Watch Ju-on: The Grudge For Free

Touches You

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I wouldn't call this a bad movie. I just found it profoundly uninteresting. Continuity was a problem for me in this film; because it skips between time periods and is constantly introducing new characters and settings I found it hard keeping up with who was supposed to be who and where they were--for instance, because of an unclear transition I thought a character was still fleeing a haunted office building when she was actually going to her apartment and couldn't understand why the elevator she was in was going up, not down. It could be that the filmmakers wanted to create a deliberate sense of disorientation and panic to match what the characters were experiencing. But I just felt frustration at not being able to make sense of what was going on and impatience at the banality of the images being thrown at me.

A must watch if you are looking for some adrenaline rush.

Following in the immensely successful footsteps of RING, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE is an influential, creepy and utterly disturbing low-key ghost story from Japan, successful enough to spawn both a sequel and an American remake. This is Japanese horror at its finest: shot on a minuscule budget, utilising real-life 'run down' locations, and with a cast of subtle actors and actresses fleshing out the roles. Director Takashi Shimizu seems to have cast only deeply attractive actresses in his movie, perhaps to keep the attention of his male audience, and this makes the slow-burning proceedings very easy to watch.The 'haunted house' storyline is very straightforward and there isn't much of a plot to speak of: basically, we see a series of interconnected stories showing how a series of characters are haunted. There are a couple of ghosts; one is a cute little boy, whose manifestation mixes fear and pathos; the other is a more traditional female spirit with long, dark hair and staring eyes, the sort who inhabits every Asian horror film since the similar ghost in RING proved so successful. JU-ON: THE GRUDGE dwells on scares and shocks all the way through, which is why it's so effective: it's 100% focused on scaring the viewer. There are many great bits, my favourites including the duvet shocker, the television breakdown, the bloody staircase set-piece at the climax, and the bit with the three dead schoolgirls. There's even time for a twist ending for those who like that sort of thing. For unsettling, deep-rooted frights and genuine creepiness throughout, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE comes up trumps and will be hard to surpass.

Very well made horror and if it is influenced by, The Ring, it has much innovation of its own. I loved the use of sound and at times just these noises were scary in themselves. Also I loved the inclusion of the edge of something scurrying out of frame or a reverse zoom revealing a little something to surprise us. The ghosts were exceedingly well done. Their stilted movement was excellent and the reliance of white for skin colour and piercing eyes most effective. The film could be difficult to follow because we go back and forward in time as it would seem do the ghosts, but one tends to be swept along by the obvious emotion in the air and the sheer creepiness of the goings on. No graphic violence other than what are virtually stills establishing the raison d'etre for the whole film, but still very scary.