Walking with the Enemy

In Beginning Of The End, there are ghost cats in the microwave, giant heads on subway trains, Toshio poking out of desk drawers, jaws being ripped off, heads being spun around, etc, but it all feels empty, if not outright comical, without that emotional backbone. The extension of the ‘Grudge’ universe is terrifying, and shows that the streamer might be able to corner another genre. Thankfully, though, the streamer got a helpful assist from a familiar source: the Japanese Ju-On franchise—or, as it’s better known stateside, The Grudge. About the nicest thing that can be said about this film is that Nozomi Sasaki sports an array of truly delightful cardigans. The Ju-On series is one of the most culturally significant horror franchises of recent times.Not only was the terrifying film series a smash hit in Japan, but it also managed to terrify audiences around the globe. These films don’t just suffer from a lack of Takashi Shimizu but they seem to actively go against the spirit of what he was trying to do. With The Grudge remake grossing nearly 20 times its budget at the box office, a sequel was greenlit straight away, and Shimizu was back at the controls. The two central characters from the Ju-On franchise first appear in these two short films from Takashi Shimizu. Then Everything Changed. The Curse 2 is a short and curious sequel that was shot back-to-back with The Curse. There are some ludicrous scares here too, most of which rely on loud noises and little else, but things get so desperate at one point that a plate of squid ink pasta turns into Kayako’s hair. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! We see what’s doing well now and it is these kind of smarter, more nuanced horror stories, and that’s what this is going to be. Carlos Correa and Houston keep defying the odds—and infuriating baseball fans everywhere. Keeping the location as Tokyo, Shimizu brings westerners into the story via an American family who move into the Saeki house and via Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a student care worker who gets sent there when the family’s elderly matriarch is left alone. The White House of ‘The West Wing’ Is Long Gone, Aaron Sorkin’s seminal TV show remains a compelling rewatch—even if it depicts a political landscape that’s been scorched by the last 20 years, Twenty Stories From the Lakers’ 1999-2000 Championship Run. Now, anyone who enters the house becomes cursed and dies at the hands of their vengeful spirits. (If you know your Grudge history, you won’t be shocked to learn that the incident involves a husband killing his wife because of an affair; I won’t spoil any more details.). Secondly, as the title would imply, the series is a prequel leading up to the events of the original film—adding more context to why one unassuming Japanese home is a hotbed for vengeful spirits cursing its ill-fated inhabitants. At just three minutes each, Katasumi and 4444444444 are a pair of expertly economic ‘screamers’ where innocent teenagers get the fright of their lives, courtesy of a crawling contortionist and a small boy who meows like a cat, both painted head to toe in white. From ‘A Few Good Men’ to ‘The West Wing’ to ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7,’ let’s see how all of the renowned screenwriter’s work stacks up against itself, The actor chats about his days as a teen heartthrob and about the release of the movie he’s been making since 2012, The Hulu series, a product of an abandoned cinematic universe project, is a tonal departure for Marvel, but that’s all it has going for it, The Seahawks QB covers a range of topics, including his new podcast. Butoh is a mysterious type of avant-garde theatre from postwar Japan that uses contortion, body paint and expressive, uncanny movements to create intense performances, often relating to taboo subject matter. However, much like its own eternal death curse, the Ju-On franchise is showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Actress Takako Fuji’s physical contortions – very much evoking the spirit of Butoh – are incredible and Shimizu keeps the camera on her for so long, as if daring you to look away. Who will take the third? Yet I can’t think of a single Netflix series that has delivered on the horror front since Haunting of Hill House, and that represents a disappointing blind spot in the streamer’s expansive catalog of original programming. We are introduced to a house in Tokyo and the horrible event that kicks the story off, as artist Takeo Saeki murders his wife Kayako, son Toshio and cat Mar in a jealous rage. If there is an early through line to Netflix’s slate of original horror programming, it’d have to be cursed homes and shared trauma. The streaming platform is fully leaning into the love from genre fans and continues to expand its horror programming. As is customary for a Grudge entry, Ju-On: Origins juggles several different timelines, including a paranormal researcher (played by Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) hoping to find the home in Tokyo off very sparse information, and the inciting incident that gets this whole cursed house thing going in the first place. The death curse, while still scary, has lost some of its malevolence. One involves a family moving into an apartment right by the Saeki house. With the series now becoming something of a worldwide cult phenomenon, the US remake was inevitable. L.A. became the center of the basketball universe in 2000 with a team that featured Kobe, Shaq, and Phil Jackson. Flanagan is an exciting horror director who doesn’t miss the mark—there’s even a lot to admire from his Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep, which managed to please both Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick loyalists. But what is especially interesting about this extension of the franchise is how the house itself seems to invite further suffering, in a way that connects the show as much to Haunting of Hill House as the rest of The Grudge. The skin-crawling sound design – Kayako’s lingering death rattle – ramps the terror up to unbearable levels. There’s also a lot more CGI employed in making Kayako’s movements jerky and unnatural – a crime, considering how good Takako Fuji is at being terrifying all on her own. What helps in this particular series is the restraint: The ghost sightings don’t take up much screen time, which itself creates more suspense and a feedback loop of anxiety. Plus: The Steelers and Browns clash in an AFC North showdown, and the Giants … are still in the playoff hunt? 2020 Was Turning Into a Great Year for TV. The over-arching plot is less abstract than usual and focuses on a film crew who enter the Saeki house to investigate all the deaths that have occurred there. ‘Dexter’ Is Returning—but Can It Stick the Landing This Time? The originals may be rough around the edges but this suffers a little from its own polish. This turns the entire story inside out and makes very little sense, so the death curse now just kills everyone who even so much as looks at anyone else in a series of loosely connected scenes. Two days ago, the Astros were on the verge of being swept out of the ALCS. By exploring the latter, you end up with a pair of serviceable but empty ghost stories that, 10 years after the event, feel curiously without a point, let alone a sting. The bar might’ve been low, as a Netflix original horror series and an extension of The Grudge franchise, but Ju-On: Origins cleared it nonetheless. Netflix currently has a landing page for Ju-On, which describes the series, "The J-Horror classic franchise Ju-On was actually based on real events that occurred over four decades – and the truth is even more terrifying.". On one hand, the idea of there being a Ju-On Expanded Universe is a nice one – a whole world of Butoh-inspired ghosts and their endless curses – but in reality, it’s a tough brief to stretch out such a vague concept any further than it’s already gone. Birthing a curse that extended well past familial connections, the spirits would go on to kill anyone who inhabited the house. A new endeavor from Netflix will be a series inspired by the Japanese ghost movie Ju-On, which was the inspiration for the 2004 film The Grudge. It’s very slow, there’s a lot of walking around in the dark and the vignettes do feel a little repetitive but it has something – an atmosphere of doom, a crushing inevitability, a deadly seriousness and a fresh visual style that makes it hard to forget once you’ve seen it. Either way, Ju-On: The Grudge 2 is one of the franchise’s weakest instalments. Masayuki Ochiai and Takashige Ichise brought their retconned mythos back for a second outing that goes further down the rabbit hole, recasting Toshio as an actual devil child who is the centre of the curse, with Kayako his enabler and Takeo somehow now a victim. And when the spirits do manifest—like one unfortunate encounter in a closet—Ju-On: Origins is unforgettably horrifying. In particular, the incredible punchline – a literal depiction of the curse’s never-ending nature – is so over-the-top it’s hard to not picture Shimizu laughing to himself as he was shooting it (and, as anyone who’s seen Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl can confirm, he’s not above satirising himself or his films).

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