Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a quick look at the Sarah Michelle Gellar starring in the US remake of the awesome and amazing and truly terrifying original Japanese film: JU-ON: THE GRUDGE. I saw the original a couple years ago at the American Film Market and it knocked me on my ass. I came back ranting and raving about how amazing it was. Matter of fact, I ranted and raved so hard that a quote from my review ended up on the theatrical poster from the small art-house release the original got.
It is hands down one of my favorite modern horror films and so I was looking forward to the remake with a very strange mixture of fear that they were going to fuck it up and excitement because the original director, Takashi Shimizu, was brought on yet again to helm the American version. That in and of itself is fascinating as he's made and remade the same story a handful of times. Before JU-ON the movie, there was a JU-ON TV spectacular... a pair of them, actually... then the film, then the sequel and now the US remake. It may be that I'm exhausted at the moment, but I can't think of another instance of something like that happening. It would have to be something like David Lynch doing TWIN PEAKS, then doing TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, then TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME 2, then a French language remake of FIRE WALK WITH ME.
After having seen the US remake, I have a few things to say, but I'll try to keep it short. Before I get into my nitpicks, I must say that for the vast majority of the movie going population who haven't seen any of the original works... well, they're probably going to freak out. With THE RING, they got a movie that was told with more skill than the original. It was easier to follow, it made more sense and it just looked prettier. BUT where THE RING remake fell short of the mark was the creep-out factor. The tape, the girl, the well... all were done much more frighteningly in the original film. The only advantage I saw was with the corpses, which in the remake were ugly, creepy and totally fucked.
So, I don't think the mainstream has really gotten an authentic taste of just how terrifying Japanese horror can be and when they see that damned woman crawling around and "To-shi-o!" mewling at the top of his voice... well, I think there may be some seat-jumping, arm grabbing and many a boyfriend happy to slide safely into first base. Those of us who know and love the original film will walk away disappointed or at the very least unsatisfied. Although I critiqued the RING remake earlier, the film was always either better than the original or at the very, very least on par with the original. With THE GRUDGE, it's at best on par with the original and at times handled worse.
For example, the Japanese cop character from the original, the one that begins to piece everything together, already knows the whole story it seems. So, instead of the audience discovering the sordid history of that damned house along with the detective he just knows and feeds us the information in one 3 minute long exposition scene. I guess my main problems with the remake is the Americanization of it. I know that's a common and almost cliche bitch now, but just see if I'm not right. While the remake gets a lot right, what it gets wrong is so wrong and shaped into easily recognizable modern American cliches. For instance, the first reveal of the woman ghost in the original was very simply done... kind of a black blur that quickly cuts to a set of wide-open eyes against a totally black face. Simple, but effective. In the remake, the black blur is now a complex undulating cloud that floats down and out of that cloud we get a CG face that stares down Sarah Michelle Gellar with blank eyes until the iris and pupils spin into place. Literally spin into place like a friggin' slot machine.
I might have forgiven that kind of stuff as a trade-off... something to give the masses so they accept the unique horror buried within, but all my favorite subtleties from the Japanese films are glossed over. Little things like in a regular establishing shot of the house the woman ghost appears in one of the farther upstairs windows or just having a character walk through the house and see the woman ghost just crawling along. The choice was made to have the victim catch the ghost unawares and not make certain scenes jump scares and I love that. It's great to have giant lions jumping out of nowhere ripping people to shreds, but if someone walked in on a lion in a room, with no escape and the big, hungry bastard notices the puny lunch on legs... That's a different kind of fear, a different reaction is brought out.
I know I'm harping on the movie a lot, so I must make sure to say that I think the film will be very popular and keeps enough of the atmosphere and pacing of the original to positively effect the horror genre. Buffy didn't bug me as much as I thought she would, but she does have one face and that's the face of a 2 year old in deep concentration... you know, the kind of face that you can tell there's a present waiting for you. But she wasn't distracting. Her boyfriend was a little more distracting. I hate WB casting, I really do, but all that was countered by including the brilliant Ted Raimi, even if he is a bit wasted in his role.
Anyway, while I didn't fall head over heels for the film, I'd rather there be loud misfires like THE GRUDGE than slimey, rank abortions like VALENTINE and DARKNESS FALLS (which I thought had a great opening and spiraled down to absolute dogshit by the end). I personally will brush past this DVD and grab the original for my collection... unless they lure me in with a Sam Raimi and Rob Tappert commentary track. I wouldn't put it past those sneaky monkeys to force a rental out of me. I'd like to end this bit of rambling with a re-post of my original review of JU-ON: THE GRUDGE. The reaction you read below is what I expect a good amount of the mainstream movie-goers to experience. Maybe not as strongly as it's not as shockingly different as the original, even though they kept the non-linear narrative. And, if you didn't realize... the "miserable piece of shit film" that I refer to is indeed (out)HOUSE OF THE DEAD. God, what garbage...
