Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter.
He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar.
He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes
at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The
views expressed are his own.
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 91
minutes (~1.5 hours)
“Ju-On 4: The Final Curse” is the last film in the
“Ju-On” franchise, although we all know that we can expect to see
another “Ju-On” film if this one does well. It follows the events
of the previous movie, “Ju-On: Beginning of the End,” as the sister
of a missing schoolteacher tries to uncover the circumstances of
her sister’s disappearance. It stars Airi Taira (Mai Shono), Renn
Kiriyama (Sota Kitamura), Nonoka Ono (Reo), Misaki Saisho (Kayako
Saeki), Kai Kobayashi (Toshio Saeki), and Nozomi Sasaki (Yui
Shono).
“Ju-On 4: The Final Curse” is a tad disappointing as it
doesn’t quite live up to the scare levels of precious films. Taken
in isolation, it’s a much better horror movie than many others that
have come out this year, by virtue of the fact that it takes the
Asian mentality to horror films and brings it to the personal,
everyday experiences that we encounter. Ultimately, if it generates
the scares that affect us long after we go home and rest in
privacy, then it has done its job to make unsettled and unsure. But
that requires making us uneasy rather than shocking us, which is
not what this film does.
Mai (Airi Taira). (Encore Films)
Highlights
Reo is a compelling
Everyman
The thing about Reo is that she reacts to the haunting
in the same way any of us would. We see the slow degradation of her
character, and that resonates with is because if we were in her
same position, we wouldn’t reach much differently. She’s an
accessible and relatable character by dint of her circumstances,
and her descent into the horror of what Toshio’s haunting entails
makes her the truest and most realistic character of the film.
Without this personal connection with the audience, the film
wouldn’t have affected us as much as it did.
More perspectives of
Toshio
One aspect that the movie improved on is giving us the
different ways that Toshio is seen. Rather than limiting his horror
elements to his victims, we see the repercussions of his anger on a
far more varied cast of characters. The movie already does an
impressive job of letting Toshio into the most vulnerable part of
our lives, but by showing us multiple perspectives of his
hauntings, it amplifies the magnitude of his actions. Which, in
this case, translates to more deaths.
Sense of backstory and
an existing world
Because this film serves as a sequel to the rebooted
continuity of the precious movie, it takes great pains to establish
the validity and consequences of the events of “Ju-On 3: Beginning
of the End.” It builds on the story that was developed in that
film, and gives us the logical conclusion of said storylines. It
gives us the impression that Toshio’s haunting didn’t happen in
isolation, but is actually a widespread phenomenon that has
terrorised many families offscreen.
Sota (Renn Kiriyama) is being followed. (Encore
Films)
Letdowns
Scares are one
note
Unfortunately, there’s not much tension or suspense in
this film, because all scenes of terror are paid off within two
minutes of their establishment. The key thing about horror films is
that you never know if a haunting is legitimate or due to your
suspicions of the circumstances. But here, every single scare is
due to Toshio’s machinations, eliminating any sense of doubt and
uncertainty of the point of view of the characters. It’s invariably
due to Toshio and Kayako, with no other interpretations left to
consider.
Scares are not
subtle
The frights also generally fall into the same category,
which is a surprising and unexpected image of the ghost appearing.
A broader variety in scare technicians would have made the film
less predictable and increased the scare factor for audiences. But
in this case, when every unexplained event is due to Toshio or
Kayako, it gets stale and tripe after the first Act.
Scares are over the
top
When it comes horror, as mentioned earlier it’s more
effective to rely on multiple effects rather than the same shocking
scare each time. We should applaud effort at making every scare in
the movie as big, loud and horrifying as possible. But ghosts start
appearing in the most ludicrous of places, like a bowl of soup, it
gets cartoony.
Black burn effect is
badly done
This is unforgivable. It’s clear that not enough effort
was put into achieving a standard, presentable special effect. A
strong story link is made regarding the burn effect that afflicts
many of the victims, but the actual execution is not believable in
any way. This, in turn, reduces the effect of this scare technique.
Why do it in the first place then?
Mai’s haunting. (Encore Films)
Taken in isolation, “Ju-On 4: The Final Curse” is a
pretty decent horror film. But when compared to previous
installments in the franchise, it’s a disappointing entry for the
“Ju-On” series of films.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket
prices? No.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket
prices? Yes.
“Ju-On 4: The Final
Curse” opens in cinemas 9 July, 2015 (Thursday).
yahoo