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Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara

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

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60% want to see it

1,006 ratings

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Takashi Shimizu

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DVD Release Date: November 9, 2004

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Flixster Reviews (104)

  • fb1463751009
    December 6, 2011
    fb1463751009
    This was so boring. Inventive and innovative on the style of scares it delivers, but I DIDN'T get scared.
  • garyX
    November 19, 2011
    garyX
    The vengeful spirits of murder victims terrorize anyone who dares to enter the house that was the scene of their deaths. Ju On was one of the first J Horrors that broke the international mainstream (along with Ringu) and although it feels a lot less fresh and unique now than it d... read moreid at the time thanks to the formula being milked dry by a generation of copycats, it still stands up as one of the best. It does have its flaws; there's little in the way of plot, the cast are adequate but not remarkable and the cinematography is a little too bright and sterile for the subject matter. What makes the film is the director's ability to play on images that seem to plug directly into the fear centre of the brain, making it feel as if the characters are never safe no matter where they are and, in particular, the sound design. There's something about the noise that the ghost makes that's a bit like a clammy tarantula crawling up your spine and it still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it! My favourite example of the genre, and still worth seeing even though the whole J Horror movement is now running on empty.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    October 1, 2010
    YosemiteSamFan
    Freaky Japanese ghost movie where anybody who even sets foot in the front door of the particular cursed house, will be doomed and hunted down by the ghosts of the original family who died there.

    My favorite ghost is Toshio, the little pale-skinned boy who meows like a cat when h... read moree attacks. I think he sometimes can transform into his drowned pet cat too. The other ghosts are the long-haired crawling mother, Kayako, who makes a croaking sound from her broken neck; and the killer father, Takeo, who rarely appears. I didn't really understand where people disappeared to when the ghosts got them...

    This movie is told in a series of chapters, arranged non-chronologically, each detailing a particular character and their run-in with the curse. The mixed timelines don't make total sense until you've seen them all and pieced them together.

    Totally cool original type of horror movie series. (This was actually the third in the series; the first two were direct-to-video) There have been a few sequels and American remakes (as "The Grudge") since. Great spooky scenes with plenty of jump-moments. A work of modern Japanese Horror Cinema. I've watched them all many times.
  • ryguy4738
    June 18, 2011
    ryguy4738
    7.3/10

    For a guy who hasn't actually seen another film in the "Ju-On" curse film saga, "Ju-On: The Grudge" actually struck me as fairly impressive. It was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who remade it from a direct-to-video film titled "Ju-On: The Curse". Wha... read moret I'm assuming is that this "Ju-On" is nothing more than a higher budget remake that probably didn't need to happen , but none the less delivers the goods. I do believe that many horror fans will be pleased with how much atmosphere and imagery "Ju-On" offers up. I wouldn't call it scary, but I would call it creepy, and that's a pretty respectable alternative.

    "Ju-On" is imaginative stuff from start to finish. It makes great use of make-up and special effects, creating imagery that is creepy enough to stick with us, or at least, most of us. The film is more of an anthology film that's supposed to reach some awesome conclusion, although the way it all ends is somewhat unsatisfactory given the thing as whole. But even then, nothing can hurt "Ju-On". It's straight forward enough to be fun, atmospheric enough to be non-insulting, and entertaining enough for me to recommend.

    As of now, I don't see there being much of a point in me describing each damn anthology segment in extreme detail. They're pretty much all the same: one person, or multiple people, go into cursed house where creepy guy murdered his poor family...and a cat, and eventually get scared to death by the curse itself. There's an occasional twist such as: investigators go into cursed house where creepy guy murdered his poor family...and a cat, and eventually get scared to death by the curse itself, but the story isn't what matters the most here, and luckily for us, the filmmakers make that obvious.

    So, screw the story; screw the characters. They're not exactly non-existent, but "Ju-On" doesn't attempt to develop them, which probably would have made it a bad movie if it did. Some people just don't know how to write good characters, and in spite of their creativity and imaginations, the people who made "Ju-On" are probably included in that vast group.

    What you get is not a story, but an experience. "Ju-On" is a fun ride while it lasts. Whenever a creepy image of paranormal delight is thrown in our faces, another one is just around the bend. "Ju-On" is pretty much consistent in its creepiness, except for when the scares attempt to repeat themselves more than once. This is one of the few major flaws of the film; repetition. But...what the hell; this film is good. I liked it. I enjoyed it as much as one possibly can, and while there's not a whole lot to say, I'd still say it's worth the time that it requires you to invest.

    For characters who are often ridiculously underwritten, the acting is still quite good for each one of them. The film is serious when it comes to being creepy, so none of the actors swim in the territories of "self-parody" or "camp". This isn't a very terrifying film, and it doesn't build suspense like some cinematic classics for this genre would, but it is well-acted, well-filmed, and I was very pleased when I finished it.

    I liked "Ju-On" for its images, I liked it for its atmosphere, I liked it for its direction, and I liked it for its self-aware absurdity. This film is pretty good for a night of creaky-house moments. It's not a masterpiece, and it should never be considered a "horror classic", but on its own right, it deserves to be praised. Some will not like it, and some will. It all depends what you bring in to it expectation-wise, because depending on how much you give a damn, you might just bring something out; something good, something great, something inspiring. I cannot imagine that "Ju-On" is a premise that will work more than, oh, I'd say about three times; and I don't think that even these filmmakers will stop at that. But sometimes it's enough to stop rejecting and embrace the times.
  • ascordeiro108
    October 5, 2011
    ascordeiro108
    In my opinion, the American version is better than this one :S
    The Japanese version focus more on the story, which is good, but the build up to the scary parts wasn't as good as the American one.
  • blongca04
    March 5, 2012
    blongca04
    Some of you may not know this, but two years before Sarah Michelle Gellar ventured into a Japanese haunted house and battled the spooks inside in "The Grudge," the Japanese version of the movie "Ju-on: The Grudge" was released, and made people incredibly uncomfortable about dead,... read more Japanese women who slithered on the ground, while croaking.

    The rest of my review can be found on my blog, here: http://filmsallthetime.blogspot.com
  • frogfairie
    November 11, 2011
    frogfairie
    Overall, good freaky bits but a bit difficult to follow at times. I plan on watching again to see if that clears things up a bit.
  • TheCreeper11
    October 14, 2010
    TheCreeper11
    That is some freaky sh** right there! Ju-On has a twisted combination of storyline twists and turns back around,which sometimes make it hard to understand,but is always good when you get it. The effects were standard but the sound was even better than the American one's! Overll,f... read morereaky good!
  • siampals
    September 27, 2010
    siampals
    Best Japanese Horror series. The Grudge sucks compared to the original, as it's based off the Ju-On series.

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