Japanese Ju-on Series Part Three

JU-ON: THE BEGINNING OF THE END

(2014)

Dir - Masayuki Ochiai

Overall: MEH

 

Just as unnecessary as a reboot as it is a sequel, Ju-on: The Beginning of the End, (Ju-on: Owari no Hajimari), retells the same series of events in the same manner as Takashi Shimizu's 2000 SOV original and its many other follow-ups.  The seventh Japanese installment thus far, (not counting the three American versions), renowned J-horror writer/director Masayuki Ochiai takes the helm, staging a number of predictable vignettes inside of the cursed Saeki haunted house where the creepy underwear ghost with a bowl cut and the one that makes loud creaky noises while crawling around all spider-like take turns with their inevitable appearances.  The redundant nature of the franchise is not helped by a low-end, flatly digital presentation which though comparatively more polished than the initial style that Shimizu utilized for budgetary constraints, does little to rejuvenate an already stale formula.  With no new narrative avenues to explore, exclusively underwritten characters, and the particular set pieces being more arbitrary in nature than ever, Ochiai is left to merely kick more sand around in a limited sandbox.  Even if some of them are awkwardly silly, at least there are a small handful of striking visual moments, particularly in the final sequence which finally kicks some much-needed yet still superfluous life into the proceedings.

JU-ON: THE FINAL CURSE

(2015)

Dir - Masayuki Ochiai

Overall: MEH

 

A direct sequel to the previous year's Ju-on: The Beginning of the End from filmmaker Masayuki Ochiai, Ju-on: The Final Curse, (Ju-on -Za Fainaru), is comparatively more meandering than its immediate predecessor, which unfortunately also comes at the cost of memorable set pieces.  We pick up with a fresh crop of characters, (some of whom are related to the one's that have previously been seen), yet this hardly matters as none of them are interesting and their only purpose seems to be as fodder for more interchangeable supernatural occurrences.  Both of the Saeki spectre's get ample screen time for this round and they arrive in the most random of fashions.  Per example, Kayako's creaking ghost lady can appear in front of any character that she wishes, only for her to have to creep outside of a barricaded door long enough for people to exchange potent dialog with each other.  Such examples are many and the reasonable ninety-minute running time feels twice as long under the derivative strain of it all.  Director Ochiai still has the good sense to keep the mood on the dread-fueled side, but he and producer/co-screenwriter Takashige Ichise's story is arguably the most humdrum in the series.  Of course, no horror fan on the planet can be fooled by the "final" word in the title as this would hardly be the last Ju-on movie to get unleashed, with more on the way from both sides of the Pacific.

SADAKO VS. KAYAKO

(2016)

Dir - Kōji Shiraishi

Overall: MEH

"My curse and your curse will fight.  Its the only way to save our lives".  Such a silly sentiment sits at the heart of the inevitable and gimmicky crossover Sadako vs. Kayako, (Sadako bāsasu Kayako), which brings both the Ringu and Ju-on franchises together in lackluster fashion.  With someone like writer/ director Kōji Shiraishi at the helm, (who granted does his best work in the found footage avenue, which neither one of these properties have ever ventured into), one may think that he could concoct something that at least leaned into its doofiness more.  Instead, the movie plays such an inescapably schlocky premise straight, creating zero menace or atmospheric tension in the process, though try as it does.  While the pairing of each singular story line makes as much sense as could be expected once two expert ghost-hunting supernatural psychic occult experts have the logical idea to pit the title ghosts against each other in order to cancel themselves out, it takes until the last act for this to happen.  Everything that comes before is simply a rehash of set pieces that we have seen in each enterprise dozens of times.  Also, everybody makes sure to stand extra still in order for the vengeance spirits to get them, the girl from Ringu's well just happens to be in the backyard of the Saeki haunted house for convenience's sake, and then a big CGI tree monster happens.

Japanese Ju-on Series Part Two

JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2

(2003)

Dir - Takashi Shimizu

Overall: MEH

More of the same except the same, Ju-on: The Grudge 2 would end up being the last Japanese installment of the franchise from its creator Takashi Shimizu, who would immediately cross the Pacific to helm the first two American remakes as well.  Still told out of order, still revolving around the same contemporary haunted abode, still featuring the long-haired/creaky-noised/mascara and blood-covered female specter, still featuring the pale blue boy specter in his underwear, and still a rinse and repeat series of spooky set pieces, the effects of such a structure inevitably wear thin with what is now the forth time around.  By changing so little, an air of redundancy reigns paramount since there is no mystery to solve and no further supernatural details either necessary or delivered that expand on what is purposely a simple vengeful spirit story whose singular goal is to go for balls-out creepiness.  In this respect though, Shimizu is still skilled enough to make the gradual pace and relentlessly dread-fueled tone work to his favor, crafting some moments that should cause goosebumps to appear for anyone new to the series.  For the rest of us though, there is nothing new to see here.

