Sadako vs. Kayako
Let’s go back to the year 1998 and the release of
“Ringu”, a movie that would revolutionize horror cinema and would bring a
new aesthetic to American cinema for years to come. The movie, loosely
based on a novel of the same name, tells
the story of a cursed videotape containing the essence of an evil young
woman named Sadako. On the tail end of Ringu comes another Japanese
Horror film, Ju-On: The Grudge. This film tells the story of a vengeful
ghost linked to a cursed home. Both films left
an indelible mark on horror cinema so it really was only a matter of
time until someone saw a cash grab in pitting the two monsters against
one another. I guess you could say it was a “grudge” match in the
“Ring”! HAHAHA!!!
Shut up, that was funny.
The curses for both characters are modified for
this film, reducing the days for Sadako’s appearance to only two days
and otherwiside diminishing both Kayako and her son, Toshio, to bit
supporting parts as a pair of cursed girls try to
pool their resources and force the two ghosts to do battle. The final
hope is that the two spirits will destroy one another.
Ultimately, the film doesn’t succeed nearly as much
as the iconic images from the source materials. Sadako is somewhat
reduced by showing a little too much and her spooking movements are
somewhat overly exaggerated and look a little silly.
Kayako is just as frightening as usual with her death croak, but the
amount of cgi used to create her crawl felt a little overproduced. The
movies lighting is a little dark at times, but this isn’t a surprise
when you watch enough J-Horror.
With that said, the film isn’t a total waste of
time. It’s a fun popcorn b-picture with enough scary moments to keep the
heart pumping. Some of the characters, like the casually dismissive
psychi and his blind assistant, are amusing in
a Japanese Anime-trope way.
4.5 out of 10 and a very low priority rental.
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