| I don't watch many horror movies. For no real reason other than I've never really gotten into them and my must-see movie list is already massive. I also can't stand most slasher movies and mindless, gratuitous violence; my aversion to them largely keeps me ignorant of the really good ones of the genre. But like most people, I enjoy a good scare every now and then. So when I get the itch to watch one I like to get it right and reach for the most suspenseful, jump-in-my-seat, check-my-underwear title I can. Aside from one friend who was unfazed by it, I had heard only great things about Ju-on. It was remade in the U.S. as The Grudge, and Americans love their horror flicks, so it has to be pretty scary, I thought. Well... it was a let-down plain and simple. I've never been so thoroughly unmoved. The movie was fine. The acting was all you'd expect, Takashi Shimizu's direction went without a hitch, the edits and music cues were all executed perfectly -- it just didn't SCARE me. I was a little creeped out at parts, and when I went to the bathroom in the middle of it I half-expected to see a little boy peering at me from behind the toilet bowl, but it didn't really do much for me.
I've read this was the scariest Japanese movie ever made, and I'm inclined to believe it is a cultural thing, though not entirely. The most effective horror plays off the human fear of things that could actually happen to you. Make a movie about people being killed in movie theater parking lots, and theatergoers are going to be running to their cars after seeing it. Thus, a film about an evil begrudged spirit is going to resonate with Asian audiences, whose cultures are permeated with animist beliefs -- for the Japanese specifically through their Shinto and Buddhist religions. The fact that it has done so well in the West may prove this is an inate human fear and not just superstition, but the beliefs are so up front and center in Japanese life and day to day ritual that they probably have more than a little to do with the "scariest movie ever" label. The shot of two ghosts staring out from behind a Buddhist altar, trapped in limbo after being savagely ripped from the circle of life, further cements the connection. Playing off cultural fears seems to be why a lot of Asian horror movies involve the supernatural world and restless ghosts, while most American horror involves being hog-tied in the back of a van or being corraled by inbred mountain men.
Cultural pondering aside, this is a horror movie, and it just wants to scare you whoever you are. For me, it failed. I'm actually kind of perplexed as to how this is almost uniformly revered. It's a well done movie, and the little blue boy is sure to be an instantly recognizable image for years to come, but the scares just weren't there. Not even the jumps. Alas, back to the list. |