JU-ON: WHITE GHOST

(2009)

Dir - Ryuta Miyake

Overall: MEH

Some new blood and new narratives were taken after a several year break in Japan at least for the next two, simultaneous installments in the Ju-on series which were released simultaneously to mark the franchise's tenth anniversary.  First up is writer/director Ryuta Miyake's Ju-on: White Ghost, which like its companion film Ju-on: Black Ghost, clocks in at just sixty minutes and features a whole new setting and backstory around the rageful specters that curse everyone who interacts with them.  Though the Toshio Saeki ghost boy makes a cameo here, (awkwardly since it is played for laughs and arrives immediately after a scene that directly implies child molestation, yuck), the reoccurring granny spirit is a ridiculous-looking old crone who is wearing the slasher killer mask from Richard Ciupka's 1983 movie Curtains and likes to play with a basketball for no reason.  Miyake had plenty of horror experience on the small screen before this, which makes him ideally suited to work within the low-budget, minimalist mode that hearkens back to Shimizu's first two SOV installments that kick-started the whole shebang.  Still, the results are more goofy than creepy and there have been a plethora of imitators that have come in the decade since the first Ju-on: The Curse, making this intentional homage something that is neither unique nor necessary.

JU-ON: BLACK GHOST

(2009)

Dir - Mari Asato

Overall: MEH

The second of two anniversary films for the Ju-on franchise, Ju-on: Black Ghost, (Juon: Kuroi Shōjo), is just as formulaic as the concurrently released Ju-on: White Ghost, but if fares better due to a more inventive plot that jettisons the entire haunted house idea for an unborn fetus with a vendetta one.  While it may introduce a significant enough tweak for the series, there is still nothing here that will not be predictable to seasoned genre fans, since it simply recycles the age ole "one good twin, one bad twin" motif, only fitting into the anachronistic structure of these particular J-horror entries.  This creaky-voiced ghost is all ashy in color, yet we are never given a reason why besides simply assuming that it needed to look that way in order to justify the title.  This is made doubly head-scratching since the main focus is on the aforementioned, unbirthed sibling that causes all sorts of despair in order to take over its sister's body, prompting the usual curse shenanigans as well as resulting in a bizarre exorcism ceremony where a young girl's stomach swells up as a creepy face.  Director Mari Asato does her best within a framework that she has no choice but to adhere to and there are one or two effective jolts here or there, but most of the spooky bits arrive with an unceremonious whimper.  It seems like there was a better, singular movie lurking here instead of one that had to have a Grudge, but for what it is, it came out as well as could be hoped.

Japanese Ju-on Series Part One

JU-ON: THE CURSE

(2000)

Dir - Takashi Shimizu

Overall: GOOD

The first in about a seven-hundred deep series of Ju-On/Grudge properties, Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On: The Curse, (Juon), sets the template and delivers some chilling spookiness despite its SOV aesthetic.  Followed by Ju-On: The Curse 2 which was released the same year and spent nearly half of its running time simply re-telling the same events of this movie, Shimizu establishes the haunted Saeki home, its two pale/crackling/cat-meowing ghosts, and the disjointed narrative gimmick.  Told in six, out of sequence segments, the pacing lags behind in a few spots as the movie lingers in its eerie tone, but the still atmosphere only enhances the supernatural elements which helped solidify certain J-horror motifs that have flourished ever since.  Along with Hideo Nakata's comparatively more polished Ringu adaptation, this was the film to contemporize the age-old relentless vengeful spirit, setting it at a modern, unassuming home that can attach itself to and terrorize anyone who comes in contact with it.

JU-ON: THE CURSE 2

(2000)

Dir - Takashi Shimizu

Overall: MEH

As a stand-alone viewing experience, Ju-on: The Curse 2, (Ju-on 2), is a missed opportunity as the first thirty minutes are taken right out of its predecessor from the same year.  That leaves only about forty-odd minutes of singular material here which serves merely as a continuation of the first film since it is identical in structure and its SOV presentation.  Assuming that director Takashi Shimizu maybe had too much footage to make an agreeably-lengthed debut, (or that the production personnel thought that they could maximize profits by releasing two movies instead of one), the resulting companion piece here may be half pointless if still adequate at delivering the lo-fi chills.  The new chapters do not do anything to deepen the mythos, but they do provide a handful of spooky moments such as a ghost popping out from under a guy's chair, several of them banging on the windows of a school, one projected onto a ceiling, and a women pummeling her nagging husband with a frying pan out of nowhere, (a gag that Jennifer Beals would get to revisit in Shimizu's 2006 American remake The Grudge 2).

JU-ON: THE GRUDGE

(2002)

Dir - Takashi Shimizu

Overall: MEH

While the initial entry into the Ju-On series Ju-On: The Curse was a fun, low-budget, shot-on-digital-video experiment with an interesting, out-of-sequence presentation that manged to surpass its technical and narrative limitations with a consistently eerie mood, the third installment in as many years Ju-on: The Grudge sees writer/director Takashi Shimizu just recycling the exact same structure with little if anything new added to the proceedings.  Everyone we meet is doomed and the death rattle-croaking, bent over, wide-eyed and pale Saeki specters still primarily hang out in the same attic and climb down the same stet of stairs on all fours while people collapse and wait for them to easily catch up.  The movie is so identical to the proceeding ones as to qualify as a remake, giving it an air of pointlessness that is unfortunate.  On the other hand though, this is the first in the series to benefit visually from an actual budget, so for anyone who is taken out of the proceedings of the first two installments due to both of them being SOV movies, this is a better place to start.