Day 308: Ju-On

Ju-On

Ju-in, Ju-on, and Ju-out

OK, I admit it. I've been ignoring Japanese horror movies for too long. Sure, I reviewed Masters Of Horror: Imprint and Masters Of Horror: Dream Cruise, but those were made for an American audience. I'm talking about made in Japan for a Japanese audience. I've reviewed horror movies from Canada, France, India, Spain, Norway, Belgium, South Africa, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Holland. It's about time that I give some proper attention to Japan. What better way to do that than with one of the more well-known movies to be remade in the United States? Or more accurately, one of a series of movies remade in the United States.

Ju-On (also know as  Ju-On: The Curse) is a 2000 supernatural horror movie from Japan. The movie follows the lives of multiple people in connection with a specific house in Nerima, Tokyo. Shunsuke Kobayashi (Yurei Yanagi), a teacher, pays a visit to his student Toshio (Ryota Koyama), who has been absent from school. Kobayashi finds Toshio alone in his house, covered in bruises and surrounded by garbage. While waiting for his parents, Toshio begins to make a strange, meowing sound. The story then jumps to the next family to live in the house, the Murakami family. One of the daughters hears a strange croaking sound coming from the attic. When she inspects, she is attacked and killed by some sort of ghost or spirit. The spirit then goes on to attack other people connected with the Murakami family. When we return to the story of Kobayashi, we learn that Toshio's mother was obsessed with Kobayashi. He reads her journal which expresses her intense obsession with him. As he goes to leave, Kobayashi receives a phone call from Toshio's father. His father, jealous about his wife's feelings towards Kobayashi, takes his revenge on Kobayashi's wife and unborn child. In a state of shock, Kobayashi is unable to move when he begins to hear the same croaking sounds from the other story coming from upstairs. What unspeakable horror is coming to meet him and where is exactly is Toshio's mother?

"Help! I've been attacked by Windows 98 graphics!"

I initially thought I was going to be watching the original Japanese version of the Sarah Michelle Gellar movie The Grudge. Unfortunately, I was sort of wrong. Ju-On is actually a series of direct to video horror movies with this one being the first. The American version of The Grudge is actually a remake of Ju-On 2. I've only seen bits and pieces of The Grudge (and some jokes from the Scary Movie franchise) so I was quite surprised to see that the movie didn't really focus on the spooky meowing child. That's what happens when you don't do your research. The creepy meowing child is in the movie, though not as much as The Grudge. The movie does have some genuinely scary parts thanks to a good amount of suspense and sound. There is a good amount of tension and lead-up during the movie. We know something is going to happen and it pushes the audience to the edge of their seats. The strange croaking vocal sounds are actually done by director Takashi Shimizu and are probably the most memorable thing about the movie. The unnatural sound and some unnatural movements are very unsettling, similar to the spider-crawl scene in The Exorcist. Most of the action and violence is implied rather than shown, but we do get a decent amount of blood.

One thing that always worries me when I watch foreign films is that I may not understand certain cultural themes or ideas that the movie is focusing on. While it hasn't been a problem before, I did find myself a bit lost during certain scenes. I have a general idea of the significance of cats in Japanese culture, but not to the point where I could relate to one characters incredible fear of them. Maybe I just missed something in translation. The movie has a tendency to jump around too much, telling multiple short stories. I couldn't feel a strong connection with most of the characters because they only had about 15 minutes of screen time here and there. It doesn't help that the movie has a run time of about 68 minutes. Maybe that's all just the stupid American in me, but the movie would have been better off focusing on, say, 3 extended stories. The acting and directing are fine with not serious complaints. The film quality is on the cheaper side which I find brings down the entire viewing experience.

Did I just walk in on a Danzig music video?

Though it wasn't the movie I was expecting to see, it was nice to find out where the story began. The haunted house/curse is interesting on the surface, but the movie jumps around way too much. I find it hard to connect with the characters and follow just what is happening on the screen. There are too many small stories and with the short run time, everything feels rushed. The movie has a few good scares thanks to good suspense and the creative use of sound. If you liked the American version of The Grudge, you may enjoy seeing where the story got it's start. Otherwise, there's no need to rush out at see Ju-On: The Curse.

4.5/10

Day 257: From Within

From Within

You better call your optometrist

Religion has a big place in the horror genre, probably more than any other style of movie. How often do you see religion addressed in a car chase movie like The Fast And The Furious or a teen comedy? While various religious themes are explored in horror, it's the execution that truly makes the themes matter. Religion is a delicate subject even for those who are not religious. That doesn't mean movies should question or even criticize religion, it just needs to be done in a way that is smart and thought-provoking. Just throwing a few priests and demons into the mix just won't cut it. It's also important to have a point to making your movie.

