By Chris Hyde
August 27, 2003
Though the Wes Craven remake of Kairo now seems to have been scuttled,
post-Ring Hollywood remakes of Asian horror films are still a fairly hot
Hollywood commodity. One such film is Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On: The Grudge,
an eerie property destined to eventually show up in a domestic form at a
theater near you.
The director of this horror piece is a former student of the Film School of
Tokyo who has worked under the tutelage of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Kairo, Kyua)
and Hiroshi Takahashi (screenwriter of The Ring). The Ju-On series
initially made its debut in a straight-to-video format during the year
2000, with the director cranking out two episodes that were successful
enough on the small screen to allow for theatrical versions to be made. To
confuse things just slightly, these video versions of Ju-On and Ju-On 2
actually form the basis of the celluloid film Ju-On: The Grudge, while the
cinematic Ju-On 2 continues the story further. But whatever its other
manifestations, this first take of Ju-On to be made for the cinema proves
an unsettling trip into the off-kilter world of the beyond.
In Japanese cultural tradition there are ghosts known as onryou, who are
vengeful spirits that haunt the real world. In Ju-on these apparitions are
the result of a horrible crime glimpsed briefly in the credit sequence,
shortly after the film has declared: "JU-ON: a curse born of a grudge held
by someone who dies in the grip of powerful angers. It gathers in the
places frequented by that person in life, working its spell on those who
come into contact with it and thus creating itself anew.” Thus, after a
violent father butchers his unsuspecting family (even including the cat),
the young wife's vindictive spirit holds on to retaliate against anyone who
comes into contact with the evil place that was the site of this terrible
crime.
Yet it isn't only the wife's spirit that returns to walk the world anew; in
fact, the whole family reappears as ghosts to torment those who visit this
cursed place. Ju-on's story unfolds as a series of vignettes, each of
which center on a particular person who may fall victim to the onryou as
they come into contact with the house's ghostly inhabitants. The film
continuously delivers a succession of scary and threatening moments from
the very first, as the introduced characters confront the horror visited
upon them by these hate-filled denizens looking to wreak their vengeance
upon the living.
Viewers who are hung up on the finer intricacies of plot detail and who
demand explanations for the actions of characters onscreen will likely find
themselves befuddled by the director's approach with Ju-on: The
Grudge. The emphasis here is certainly not fixed on tightly controlling
the story details -- instead, a pervasive eerie tone and offbeat mood rule
the day. Characters get introduced and then just as quickly are dispatched
by the onryou; the chronology is confused so that the viewer is often
unsure where in time a segment stands; odd events are glimpsed tangentially
so that the threads which connect them are blurred and hazy. But what it
all ultimately adds up to is a stylish and alarming trip into the
supernatural that is utterly satisfying as long as one isn't too concerned
with the more delicate machinations of the tale.
Director Shimizu should be praised for the capable, moody manner in which
the chilling events develop during this original entry to the horror
genre. The film is filled with creepy moments that are designed to
terrify: a black-eyed, pallid young boy scampers into corners and peeks out
from darkened closets; black cats yowl with fear and turn up in broad
daylight to surprise their victims; telephone calls echo with the creaky
rumblings of wayward ghosts looking to have their cold revenge. Throughout
all this the cinematography and lighting are handled so that they have the
maximum impact, setting a minor key feel that gives the movie a pervasive
sense of affright. Also helpful to the film's success is the high quality
acting of most of the cast, which renders believable many set pieces that
might otherwise play as completely absurd rather than fear inducing.
Undoubtedly, it'll be interesting to see how this movie is translated into
the Hollywood milieu once the remake is completed for a domestic
audience. One suspects that much of the puzzling, surreal atmosphere that
lends the Japanese Ju-on its eccentric air will be replaced by the sort of
coherent, hit-you-over-the-head explanation that North American audiences
seem to demand. But hopefully the transition can be made as smoothly as
was done with the very successful Ring film, where the story was brought
into a format acceptable to such viewers without completely sacrificing the
flavor of the original. However, it also wouldn't be completely surprising
to have the same fate befall this remake as happened to the Kairo (aka
Pulse) remake, where the studio ultimately decided the outing was too
similar to that Gore Verbinski project and eventually shut down
production. Still, rumor has it that principal photography for the
Hollywood Ju-on should begin sometime in September, so with any luck
perhaps things are now too far along to have the idea fall apart completely.
But whatever the ultimate outcome of the domestic remake, viewers can rest
assured that this original Japanese film version of Ju-On: The Grudge
stands in its own right as a powerful and interesting contribution to the
horror genre. Its entire length is filled with stylish, scary sequences
and if the viewer is willing to simply go along with the outlandish
development of the plot, the film exists as a pure and frightening
pleasure. Additionally, it's always instructive to see the properties that
Hollywood vacuums up for reconstruction in their original form prior to the
unveiling of the domestic version. For while the world may at times appear
to be closing in quickly on monoculture, it's obvious that there still
remain major differences in approach that surface in the way a story is
handled by a particular country's film industry. So, if you should happen
to get a chance to catch a glimpse of Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On: The Grudge
(and attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival should note that
a print will be shown at this year's upcoming shindig) before it shows up
in megaplex form, the suggestion from this corner is that you take
it. That way, perhaps you'll ultimately get the chance to have this
twisted tale make your blood run cold more than once.