(Here's a thought, jackasses: leave the fucking house. What's that? You don'ta speaka or underastanda Engrish? Well, I guess you guys are fucked, then.)
CAST: Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa, Kanji Tsuda, Kayoko Shibata, Yukako Kukuri, Shuri Matsuda, Yoji Tanaka, Takashi Matsuyama.
DIRECTOR: Takashi Shimizu
WARNING: Minimal SPOILERS and freaky bug-eyed Japanese ghost chicks straight ahead.
"When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born...
The curse gathers in that place of death....
Everyone who encounters it - will be consumed by its fury."
With the above freaky quote begins the absolutely terrifying and brilliant Japanese horror film JU-ON, which is the Japanese word for "grudge." That word is entirely appropriate, basically describing a relentless trio of malevolent spirits who basically pursue and kill anyone who trespasses on the scene of their deaths - a completely non-descript middle-class home in Tokyo, Japan where a murder-suicide occurred three years ago. But this ain't no ordinary haunting, folks. Far from it. So very far from it.
Before JU-ON came along, even the most terrifying haunted house film was hampered by one little inconvenient constraint: the protagonists could ultimately solve their problems by - say it with me now - leaving... the... fucking... house. Sure, sometimes they were in a financial bind and couldn't just walk away (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR) or were locked in because of their own stupidity (THE HAUNTING) or were snowbound (THE SHINING) or just had a death wish (THE CHANGELING) or were just bored out of their skulls (WHAT LIES BENEATH). But, in the end, when worse came to worst, our heroes all skedaddled out of there when it became crystal-clear that the ghosts meant business.
With JU-ON, however, leaving the house doesn't solve anything because - here's the brilliant part - once you enter the house, you are "marked for death." Yup, those ghosts will follow you everywhere - your apartment, your office, your favorite restaurant, your favorite bathroom stall - until they finally get your ass. Then the location of your death becomes a new "Ju-on" - and the curse spreads like a virus from there. So much for just running out the door, eh?
The center of the curse is that deceptively-ordinary-looking house in Tokyo. Evidently, a husband murdered his wife and son (and their, um, cat) - then killed himself. As you can imagine, this was about as helpful in raising the house's value as a Samurai burial ground being uncovered beneath it. Essentially, this is when the curse begins - and anyone who enters the house aftert that becomes a target by the Three Musketeers of the Japanese Netherworld.
JU-ON is really an ensemble piece, with multiple protagonists jostling for attention. Their stories are also told in a trippy, non-linear fashion that jumps back and forth through time - and really makes you question if your cat has been slipping some everclear into your water bottle. Story threads loop back on themselves - or dead-end abruptly, only to be picked up again when you least expect it. The result is a heavily surreal atmosphere of dread and foreboding - anything can happen to anyone at anytime.
Some of the folks who finds themselves ensnared by the curse are: (1) a social work student, (2) a family that moves into the cursed home, (3) the executive sister of the head of that family, (4) the cops who investigated the original massacre at the house, (5) the social worker's best friend, (6) three school girls who investigate the story as an urban legend several years later, and (7) many others. As you can see, this curse gets around.
I'm going to refrain from sharing anything else from y'all - except to say that the less you know about the shocks and scares (and there are many) of JU-ON, the more you will jump in your seat and scream like a girl, prompting your stocky white cat to give you a look of utter disgust. Not that I've had that happen to me. Ahem.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Speaking plainly, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE will smother you with its claustrophobic atmosphere and get under your skin. The creators finally give us a haunting you can never escape from, because these phantoms just keep on coming - like the energizer bunnies of the underworld. And they often pop up where you least expect them. It doesn't matter where you run, because it's just a matter of time until they get you. The scariest set-piece is the one involving the executive sister who is terrorized first in the house, then her office highrise late at night, then her own apartment where she.... well, you'll just have to see for yourself. Let's just say a locked door will never make you feel safe ever again.
Regarding the cast, they're all pretty good. Then again, it's hard to accurately gauge their performances in Japanese, but they all appear credibly terrified. Director Takashi Shimizu expertly creates a mounting sense of dread and an off-kilter vibe that is further enhanced by the twisting, non-linear storyline. This method of telling the story echoes Dario Argento's own surreal effort from INFERNO (1980). In that film, a similar ensemble of characters were united by the common thread of an obscure legend - which spelled doom for most of them. In JU-ON, the unifying factor for the characters is the cursed house - which contaminates them all with what is basically a death sentence.
The only misgiving I have is that the plot has one thread too many. Shaving off one or two of them would have helped the story be more streamlined and elegant. The subplot about the three schoolgirls investigating the urban legend of the house many years later could've been saved for a future film - as the 2004 American remake wisely did.
Bottom line: JU:ON - THE GRUDGE is a ground-breaking haunted house film that takes the horror out of the haunted house - and puts it wherever you are. In other words, you can run - but you can't hide.