I'll be back soon with some really neat stuff, you squabs! Keep an eye out for it!
-Quint
Ahoy squirts! Quint here with the first in a series of reviews from flicks I snuck into during the American Film Market last week. I was debating on whether to start with with a praising review of a great flick or a venomous review of a miserable piece of shit film. Being the kind of person I am, one that actually likes to enjoy film, I figure it'd be easier to start with me gushing all over the newest genius work of horror and suspense from Japan, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE.
JU-ON is produced by the team that brought you the original RING film and directed by Takashi Shimizu, a protégé of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who directed the uneven, but very creepy flick PULSE. The film is technically about curses, but it's easier to think of it as a haunted house flick. A brutal murder happens in this house and that puts a curse on the house. Any unlucky fool who enters ends up a victim of the curse and can pass it on to damn near anybody they have contact with.
But like I said above, think of it as a ghost story. This curse is carried out by two spirits, a little boy named Toshio. He himself is pretty creepy and is responsible for some great scares in the film, but the lady... Jesus. If you see the little boy spirit, the lady spirit is close behind. If you see her, then God help you 'cause no one else can.
The film is broken up into chapters that follow a single character that is affected by the curse in some way. Using these chapter breaks, the film jumps ahead and back in time, interconnect with other character story lines, etc. After seeing the film, I found that this can confuse some people. It didn't hamper me at all, though I do admit that I'm not one of the kinds of people that has to be totally caught up with every single thing onscreen. I let the film wash over me. I don't try to figure every detail out as it's happening. I like putting the pieces together later.
Now, I saw this flick for the first time at a screening at the AFM. There were about 10 other souls in the theatre with me, but the sound was terrific, the print was great and in that dark theatre I found myself getting very scared. That's quite a feat in and of itself. I've been watching horror films since I can remember and it has been a long, long time since I've been scared during a movie. Sure, I've been caught by jump scares, but to be really genuinely creeped out at a film... It has been ages.
Damn near the whole time I was watching the movie I had my hands clenched together, fingers interlocked and eyes wide open. After the film I found my fingers were aching from the tension I had while watching the film.
It makes you wonder what the Japanese know that we don't. They are so far ahead in action, drama (INFERNAL AFFAIRS, which I'll get to in a few days), horror and even scoring it's not even funny. I was actually talking to a friend about this and he brought up a great point. For the longest time the only way to get the best '70s horror (i.e. Fulci, Argento) was via Japanese Laser Discs. Not just horror, but classic film from all genres. While America was busy ignoring the classics that depended on mood and story and character to get you through instead of how many CGI shots we can cram into each scene, the Japanese were analyzing the classics
Now, I've heard two things in relation to this film. One thing I heard was Lion's Gate picked up the rights to JU-ON: THE GRUDGE. I also heard (here) that Ghost House Pictures (Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi's new production company) have picked up the remake rights to the film, with the original director, Takashi Shimizu, onboard directing. Does that mean Lion's Gate is partnering up with Ghost House to film a remake? I'm not sure. I heard they weren't making many in-house horror flicks at the moment, just buying up the good indie ones. So, does that mean Lion's Gate is handling the original?
I have to say, that I'm not sure a remake will do this movie justice. Look at THE RING for example. Most will agree that THE RING was handled terrifically. I think so, too, but the remake both succeeded and failed in my eyes. It took the original, great story and improved upon the narrative, making it flow much better and make more sense. Where it failed was really capturing the creepiness of the original. The corpses looked gnarly and fucking scary, but they totally dropped the ball on the girl.
Now, looking at JU-ON... This succeeds almost solely on atmosphere, lighting and sound. There really isn't much story there. I've also noticed from a second viewing of the film on video that it plays so much better in a dark theatre with huge sound than on a small TV with faulty stereo sound...
I trust Raimi's instincts and I think it's a strong step to have the original director helm the remake. I just hope that JU-ON gets at the very least a small theatrical release so people can experience it as it was meant to, the way I was lucky enough to have seen it, big in a dark, dark theatre with the creepy throat and cat noises attacking the senses from front, sides and back.
We ran a trailer for the film a while ago. Click here for the original article! Check it out. One way or another you'll see this film, whether they're going to make you folks wait until the remake comes out on DVD or if by some amazing chance it gets a theatrical release. Keep an eye out for it it. I recommend the film wholeheartedly. Just remember to bring a change of underwear.
