Ju-rei: The Uncanny (Ju-rei: Gekijou-ban - Kuro Ju-rei) review

Ju-rei: The Uncanny is the fifth movie and second theatrical release in a series of low-budget supernatural horror films put out by Broadway Productions. The films before Ju-rei were basically compilations of random ghost stories. Ju-rei changes things up a bit by presenting one story broken up into chapters much like the Ju-on series. In fact, this movie is so much like the original V-cinema Ju-on that it almost seems like a prequel. I’m sure the similarities are completely intended as Ju-rei isn’t particularly shy about stealing bits and pieces from some of the more successful J-horror films of the past decade for the sake of cheap scares. But cheap scares are still scares. And even though it doesn’t really live up to the bold claim printed at the top of the region 1 DVD, “The most horrifying film from Japan!”, it’s still got a few modest innovations and genuinely jumpy moments to throw at you.

Much like every film in the Ju-on series Ju-rei is set up in short chapters in which you meet a character, see that character drop dead in some unspeakable way, then move on to the next chapter/victim. The biggest innovation in Ju-rei is that it starts with chapter 10 and works its way backwards. We actually get to see the ending first and the further we work back the more people are left alive until we finally reach the origin of the curse that claimed them earlier (or later). Confused yet? I know I am. I guess this synopsis could be considered laced with spoilers since I’m giving away the ending first, but honestly, it doesn’t matter.

Chapter 10 - A group of teenage girls are out on the street at night practicing a synchronized dance routine (ha!) when one of them hears an odd clicking noise. Yes, it’s the same kind of throaty clicking noise from the Ju-On movies. One of them catches a glimpse of a creepy dark figure and when she tries to explain it to the others they notice their friend, Miho, is now standing away from the group looking down at something. Uh oh…

Chapter 9 - Noriko (Chinatsu Wakatsuki) is home alone when she receives a call from her friend Hitomi (Eriko Takada). She hears a creepy gurgle and hangs up. When she calls back she hears Hitomi’s ring tone coming from inside the house. A few minutes of incessant ringing later we find out what happened to Hitomi.

Chapter 8 - Noriko’s dad (Ichiro Ogura) is on a business trip. While staying in a hotel he keeps hearing odd banging noises on the wall from the room next to him. When it’s confirmed nobody’s actually staying in that room it becomes clear the banging isn’t coming from the other side after all.

Chapter 7 - Rie (Miku Ueno) is obviously tense and calls Noriko over to keep her company. When Noriko arrives Rie starts asking her weird questions about ghosts. Rie suddenly gets scared about something and screams at Noriko to get out. We then find out she had a perfectly legitimate reason to be afraid.

Chapter 6 - Rie is working overtime at a hair salon. While sweeping up hair she thinks she sees a person’s face in a trash bag. Her boss lets her go home early and then has her own hairy experience.

Chapter 5 - Noriko’s little brother Junya is the last one left at school because their mother never picked him up. His teacher (Yurei Yanagi - yep, the same teacher from the V-Cinema Ju-On) tells him a creepy story about a man in black. When the teacher has to go receive a phone call Junya sees a shadow at the top of the stairs that apparently resembles his mother.

Chapter 4 - Noriko and Junya’s mother, Mayuko (Hiromi Senno), is leaving the hospital after visiting her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law doesn’t seem to want her to leave, however.

Chapter 3 - Mayuko is in the hospital room with her mother-in-law who seems to be babbling incoherently about someone else being in the room.

Chapter 2 - Noriko, Rie, and Hitomi are in the lobby of the movie theater. Hitomi is passed out on the bench because she fainted for some reason. Noriko takes her home to take care of her. Hitomi is acting kind of strange and when Noriko leaves her alone for a few minutes to look for some antiseptic she disappears.

Chapter 1- Noriko, Rie, and Hitomi are all leaving the movie theater after having watched “Cursed Video: The Movie”. Hitomi tells them about a scarier story she read about on the net involving a black shadowed figure. Hitomi remembers she forgot her scarf in the theater and what she sees in there causes her to faint.

Prologue - If you watch this part, you’ll die!

As you can tell, Ju-Rei is more about individual scares than depth of story. In that capacity it’s fairly effective and there were a few moments that made me a little bit jumpy the first time I watched it. You really never know when something is going to pop out at you and tension is always built up properly beforehand to maximize the moment. Also, the lack of camera mobility is actually put to good use in a very innovative way, turning a technical limitation into an actual scare tactic. Whenever the camera is stuck in one position for a long time you can be sure there will be something creepy in the scene somewhere. It sort of becomes a “Where’s Waldo” of ghostly figures and shadows scattered throughout the film and really succeeds in making something out of nothing. Although most of the sound effects are ripped off from other films like Ju-On and Ringu, the music is legitimately creepy, gradually shifting from demonic choir music to odd high-pitched yelping sounds during some of the scarier moments.

Ju-rei is definitely low-budget. The lighting is absolutely horrible throughout and shows exactly why most similar low-budget productions usually choose to shoot in broad daylight. Also, the acting is about what you might expect from a bunch of teen models that have never acted before. Even so, if you really love supernatural horror films and have seen everything there is to see, Ju-rei is certainly worth a look. Otherwise, there are many other J-horror classics to watch before this one.

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