From Within is a 2008 supernatural horror movie starring Elizabeth Rice (Mad Men, Forgetting The Girl) as Lindsay. A teenage boy named Sean Spindle reads an encatation from a black book and commits suicide in front of his girlfriend, Natalie (Rumer Willis). Covered in blood, a hysterical Natalie runs into a clothing store owned by her father, saying that someone is following her. Lindsay and her alcoholic mother Trish are in the store and witness Natalie stab herself in the throat with a pair of scissors. That night, Natalie's father is haunted by a dark figure and begins to hear strange voices. He is found the next day dead from an apparent suicide. The next day, Lindsay witnesses her boyfriend Dylan (Kelly Blatz, Prom Night, Glory Daze), who is the son of the town pastor, beating on Aidan Spindle (Thomas Dekker, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Sean's brother. Dylan blames Aidan for the recent rash of deaths in the town. Some years back, Aidan and Sean's mother was labeled a witch by the town and died under mysterious circumstances. Many blamed her for the death of a local man. Lindsay takes Aidan home and treats his injuries, making a connection with him. The suicides in town continue, seemingly spreading from to each person who witnesses the previous suicide. Each person sees an evil version of themselves and is forced to commit suicide. Aidan tells Lindsay about his mother and how she used to practice witchcraft. He warns her to leave Grovetown before it is too late. A religious fervor is sweeping the town, led by Dylan. That night, Lindsay is kidnapped by Dylan and her mother's boyfriend Roy (Adam Goldberg, Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind) and brought to the church for a religious cleansing. Later, Trish sees her evil doppleganger and is forced to kill herself. Lindsay finds her body and the curse that is sweeping across the town is now inside her. How will she be able to rid herself of the curse before it is too late?

Over, under, in and out. That's what noose tying is all about.

 

From Within tries hard to make a point about religion, but any impact they tried to make lands with a thud. There is little subtlety to the movie, though it never reaches the point where I feel like I've been hit with a cross in order to make a point. In fact, I think they managed to miss some opportunites for bringing up religion in the movie. While I am no expert on Christianity, I know that suicide is considered a sin. In a movie that contains a large number of suicides, the fact that it is a sin is never really brought up. It's a missed opportunity in which the act could have been discussed both in religious and psychological terms. Why no coming to grips with the sin or dealing with the psychological ramifications felt by other people?

One major problem with From Within lies within the general idea of the movie itself. The movie reminds me far too much of two other movies: M. Night Shyamalan's “The Happening” and “Fallen” starring Denzel Washington. The Happening revolves around the population committing mass suicide and Fallen involves a supernatural killing passing from person to person. What do you get when you combine both movies and add a dash of religion? You get From Within. I constantly had the feeling of “I've seen this before” while watching the movie. It's fairly predictable from about 20 minutes in what is going on and what is going to happen, all the way to the “surprise” ending. I want to be clear that I am not accusing the movie of plagiarizing or stealing ideas, because From Within is it's own movie. The similarities were just too much for me to ignore. It was also an interesting choice to use high schoolers as the focus of the movie. Despite being portrayed as such, they never really act like they're in high school, but nonetheless lack the gravitas and experience to pull off the major religious themes the movie was attempting. Again, this is a missed opportunity as the movie could have explored suicide in the context of high school students which could have been poignant and powerful. Instead we get a rather plain story about a curse and a witch, with a son who looks like he belongs in 30 Seconds To Mars.

The movie is low-budget, but director Phedon Papamichael Jr. (cinematographer on The Ides Of March and 3:10 To Yuma) manages to produce some decent scares. Most of fear comes from quick shots of the dopplegangers, decked out in pale makeup and contact lenses. There are a few scenes using special effects which look decent, but they never dominate the film. The acting is fine, though certain scenes are a bit overacted. Adam Goldberg puts in the best performance as the born-again criminal Roy, which is funny considering Goldberg is half Jewish and played the lead character in “The Hebrew Hammer”. He doesn't play a large part in the movie, though he does give a strong, albeit brief, part at the end. The movie does have a decent amount of violence, but it's mostly self-inflicted. For people with issues regarding suicide, there may be some difficult scenes to watch.

"We'll finish this at the Abecrombie & Fitch, bro!"

From Within isn't a particularly bad movie, it's just not very good. The general idea for the movie is decent, though it has been done before in one form or anything. By invoking Christianity as a main theme, the movie painted itself into a corner and failed to deliver. No great commentary is made and no point is driven. Things just kind of happen and there's a sprinkling of religious fervor and that's about it. They did not explore the ideas of sin and suicide and they ignored the difficulties of suicide and high school. Even with a supernatural bent, they are still real-life issues and could have added a degree of authenticity to the movie. Instead, we get a cookie-cutter horror movie with a few mediocre scares that may be more suitable for a late night slumber party than your typical horror fan.

4.5/10

Day 215: Thinner

Thinner

See, kids? This is what happens when you don't brush.

