Noroi: The Curse

"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.

For better or worse, found footage is the punk rock of film genres. Purposely rejecting the lavish possibilities of polished professionalism in favour of a gritty, distorted mess that celebrates it's own flaws. Noroi: The Curse dives head first into the style, delivering all sorts of shaky, grainy scenes. It's not enough for them to include sequences from imaginary public access shows, but they go out of their way to degrade the video quality until it looks like a 5th generation VHS copy of a copy, and several chilling moments stem from purposeful digital glitches. The technical errors are the art form itself.

In many ways, this works well, as the film manages to skirt past many horror tropes while still finding effective ways to make your skin crawl. It keeps a lot of tragic implications off screen, keeping to a "tell don't show" ethos and never resorting to cheap jump scares. It's impact rides on well established realism and a lot of subtly creepy imagery.

Where the whole format becomes difficult to swallow is in how many traditional film elements have been left behind. Things that can elevate a cinematic experience like cinematography or music cues are largely discarded to serve the mockumentary form. I understand why this was necessary, but I can ultimately only take so many of these things before I start to miss having a nice score pulling on my heartstrings.

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.

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.