Noroi: A Lenda de Kagutaba

I can't praise this film enough. It had a lot of that hand-held, first-person shaking camera which I love (and some hate, because it makes them sick), like REC, Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project.

It is a long movie for its kind, but I didn't even notice because the film was so interesting. By just showing the footage from a paranormal reporter's work the movie keeps up the pace, making it a real-time experience for the viewer.

While I would never call this film the "scariest horror ever made", I'd have to say it's certainly one of the best I've seen. The fear factor here is constructed by details in the images, camera glitches, events linked to one another which lend a very mysterious and haunting tone to the movie. The horror is more in what is not shown, but left to our imaginations. The ending is perfect, and be warned that you might have nightmares afterwards. A second viewing is highly recommended, though.

Watch this one alone in the dark, don't expect anything and you'll have fun.

Kobayashi is a documentary filmmaker who is fascinated by the paranormal. Always looking for new cases to document, he and his cameraman begin investigating a series of freakish events that are seemingly unrelated. To say that he finds more than he bargained for would be an understatement.

Rather than Blair Witch, this one reminded me of The Last Broadcast due to all the different footage involved. There's a sinister atmosphere from the start, but the film manages to be quite funny at times through it's use of stupid variety show footage. If you're familiar with these shows, you know how ripe for lampooning they really are. The storyline itself is quite complex, particularly for the hand-held sub-genre. There are multiple strands and a deep mythology to interpret. It also isn't your typical Asian horror with long-haired ghosts, thank goodness. Instead, we get some legitimate scares through mood and build-up. When we see the flier that says a key character has gone missing, it's enough to give you a chill all on it's own thanks to what we've seen beforehand. There are also a few choice scenes that will stay with you. The two scenes that got the biggest reaction out of me both revolved around Marika, a likable actress who gets caught up in the occurrences through an on location TV shoot. The first involves going back to the tapes and catching something in the frame with her, the second has her losing control in Kobayashi's house as pigeons smash into the window.

The mystery at the film's core is intriguing to watch unfold. At 115 minutes, the film is never boring and it doesn't feel too long. Big compliment, as hand-held horror typically works better when it's short and to the point.

Released at the tail end of the J-Horror boom, Noroi is not quite a masterpiece like Ringu (1998), Kairo (2001), and Ju-On (2002). Nonetheless, it is a rare example, and almost certainly the best example, of a found footage movie from the heyday of Japanese horror in the late 90's through mid 00's.

Noroi is a remarkably intricate mockumentary about a journalist's investigation of a series of strange occurrences linked to a folk demon called Kagutaba. In fact, it may be a little too intricate for its own good, and the stream of eccentric characters and disparate video clips threatens to overwhelm us viewers. But critically, Noroi manages to carefully build the creepiness factor and unleash some truly hair-raising scares when the time is right. These scares are mostly of the "supernatural events that are only visible when reviewing video camera footage" variety, and although that is one of the more ridiculous clichés in modern horror, it is extremely effective in the right hands, as it is in Lake Mungo (2008) and here in Noroi.

My only real criticism is that about 50% of the plot is explained in a few perfunctory sentences of narration right at the end, inserted as if the filmmakers had finished the movie and then realized that almost nothing was satisfactorily resolved or explained. I don't necessarily mind baffling movies (Kairo for example is almost completely incomprehensible if you haven't seen the inferior American remake), but as Noroi is based entirely on the investigation of a mystery, I feel like it kind of dropped the ball a little bit right at the end, even with the shoehorned narration.

Found footage seems to be a particularly personal thing when it comes to being terrified; millions (including me) consider The Blair Witch Project (1999) the most frightening movie of all time, while millions of other people think Blair Witch is some kind of joke, and Paranormal Activity (2007) is where the real scares are. Whether Noroi will scare the crap out of you or not is hard to predict, but there is little doubt that this is good stuff. Worth any horror fan's time.

"Noroi" is a found-footage horror film that follows the story of a documentary filmmaker who becomes increasingly obsessed with a mysterious cult and paranormal phenomena. The film is known for its unsettling atmosphere, eerie imagery, and slow-burn approach to horror. The film's controversial found-footage style adds an extra layer of realism to the already tense narrative, making the viewer feel as though they are part of the story.

If you know that you can handle the unconventional "found footage" narrative, then you're in for a treat. With its use of sound and visuals, the movie successfully creates a sense of tension and dread. The film's central mystery of the cult and its sinister dealings is both intriguing and chilling, keeping viewers glued to the screen until the very end, as long as they are okay with this format.

Great found footage with some exceptional standout sequences. The documentary within documentary style puts you off balance from the start and at times you are wondering from who's perspective you are watching. It is maybe slightly too long but overall one of the best found footage I've seen.