Yay I finally watched a movie that will give me nightmares! I definitely was kind of afraid to open the door to my bathroom in the dark after finishing this movie. After reading other reviewers' comments about Ju-On: The Grudge being a rip-off of Ringu, I feel validated in my pansiness. I was kept awake for nights by the American remake- The Ring. (I was even vaguely creeped out when I moved to Seattle as a teenager because our lovely city is the setting for the movie.) What creeps me out about all these movies is the notion of some abstract and distant force of death and horror lurking out in the shadows, that because of some absent-minded and normal act- like entering a house or watching a video- a person could be bringing about a terrible curse that will haunt them until death.
The premise of Ju-On revolves around "the grudge"- a force that stays with the physical location of a death that ended in rage. A mother and son are brutally murdered by their husband/father. The house the crime occurred in remains haunted and death befalls all who enter. Besides death, trespassers (or even those invited or who live in the house) are subjected to hearing the obnoxiously odd "death rattle" of the deceased wife, along with a creepy kid staring at them.
Ju-On has an American remake as well, called The Grudge. I haven't seen it, so I don't really know how it compares. Also, I have not seen Ringu, just the remake. So I will not be comparing the two beyond what I've said above. I did think that Ju-On was much better and scarier than The Ring, but this may not be a fair comparison.
The movie has a good pace, though there is never really a climax to speak of. I suppose the second-to-last scene could be considered a climax, as it contains what seems to be the main character, Rika, confronting the grudge. Also, the movie does not take place on a linear timeline, but rather each chapter tells the story of different characters in different times who are all related to each other (through the grudge or otherwise). This results in each story being unique and interesting, even though they all follow a similar pattern. The audience delves deeper into the grudge with each story and we see more of the history and the background of what has happened in the house and to the original family.
Imagery is everything in Ju-On. The little boy just stares at the characters, and yet I keep feeling afraid that he might be staring at me the next time I turn around. It's not like he's going to hurt me, but he does represent a terrible force that has the power to kill me in horrendous ways. As with many curses, the victims seem to become insane before their deaths. They cover their windows in newspapers so the dead cannot find them, they stay locked up in their rooms where they are safe. (And yet they still investigate weird noises in attics!!! WTF have these people never seen a horror movie before!?) The lack of gore or graphic killing doesn't matter in this movie- it's the lasting imprint of the dead ghosts that stays with us, making us paranoid and fearing an encounter with the cursed.
I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, but it really did scare me a lot. I don't think I'll be watching it again anytime soon, though I would definitely recommend it and would love to watch it again someday... For now I'm sticking with my cartoons to help me fall asleep. Here's hoping I can get a few hours of sleep in tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment