Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) Dir: Takashi Shimizu

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So many popular Western films have taken inspiration from, or have directly adapted, Japanese cinema, so I think it's always good to go back and watch the films that came first, if only for comparison. On this occasion, I chose Takashi Shimizu's cult classic supernatural horror film, which terrified audiences in Japan, before getting Hollywood treatment. It was inspired by the hugely successful 'Ringu', and even had influence from its screenwriter in the development of its story.

The film was made on a relatively meagre budget of less than four million US dollars, and, unfortunately, it really looks it. Whilst there were some very unnerving visuals, there were a lot of very goofy looking ones too. I think better lighting would have improved how this film looked dramatically, at least as far as I was concerned. The film was far too bright for my taste. Although it gave the film a certain sense of realism, it also made it look a little amateurish.

The unconventional nature of the narrative meant that it didn't feel like there was much of a story, which worked both for and against the film. I definitely was not as engaged as I had been for the aforementioned 'Ringu', that's for sure. I did find plenty of positives to take from the story though. The backstory and meaning behind the supernatural characters made their existence and actions so much more tragic, which did add a degree of emotion to the events of the film, and the threat to the living characters was always paramount, which, in turn, made for a rolling barage of dread whenever a character entered the titular house within which most of the story takes place.

The two spectral figures in the film were provided by Takako Fuji and Yuya Ozeki, both of whom I thought did a pretty good job of looking and feeling very freaky. Fuji's creepy and fixed stare was particularly haunting and unnerving. Other performances worth at least mentioning were provided by Megumi Okina, Yoji Tanaka, Takashi Matsuyama, Yui Ichikawa, and Misaki Itō.

Overall, although it didn't impact or impress me as much as I hoped it would, I can see the vision behind it, and reading the thoughts of those who did like it more really showed me the effect it could have on an audience. I think the tragedy of the story is what I really liked about it - the fate of the supernatural characters really stuck with me, more than anything else that I saw. I am not sure if I will prefer this or the 2004 American version, but I think there was a lot of potential provided by this fairly solid original.