Ju-on (2002)

Director:

Takashi Shimizu

Writer:

Takashi Shimizu (written by)

Release Date:

25 January 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.

Plot Keywords:

Haunted House | Murder | Bedroom | Police Officer Killed | Psychotic

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Megumi Okina	...	Rika Nishina
Misaki Ito	...	Hitomi Tokunaga (as Misaki Itô)
Misa Uehara	...	Izumi Tôyama
Yui Ichikawa	...	Chiharu
Kanji Tsuda	...	Katsuya Tokunaga
Kayoko Shibata	...	Mariko
Yukako Kukuri	...	Miyuki
Shuri Matsuda	...	Kazumi Tokunaga
Yôji Tanaka	...	Yûji Tôyama
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Keibiin
Hideo Sakaki	...	Fukushi Sentâ Jimuin
Takashi Matsuyama	...	Takeo Saeki
Yuya Ozeki	...	Toshio
Takako Fuji	...	Kayako
Chikara Ishikura	...	Hirohashi
Chikako Isomura	...	Sachie
Chiona Ôkuni	...	Erebêtâ no Onna
Miho Fujima	...	Joshi Ana
Daisuke Honda	...	Igarashi Keiji
Hirokazu Inoue	...	Nakagawa Keiji
Mao Kobayashi	...	Shôgakusei no Izumi (as Tomomi Kobayashi)
Aki Fujî	...	Yôko Tôyama (as Aki Fujii)
Risa Odagiri	...	Saori
Kaori Nakajô	...	Chiaki
Kana Kobayashi	...	Ayano
Akira Saito	...	Sekine Sensei (as Akira Saitô)
Hiroyuki Yokoo	...	Nyûsu no Koe (voice) (as Hiroyuki Yoko'o)
Isao Yatsu	...	Saitô
Haruka Yamano	...	Fukikae
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wendee Lee	...	Rika (uncredited) (voice: English version)
Michelle Ruff	...	Hitomi (uncredited) (voice: English version)

Directed by
Takashi Shimizu

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Takashi Shimizu		written by

Produced by
Takashige Ichise	....	producer
Kunio Kawakami	....	producer
Yoshinori Kumazawa	....	producer
Hiroki Numata	....	producer

Original Music by
Shiro Sato		(as Shirô Satô)

Cinematography by
Tokusho Kikumura		(as Tokushô Kikumura)

Film Editing by
Nobuyuki Takahashi

Production Design by
Toshiharu Tokiwa

Production Management
Rintaro Hamasaki	....	location unit manager
Katsuhiro Ogawa	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masaki Adachi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Walter Ledesma	....	sound re-recording mixer: English version
Komatsu Masato	....	sound

Other crew
Kiyoshi Kurosawa	....	creative consultant
Hiroshi Takahashi	....	creative consultant

Production Companies

• Pioneer LDC
• Nikkatsu
• Oz Company
• Xanadeux Company

Distributors

• Intercontinental Film Distributors (HK) (2003) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Medusa Communications and Marketing (2003) (UK) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Contender Entertainment Group (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (Spain)
• Highlight Film (Germany) (DVD)
• Intercontinental Video (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films (2004) (USA) (subtitled)
• Lizard Cinema Trade (2004) (Russia)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (all media)
• Xanadeux Company (2003) (worldwide) (all media)

Special Effects

• Nippon Eizo Creative (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Cineo Camera  camera equipment supplied by
• Kodak Japan  film stock supplied by
• Nihon Shomei Co.  lighting equipment supplied by
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  film processing

Also Known As:

The Grudge (UK) (DVD title) (USA)
Ju-on (USA) (DVD box title)
Ju-on 3 (Japan) (working title)
Ju-on: Gekijô-ban (Japan) (poster title)
Ju-on: The Grudge (International: English title) (informal title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some disturbing images.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Sweden:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Finland:K-18 | Germany:16 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Nerima, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Pioneer LDC

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Rika wakes up in bed to a room full of yowling black cats, several of the cats are obviously statues. Some of them are even clearly replicas of the same statue.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Hirohashi: Thanks for the effort.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Grudge (2004)

Soundtrack:

Kagi ga akanai

Occasionally awkward, but very good overall

Rika Nishina (Megumi Okina) works for a social services agency in Tokyo, although she's never seen any clients. When a new case comes in and they're short on staff, her boss has to send her out. Her first case is a doozy. When she enters the client's home, no one seems to be there, and the house is a mess. She hears scraping on a door--the old woman she is to care for is there, but in a semi-catatonic state. Soon after, she learns that there is much more wrong than bad housekeeping and a neglected old woman. There just may be threatening supernatural forces behind the scenes.

This film is really the third in the Japanese Ju-On series. I won't usually watch a series out of order, but this is the only Ju-On film officially and thus easily available in the U.S. I was very anxious to watch the American remake, The Grudge (2004), and actually watched it the day before watching this film.

The first 40-something minutes are closest to the American remake, but it was surprising that this film is much more linear. It's also more episodic. Neither of those facts are negative here, and both lend to a somewhat easier understanding of the broader mythology behind the Ju-On "monsters", which is presented much more clearly in this film. However, the episodic nature also means that the viewer has to pay attention to the various characters and their names, or there is a good chance that one will get lost--this story touches on many different people, in many different scenarios. Occasionally, there are characters brought into each other's episodes, sometimes as subtly as a name mentioned in a news report. These cross-references, which can also slightly break the linear timeline, are effective if one is alert.

There are things that writer/director Takashi Shimizu does better in this version, and things he does better in the American version. In this version, I loved the brutal opening sequence. Although it's somewhat present towards the end of the American version, it is much more effective here. I enjoyed the more traditional Japanese home--this film was shot on location in an actual house, whereas the American remake was shot on a house constructed on a soundstage. The Japanese house is more claustrophobic. On the other hand, the soundstage house was a bit grungier, which works nicely in the context of the remake. I liked this film's transition in the famous "stair crawling" scene (although I thought the flashbacks weren't necessary), and I also loved some of the more dissonant music here.

The biggest differences occur after the first forty minutes, when Shimizu expands the number of monsters. The film seems to threaten a Romero-like plague that I'd like to see explored more in other Ju-On films (if that hasn't been done already).

The bottom line though is that this is a nicely atmospheric horror film, with a creepy scene per minute. There were a couple very minor flaws--occasionally awkward performances or editing being the primary one, but overall this is highly recommended. It earned a 9 out of 10 from me.