn't when I first wrote this review) , and after hearing it hyped to the heavens in magazines such as Fangoria and Rue Morgue, and by word of mouth as well, I knew I had to see it. I finally tracked it down in LA and watched it the very first chance I got to do so.

Ju-On is a chapter story about a haunted house in a Tokyo suburb. The film begins when an inexperienced social worker shows up at the house and comes face to face with the horror within. The story jumps around from past to present, its chapters focusing on one character at a time until it has come full circle. Everyone unwise enough to enter the cursed house winds up dead, the haunting spreading like a virus. It seems that a terrible murder once took place in this house and the rage surrounding the act of violence has spawned its own evil curse. To enter the house is to be immediately infected and the haunting follows people home, driving them to near madness before dragging them away, never to be seen again.

Ju-On bears more than a passing resemblance to its popular predecessor "Ringu" and is nowhere near as frightening, but it's not a bad film by any means. Butchered mother-ghost Kayako is very Sadako-like, crawling around with her long black hair in her face and moving with unearthly jerkiness. Her blue-white face is quite startling with its huge staring eyes and occasional splashes of blood. Her ghost son, Toshio, is both sad and frightening, appearing both as a normal boy and a pale, wide-eyed ghost. Many of the films most frightening sequences feature the murdered woman Kayako: her head full of black hair peeking around a corner, her shadow moving down a corridor and filling a security camera, a head-on shot of her crawling through an attic at night with only the beam of a flashlight illuminating her. The sound effects are quite disturbing as well and the performances are convincingly well done.

I wasn't as scared by this movie as had been promised I would be, but that's what happens when you buy into the hype. I was simply expecting too much, and I got a pretty good ghost story instead. Ju-On is good. It's not great, but it's a decent, straightforward ghost story with more than enough scary moments to please most horror fans. Ringu was scarier, but Ju-On is a noble effort. Like most Asian horror stories, it remains ambiguous and open-ended, leaving room for both a sequel and the chance for you to decide for yourself what the curse of The Grudge really is.

7 out of 10 stars.

I saw the American remake before seeing "Ju On" and had mixed feelings about it. After seeing this original Japanese film, I can't really say that it is much better. Actually, I'd even say that the remake was more effective in terms of atmosphere. This original has the better story, and the audience isn't slapped in the face with a stupid "root" as they are in "The Grudge" (although, maybe that is fleshed out in the other "Ju On" movies, which I have not seen). The chronology play was interesting and fresh, but this is so important to the director, then there should have been more inclusion of time indicators. After awhile, the movie gets really boring--different people being haunted and attacked by the same ghosts in the same way, over and over again. I realize this is the point of the movie, but it doesn't make for a very entertaining time. My Rating: 6/10.

A Japanese horror film part of an ongoing series. A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.

I cannot believe I've never seen this film until now, seeing as Asian horror is my thing! I haven't seen the two shorter films before this one, but it didn't feel like it was necessary anyway. I followed the story throughout, even with its non-linear storytelling. I love ghost story films and I really enjoyed this film! It's atmosphere was perfectly done and it was definitely giving me shivers down my spine at parts. It didn't need jumpscares, it had tension.

The multiple story lines made the film so interesting! If it was just one character experiencing these terrifying hauntings happening it wouldn't of flowed so well. It felt really fast, which is good because too much tension can grow to be boring. The acting was all really well done as well! In the American remake (I know, we don't talk about it but I will anyway) it just didn't flow as well. The fact that it was Americanized with it's casting ruined it from the start, but this felt authentic. So I won't be checking out any of the American sequels, seeing as the original remake was lackluster.

I also have no real drive to watch the sequels to this film, though I may watch them just out of curiosity if it's just the same story over and over again.

I remember when the American version came out everyone was saying how trash it was and that the original was soo scary! They lied.

I found it an enjoyable enough film but the story is unnecessarily convoluted. I did kind of wish it was scarier though!