Ju-On

Caught Ju-On yesterday afternoon, down at the Angelica. So so movie. I’m a big fan of Asian, horror cinema, so I’ll watch just about anything that is asian and part of the horror/thriller/suspense genre. I went with Any and another friend of ours. Any gets creeped out when you just mention the word “horror”, so he’s always fun to watch squirm. He mentioned that if I got home (we’re roommates) and he was curled up in the fetal position grasping his Glock, just not to make any sudden movements.

The film was produced by Taka Ichise, who also produced Ringu. Recurring elements of the long haired, vengeful female ghost were here which is a recurring theme in asian horror cinema. Apparently, this film did so well, that a Ju-On 2 was released last year and the Americanized version of the original is being released this year starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (which appears to be a reenactment of the same exact script).

So like I was saying, so so movie. This film had a lot of potential to be much scarier and that’s what I was disappointed in. In fact, the trailer for the film creeped me out more than the film itself because of the way it was put together. Typical storyline – desperate husband kills his wife and son after he finds out she’s been having an affair with another man and that the son isn’t really his (how can he tell? They all look alike…). The murders took place in their home and everyone since, who’s visited or lived in the home has been haunted and killed by the ghost or others killed there. The little boy is a prevalent character throughout the entire film and this is what usually creeps me out in horror movies. Something about kids in horror films really does it, but this kid was fairly mild mannered (for a dead kid). Some gore, some good sound effects, some good camera effects (for which this kind of cinema is famous for) and a bunch of hot little asian girls in schoolgirl outfits. It was really great, because at one big, revealing scene in the film when one of the killers (the girl with long hair) is crawling down a flight of stairs, covered in blood, the theater is very silent as we all watch in anticipation and some woman, at the top of her lungs barks out “Oh my God!”. It was hilarious.

If you are into these kinds of films and this genre, click the link above to hit IMDB and see some others by this director and producer. Also check out the Pang Brothers (The Eye, specifically) and if you just want some good, mindless gore in films that won’t make any sense at all, check out anything done by Takashi Miike.