Film: Ju-On (The Grudge)

I finally checked out the Japanese film Ju-On from the creators of Ringu (dunno which creators) which was remade in America as The Ring.

Well Ju-On is getting the same American remake treatment, which means they had to put one of those shitty teenage movie actresses in it.

Ju-On has seriously creepy moments, and lacks the gore/perversion of Takashi Mike's stuff, while being much more effective than the stuff M. Night Shyamalan makes. However, the ending kinda has the same problem as Shymalan's stuff. It doesn't pay off. It just kinda fizzles out. I guess it could be said that this isn't necessarilly "wrong" but when there is so much tension and build-up... I want an "Oh daaaaymn!" moment. Sixth Sense was probably the last film to do that for me, or The Others would have but that STRAIGHT UP JACKED the twist in Sixth Sense. WACK. Anyway...

The Original

The Remake

I haven't seen the American version of Ringu, but Ringu, Ju-On, Ichii The Killer, Shaolin Soccer, Infernal Affairs (which Scorsese is remaking) and Takashi Kitano's Zatoichi are some of the best films to come out of Asia recently. It is very nice to see a resurgence since the post Jackie Chan/Jet Li/Chow Yun Fat/Tsui Hark/John Woo drought.

Ju-On is currently showing at Four Star Cinema in San Francisco.