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Ju-Rei: The Uncanny (2004)

DVD Cover (Pathfinder Home Entertainment)
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Ranked #10,124
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A group of high school girls discover the truth to an urban legend when one by one, each begins to die under mysterious circumstances after witnessing a black hooded figure. Who is the black hooded figure and will these girls be able to escape death? --Amazon
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Review by Chad
Added: October 31, 2004
Try as I might, I'm finding it to be damned near impossible to come up with a spoiler-free description of this movie. The summary below is as close as possible, but if you don't want to have any of the minor plot revelations spoiled, I'd recommend skipping over the first paragraph.

This supernatural creep-fest tells the tale of a ghostly figure that is dressed in black, and then shows the fatal results when it comes into contact with a human. The movie is presented in chapters, starting with chapter ten, and ending at chapter one; yes, the movie plays out backwards. We start things up in chapter ten with four girls practicing a dance routine, when they come into contact with the ghost. As the ghastly being claims a victim, we move on to chapter nine, which shows some of the events that led up to chapter ten. The movie continues cycling backwards as such, eventually showing the origins of the ghost and what exactly is happening to the victims.

The DVD cover sports the line "The most horrifying film from Japan!", which is quite the reputation to live up to. After having seen my share of classic Japanese horror films, I thought that this tag line was merely marketing fluff, and I'd wind up with an average or better ghost-story. As it stands right now, however, I was quite wrong... this is the most horrifying film from Japan, compared to all of the others that I've seen. I've seen it mentioned that this film borrowed heavily from a little-known movie by the title of "Ju-On: The Grudge", (the original, not the American remake) but I can't honestly say whether that's the case or not due to Grudge being a little more than a week away from an American DVD release. Based on the trailers and the summaries that I read about that film, however, it appears that the only thing this movie has in common with Grudge is the fact that both movies have ghosts.

Enough with the comparisons, and back to the film at hand. While the basic storyline is nothing ground-breakingly new, the way that everything is handled in the presentation department adds layers upon layers of the creep-factor to the experience. Remember the elevator scene in The Eye, or the final television scene in Ringu / The Ring? Those scenes are effective horror at its finest, but try explaining the goodness of said scenes to somebody who hasn't seen the movie... they would think your idea of horror is a joke. That's the way things go with this movie, but on a much larger scale; instead of the typical one or two stand-out scenes that we've grown accustomed to from the better horror films, this one throws those scenes out left and right. Trying to sit here and type out what happened in any given scene for the purpose of an example would be pointless, as not unlike the movies mentioned above, they have to be witnessed in order to get a fraction of the intended effect. A person walks up some stairs, the lights flicker, and the ghost grabs said person... see there, that sounds below even the tame mark. However, when you factor in how the scene is shot, the atmosphere surrounding the event, and the sound effects produced during the event, you wind up with one hell of a scare.

If you're a fan of horror films that rely on suspense and settings to produce the scares instead of going with the tried-and-true method of displaying an impressive body count, this is your movie. The way the film unwinds starting with the final scene and ending with the first scene in the series of events is a bit confusing at first, and the opening chapter of the film is a bit weak... but things take a sharp turn for the better after that, and you're left with a film that does a better job of delivering the scares than anything in recent memory.

Enjoy horror? How about suspense? Are you of the belief that you've moved beyond getting scared from a movie? If your answer to any or all of the above is "yes", this movie is required viewing. 10/10.
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