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| Sunday, September 19, 2004 03:01 PM |
| Grudge-tastic! |
 by Fëanor |
Peccable and I went to the Prince Music Theater today and checked out a screening of the Japanese film Ju-On: The Grudge (2003). We did this to keep up our reputations as movie snobs, so we can look down on all the people who just see the (inevitably inferior, of course) American version of the film when it comes out next month.
The version of the movie we saw is not even, itself, the original. That title goes to the made-for-TV movie called simply Ju-on that came out in 2000. All versions of the film (including, rather surprisingly, the American one) were made by the same dude: Takashi Shimizu.
And to be fair, Peccable and I really went because we're both fascinated by Japanese horror movies. They tend to be damn scary and damn good (see Ringu and Dark Water, both by the same director, and both with their own American remakes). This one is no exception. It is totally horrifying, and it achieves its horror in an interesting way. Most lesser horror films use simple surprise to shock you--a cat jumps out at you. Ju-on does make ample use of cats and surprise for scares, but its central horror is one that arises from the opposite of surprise. We're afraid because we know exactly what is going to happen to these characters, and we know there's nothing anybody can do to stop it.
The main storyline of the film is established in the opening text, which defines ju-on as a kind of curse that falls on a place when a violent act is performed there, and which affects all those who come to that place, dooming them to be struck by violence as well. We see the curse fall upon pretty much every character in the film, one after another. The repetetiveness would be funny if it weren't so depressing and terrifying.
The story is told in a fascinating, non-linear fashion, jumping through time from character to character, following a path of association instead of straight chronology. Ju-on definitely takes a cue from Ringu for a number of its scares (once again, we are taught to fear young Japanese women with long, black hair hanging over their faces), but they are effective, nonetheless. This is a great scary movie. Definitely check it out if you have the chance.
In other horrifying news, the weekend is over. Suck.
But my next couple weekends are full of cool stuff to do--a ren fair, a picnic, a game convention, maybe some more movies. So I just have to hold out till then. Plus, you know, I don't really mind work that much. I like coding. It's just the getting up real early and hanging out there for so long that bugs me. |
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