Nishina Rika is a social worker sent to a home in order to check up on its inhabitants. There she finds an old woman wrought in silent terror amongst disheveled, stained sheets. While attempting to clean up the house, Rika hears noises coming upstairs and discovers a boy named Toshio duct taped inside one of the room closets. This starts off the chain of events that would soon be known as the JU-ON curse, passing through those who would come into contact with this mysterious, dark residence.

Review: At a time when Japanese horror films are most prevalent and impressive, and seem to have reached its creative heights after an established legacy in the last half of the 1990’s director, Shimizu Takashi, under the tutelage of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Director of CURE, CHARISMA, and KAIRO) and Hiroshi Takahashi (Screenwriter of the RING trilogy), delivers the next level of the horror spectacle with JU-ON.

Taking the classic idea of a haunted house story and flipping it on its head, Shimizu weaves a vengeful tale about a family whose own demise was filled with so much ire and hate, an unforgiving grudge manifested and was unleashed upon the world. While the concept may seem similar to another Japanese masterpiece about vindictive curses, the execution is a reinvention of classic tactics and storytelling sensibilities recognized in the horror genre.

JU-ON is told and separated into smaller vignettes that hop to and fro throughout the story’s timeline, like little drip-drops of visual horror haikus creating a larger reflection in the puddle. While this leaves little room for character development, each fated segment is pumped with enough scare adrenaline where the only thing to worry about is the safety of the protagonists. It almost seems to be a more appropriate and logical way of showing the associations between the players and how the curse spreads. Even though the supernatural aspects of JU-ON are not grounded with any particular genre rules there is a method to the madness. Even with repeated viewings, what may seem as chaotic instances for the characters deaths and conclusions, really are complex and elaborate designs that involve not only the present state of the curse, but years off into the future.

The cinematography is darkly beautiful in the sense that every shadow, corner, nook and cranny lends itself to the eerie, iridescent ambiance that drives JU-ON, making the house become a character of its own; a lifeless, tangible host for the curse. Picture and sound compliment each other well as instrumental cues interrupt viewing with sharp, pierce shrieks and harsh scratches that sets up for each tiny frightening morsel, buzz pops for the mind. Possibly the most terrifying specter of the JU-ON group is the Toshio child and his waxy, blue hued figure lurking behind every head turn and peer. He will become the most recognizable and prominent persona of the curse, a panic warning in a sense, just before his parental wraiths appear. There are numerous other subtle elements of fear throughout that keep the atmosphere fresh and new that will peak the audience’s curiosity, wondering what is going to happen next and how.