I just saw Ju-On. The new Hong Kong entry into Ring territory. It's basically Pulp Fiction(in narrative structure)and Ring and Kairo in the chills department. It's made up of a series of disjointed episodic segments involving a bunch of interrelated characters,a haunted house, and a heinous domestic crime involving a murder and a missing child. It's very effective in setting up potentially creepy and effective scares. Which are executed very well. But it has an underdeveloped script with some half baked characters. As a result we really don't care for people onscreen when they're offed. It's also marred by an unsatisfying ending.
Highlights include a crawling,groaning ghost. Ghost peek-a-boo under the bed sheets, and an attack by school girl ghosts,which leads to.....Well,I won't spoil it. We really don't find out very much about the ghosts themselves, and they're motivations. Just that they're seriously pissed off, and looking for victims. Maybe the upcoming sequel will cover more ground. Despite the faults it gets a recommendation from me, for the chills, alone.
The Hong Kong DVD has a fairly decent non anamorphic transfer, with good subtitles,interesting menus, and AC3 5.1 sound. It's a barebones disc but it sports an attractively cheap pricetag.
Ju-On The Grudge, a review
Ju-On The Grudge, a review
"I don't want to be called an "artist." "Acting like an "artist" is synonymous to acting like an asshole."
Asia Argento
Asia Argento
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Latte Thunder
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Chris Slack
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Just finished this one and while I found it confusing as hell I have to agree with Robert in that it really delivered on the creepiness factor. To get into any specifics would spoil the movie, but if you're into the modern Japanese horror (not gore) scene check this out. Turn the lights off or down low and you should at least find yourself feeling uncomfortable a few times.
"Regrettable... I was hoping for a colleague, but at least we have
another experimental subject..." -Mesa of Lost Women
another experimental subject..." -Mesa of Lost Women
Now which disc version of Ju-On are we talking about as I was at the store last week and was informed that like The Ring there's the film itself... as well as entirely different stories but with the name Ju-On that were also made for TV.... so I'm confused and don't know which one I should be keeping an eye out for...
Depends who you ask! Some people say to check out the first two shot on video Japanese movies. But unless you go after a DVD-R bootleg,with fan-based english subtitling on Ebay,the original Japanese DVDs are expensive and don't have any english subs.
I'd say go after the Theatrical version(the one I reviewed, and Chris mentions) on the Hong Kong Universe DVD label first. If you like that try the shot on video adaptations, on bootleg DVD-R. There's also a sequel to the theatrical version coming out soon.
I'd say go after the Theatrical version(the one I reviewed, and Chris mentions) on the Hong Kong Universe DVD label first. If you like that try the shot on video adaptations, on bootleg DVD-R. There's also a sequel to the theatrical version coming out soon.
"I don't want to be called an "artist." "Acting like an "artist" is synonymous to acting like an asshole."
Asia Argento
Asia Argento