We all want to change something about ourselves. Some of us want to be taller, or have more hair, or better eyesight. The biggest change people want to make, especially in regards to Americans, is losing weight. Whether it's genetic, or a glandular problem, or a love of deep-fried anything, obesity is a big problem in the United States. There is an entire industry dedicated to weight loss. We have gyms, exercise videos, at-home workout machines, fancy diets, and even pills all claiming to help people lose weight. But what if you start to lose weight through no effort and can't stop? The supposed blessing can become a curse. A gypsy curse, to be specific.

Thinner is a 1996 horror movie based off the novel of the same name by Stephen King (Misery, Children Of The Corn). The film stars Robert John Burke (Rescue Me, Dust Devil) as Billy Halleck, a wealthy, morbidly obese lawyer who lives in a nice house in Maine with his wife and daughter. Billy has just won a case defending a criminal boss named Richie “The Hammer” Ginell (Joe Mantegna, The Simpsons, Three Amigos) and goes out to celebrate with his wife Heidi (Lucinda Jenney, GI Jane, S.W.A.T.). A group have gypsies have come into town, much to the disgust of Billy's friend, Judge Cary Rossington (John Horton, Donnie Brasco, The Shawshank Redemption) On the way home from dinner, Heidi performs oral sex on Billy while he is driving. The distraction causes Billy to not see an old Gypsy woman crossing the road, hitting and killing her. Through his connections with Judge Rossington and police Chief Duncan Hopley (Daniel von Bargen, Seinfeld, Lord of Illusions), Billy is not charged with any crime. Outraged at the injustice, Tadzu Lempke, the father of the dead woman, touches Billy's face and says “Thinner.” Soon, Billy starts to lose weight, despite continuously eating whatever he wants. The weight loss continues at an alarming rate forcing Billy to go see Dr. Mike Houston (Sam Freed). Dr. Mikey, as Billy refers to him, cannot find anything wrong and sends him to a special clinic. They also cannot find out what is wrong as Billy gets thinner and thinner. He also suspects that Heidi and Dr. Mikey are having an affair. Billy discovers that Judge Rossington and Chief Hopley have also been cursed by the gypsy with Rossington turning into some sort of lizard creature and Hopley becoming covered in leprosy-like sores. Billy's weight drops dangerously low as he goes in search of the gypsies. When he finds them, he asks Tadzu to take off the curse. When he refuses and is hurt by one of the gypsies, Billy puts his own curse, the Curse of the White Man From town, on the gypsies. He reaches out to Richie to help him get the curse taken off. What will Richie do and will Billy survive?

1, 2, 3, 4: I declare a thumb war.

On paper, I can see how Thinner would be an interesting and exciting read. There are many different elements in the story that work well in the written word. The movie has some good social commentary, such as body image, racism, and obsession. Sadly, these topics are lightly touched-upon instead of at the forefront of the movie. The problem with Thinner is that since Stephen King tends to get very wordy with long novels, certain plot points need to be skipped over for a feature-length movie. For whatever reason, Thinner doesn't do that and tries to cram in as many things as possible. With a run time of 92 minutes, the movie feels incredibly long just because so much is happening at such a fast pace. I was actually surprised to see the length of the movie as it felt like a marathon to get through. Sometimes horror movies feel long because they are too slow. Thinner feels long because there is so much happening that you can't concentrate on one scene for too long or you'll miss something. Plenty of little things could have been cut out or at least replaced with longer scenes or better horror. The movie is not scary with only a psychological creepiness to focus on.

Robert John Burke plays Billy very well, going from jolly fat man to a withered skeleton trying to survive. Joe Mantegna is wildly over-the-top, but in a good way. He is essentially Fat Tony from The Simpsons with an extra dash of crazy. I couldn't help but wonder why, if Richie is a big underworld boss, he would get directly involved fighting the gypsies. You would think he'd have some goons do his dirty work for him. That question is half-heartedly answered, but it wasn't a good enough answer for me. Lucinda Jenney comes off as a bit too forced for my liking. I suppose we're not supposed to like her, but I was more annoyed at her than anything else. The makeup used on Burke is excellent, ranging from a believable fat suit to a pale, walking cadaver. You really believe that he is going to die by the end. Speaking of the end, it reminded me too much of a Goosebumps-style ending and was pretty cheesy for a Stephen King movie. Again, words on a paper were probably more effective than on the screen.

So sleepy!

Thinner is an example of how a good story doesn't always translate into a good movie. The story is simple, but enjoyable with a fair amount of intrigue and excitement. It is a race against the clock with a supernatural bent. There is not much horror to speak of, which was a disappointment. The movie tries to cram in way too much and feels far longer than an hour and a half. Robert John Burke and Joe Mantegna are very entertaining and help keep the moving rolling. There is even a funny cameo appearance in the movie by King himself. While not horrifically bad, Thinner is not Stephen King's best movie. It does have entertaining qualities, but just doesn't have that special King horror quality that so many of his other movies possess.

5.5/10