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Ju-on (The Grudge) Dir: Takashi Shimizu Rating: R Screening as part of CineAsia at the Mercury 
‘Ju-on’ was written by Hiroshi Takahashi, also responsible for another Japanese horror masterpiece, ‘Ringu’ (‘The Ring’). The two films are thematically similar, but what they primarily have in common is the ability to scare the pants off one to a degree never achieved by any film from Europe or the USA. "Ju-on" is a curse engendered by someone who dies in the midst of a fit of rage; in this case, it envelops a nondescript house in a quiet, leafy suburb. Black cats, ghoulish young boys and shadowy succubi stalk its halls, and it’s plagued by mysterious deaths and disappearances. ‘Ju-on’’s non-linear narrative jumps backwards and forwards in time, as the curse spreads out in ever-widening circles. No-one who enters the house is safe - new owners, social workers, curious schoolchildren and police alike fall victim to its dark history. There are immediate thematic similarities between ‘Ju-on’ and ‘Ringu’: the inexorable and contagious nature of the curse and the way in which wrongs done in the past haunt the innocent in the present. However, while ‘Ringu’ was pacy with a strong sense of forward momentum, ‘Ju-on’ is pervaded by a sense of restrained melancholy punctuated by epsiodes of terror. ‘Ju-on’ is surreal, dreamy and discomfiting: denied the traditional solace of a straightforward story and neat ending - and any way of solving the mystery and escaping the curse - the viewer is lost in Shimizu’s nightmarish world. All of the cast are exemplary, and possess the ability to engage the audience in the brief time before Takahashi sends them into the house and to their doom. Megumi Okina as caring social worker Rika and Misaki Ito as embattled ex-cop Hitomi Tokunaga are particularly good, as is Yuya Ozeki as Toshio, a strong contender to beat out ‘Ringu’’s Sadako in creepiness. ‘Ju-on’ is leave-the-lights-on scary and wake-up-in-a-cold-sweat haunting. Unfortunately, it has finished its brief Adelaide season as part of the Cineasia festival at the Mercury, but the upcoming sequel and US remake (with Sam Raimi at the helm) will probably ensure a rental/retail release. It’s well worth a look if you’re the type who doesn’t need much sleep.  |
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