Japanese movie, directed by Takashi Shimizu. This is the film the 2004 American remake (also directed by Shimizu) draws the most from (there is also Ju On: The Curse), and I’m not counting the Japanese sequel. A woman named Kayako (Takako Fuji) and her son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) are killed by her husband Takeo (TakashiContinue reading “‘Ju On: The Grudge’–I Wuvs!”
Tag Archives: ghosts
2009’s ‘Don’t Look Up’: A Classic Ghost Story in an Exotic Locale
Marcus (Reshad Strik) is a director yearning for a chance to make a comeback in the film industry. He’s also prone to having visions of ghosts, which leads him to a haunted movie set in Romania. It seems that in the 1920s, a director (Eli Roth, really playing against type here) was trying to makeContinue reading “2009’s ‘Don’t Look Up’: A Classic Ghost Story in an Exotic Locale”
Whispering Corridors: Memento Mori is Heartfelt, Pensive, and Lovely
Korean movie, the second in the Whispering Corridors series. Min-ah (Gyu-ri Kim) is a teenager at a girls’ school who finds a journal written by her classmates, couple Shi-eun (Yeong-jin Lee) and Hyo-shin (Park Yejin). They love each other, but the pressure surrounding them doesn’t make anything easy. When their relationship ends in tragedy, noContinue reading “Whispering Corridors: Memento Mori is Heartfelt, Pensive, and Lovely”
‘Whispering Corridors’: High School is Terrifying
Korean movie directed by Ky-heong Park, AKA Yeogo Goedam. According to its theatrical trailer, this is the movie that started the “Asian horror revolution” (now that’s a movement I can get behind!). Eun-young (Mi-yeon Lee) is a new teacher at the private girls’ school that she once graduated from. She’s haunted by the memory ofContinue reading “‘Whispering Corridors’: High School is Terrifying”
‘Soul Survivors’: Creepy, but Not in a Good Way
Cassie (Melissa Sagemiller) is a college student plagued by the ghost of her dead boyfriend Sean (Casey Affleck), whom she accidentally killed in a car accident. She also continuously hallucinates two guys in masks who keep trying to kill her—and occasionally succeed. Her friends Matt (Wes Bentley) and Annie (Eliza Dushku) don’t believe her, butContinue reading “‘Soul Survivors’: Creepy, but Not in a Good Way”
‘Phone’: Eerie and Well-Made
Korean movie, AKA Pon. Ji Won (Ha Ji-Won) is a reporter who has just uncovered a sex scandal. Among her many current difficulties are threatening phone calls, both from a man involved in the scandal and a ghost, who tends to make a screechy noise that either kills people or seriously disturbs them. Ji Won’sContinue reading “‘Phone’: Eerie and Well-Made”
Takashi Shimizu’s ‘Marebito’: Vampires, Kinda, and also Social Commentary
Japanese movie, whose title Google Translate assures me means “rare”. Masuoka (Shin’ya Tsukamoto) is a cameraman who feels disconnected from daily life. After filming a stranger committing suicide by stabbing himself in the eye, Masuoka longs to see what the man saw, thinking that his terror opened him up to seeing “things both strange andContinue reading “Takashi Shimizu’s ‘Marebito’: Vampires, Kinda, and also Social Commentary”
James Wan’s ‘Insidious’: Effective Jump Scares and Eerie Sights
Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) are a loving couple with three kids who were clearly named by an Australian scriptwriter: baby Cali and older sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor). Dalton suddenly goes into a coma-like state that doctors can’t explain. The person who can explain it is family friend EliseContinue reading “James Wan’s ‘Insidious’: Effective Jump Scares and Eerie Sights”
‘The Haunting’ (1999): I Enjoyed it More Than the Original–Come at Me!
Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson) is a psychologist conducting an experiment ostensibly about insomnia but actually about his desire to “investigate the dynamics of fear.” This equals taking naive Eleanor (Lili Taylor), sex kitten Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and goofy Luke (Owen Wilson) and testing their reactions to a supposed haunting in the giant mansion they’re stayingContinue reading “‘The Haunting’ (1999): I Enjoyed it More Than the Original–Come at Me!”
‘Feardotcom’: Lovely, but Completely Nonsensical
Feardotcom(.com) is a website run by serial killer Alistair (Stephen Rea), who believes that “Reducing relationships to anonymous electronic impulses is a perversion.” His solution: kidnap young women and film himself torturing them until they beg to die, thus creating “intimacy with death.” Protagonist Mike (Stephen Dorff) is the detective who’s been hunting him forContinue reading “‘Feardotcom’: Lovely, but Completely Nonsensical”
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