JU-ON: THE GRUDGE
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A social worker, a husband, his sister, a detective and a schoolgirl all
experience the haunting of the Tokunaga house in "Ju-On: The Grudge."
Director Takashi Shimizu, who has also directed the upcoming American
remake as well as the original television movies that initiated the
"Ju-On" series offers a tantalizing six chapter perspective of a haunting.
The chapters jump across timelines and fold in upon themselves, making
"Ju-On: The Grudge" a creepy puzzle.
With startling use of simple devices like makeup, sound, editing and camera
movement, Shimizu raises goosebumps, from a pale blue boy's catlike howl to
his unnoticed presence on every floor an elevator cage passes. The
technology of "Ringu" continues its presence with disquieting cellphone
clicks and inky ghostly images appearing on security monitors. The
director harkens back to German Expressionism with his composition of one
shot, in which a pale, wide-eyed woman is bookended with figures perched
like gargoyles. In another, he borrows the infamous 'spider walk' excised
from the original "Exorcist" far more effectively than that film's prequel
does. Cinematographer Tokusho Kikumura's ("Chaos") lighting of Kanji
Tsuda ("The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi") combined with the actor's control
over a changing facial expression nails the titular transformation in the
character of Katsuya Tokunaga.
Shimizu's eerie use of bent time frames gives added weight to the sight of
a missing poster or the timing of a phone call, but it can also be
frustrating. Unless the viewer has the patience and time for multiple
viewings, "Ju-On: The Grudge" appears to dispense with sense, but it never
lets up on the chills.
B
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1314397
X-RT-TitleID: 1134762
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1487
X-RT-RatingText: B
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