Experience the chill of a grudge of one who has passed on yet left a stain on the world behind.
What They Say:
The final new films in the explosively popular JU-ON (The Grudge) franchise, made in cooperation with the original films’ creator Takashi Shimizu. Ju-On: White Ghost tells the story of senior high school student Akane whose strong ESP power induces her into seeing Mirai, the tragic ghost of an old school friend. Ju-On: Black Ghost tells the chilling story of a young woman called Fukie who discovers that she’s carrying an unborn ‘grudge’, which vengefully curses all those around her.
The Review:
Audio:
The only language available on this release is the original Japanese one though it does have both 2.0 and 5.1 tracks. For the purpose of this review the 5.1 track was used and it comes across well in the presentation. Dialogue is primarily center speaker driven with the other speakers used to help deepen the mood which really sets up the horror score elements nicely. During the viewing of the title no dropouts or distortions were noticed and the track as a whole came off well.
Video:
Originally released to theaters in 2009 both features here are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The video isn’t spectacular but it is well above just serviceable though there are a few problems being present during viewing that are largely minor ones. The most present issue is a bit of a level of noise that isn’t quite covered by the picture grain, an instance of rainbowing, some motion blur, jaggies, aliasing, grain, dot crawl, and two instances of blocking issues though neither was at a crucial point in the features. The features largely stick to more muted colors and environments but the picture holds really well in these situations with the darker colors and blacks staying both solid and deep which is crucial in those kinds of lighting environments.
Packaging:
When it comes to horror packaging a title can go one of two main ways- either hide the look of the monster in the hope that the later reveal provides more of a jolt to the audience or be upfront and count on the content to be able to deliver even with the reveal having been given away. For this release the later philosophy was implemented and not only does the image of the first features ghoul get revealed but so does the second feature’s. The cover of the DVD case uses the old lady ghoul from the first feature as it looks like she is appearing from the gloom as she is transparent enough to see the grey wood panel through her as she glares menacingly forward. The cover also uses the Japanese title written in bold red above the English title in a grayish white for “Ju-on,” white block letters for the “White Ghost” and black letters with white boarder for the “Black Ghost” part. The cover also writes the “Black Ghost” part as if it were the shadow of the “White Ghost” and there is a red dotted line that runs from the upper right of the cover to the lower left that crosses through the Kanji title. The back features a close up of the being from the second feature which is staring intently out, the whites of its eyes the only color seen as again it stands in front of the grey wood panel and is a bit translucent. The Japanese title is present again in red this time with the bold red line running horizontally across the cover with the copy and credits just below that.
The disc itself has a white half and black half with the Kanji on the white left side in red and copyright information opposite it at the bottom right while the top of the split colors uses the grey again for “Ju-on” and the respective titles written in white and black on the opposite color background to get them to stand out. The release also comes with a slip cover that resembles the DVD cover but it is matted in a way that gives it a slick appearance and the English and Japanese titles are a bit raised to help them catch the eye.
Menu:
The main menu is a rather stylish mix of images from the features seen as if through some kind of veil as both beings from the front and back covers can be seen behind it with the Black ghost on the left and White on the Right. It is a really nice effect that is added to by the dark theme that plays behind it. The scene select screen uses an image from one of the features of a young woman’s head staring out of a canvas bag on the left with a red screen tinge along the far left boarder. The five selectable chapter stops are present on the center right over a washed out and grayish-white image from the film and as an added touch the screen flickers slightly as a sorrowful instrumental piece plays in the background. The set up screen uses an image of one of the young girls from the picture standing next to a desk with her finger on a coin playing a Japanese fortune telling game with her long hair covering her face. The background itself is tinged red and has the look like it is being burned with the distortions and film pops that come with that. Options selected are highlighted by a jagged red line underneath the current option and the menus are quick to respond to changes in selections as well as implementing them.
Extras:
This feature contains no extras
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The world can be a dark and uncaring place but worst of all can be its random nature. A person can be going about their daily life as usual when suddenly through no fault of their own they stumble across the remnant of someone else’s pain and come face to face with the deep and powerful grudge that has been left behind and become dragged into a horrific nightmarish cycle. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original shorts that kicked off the Ju-on franchise two new tales showing that the powerful haunting of a curse isn’t limited just to the one house and the horror that dwelled inside its doors and creped out on to the world at large that was featured in the past.
The first tale in this double feature is White Ghost where the opening introduces us to the various locals where the story will be taking place and then drops us straight into the deep end as we see a young man who has hung himself in a snow covered forest. On the ground near where his body gently sways is a small cassette player as well as a canvas duffle bag that is slightly open. The tape clicks off when it reaches the end and as if that was the cue the bag suddenly starts to have a wave of hair start growing out of it. The story then shifts to find a young man named Fumiya dressed in a Santa suit and driving the delivery scooter of the cake shop he works at as he goes about his work, which on Christmas Eve means delivering Christmas cakes that had been ordered. He arrives at a house with the name plate “Isobe” and rings the bell. As he is about to leave when no one answers he hears the door open and he steps into the house, unaware that his life as he knew it is going to change.
He calls out and the lady of the house steps out of the kitchen saying she is busy and will be right there before stepping back into the kitchen. He waits a moment and as he is calls out she steps out and says the same thing. Oddly she starts repeating her words and action which catch him off guard but when he hears a loud crash from the kitchen he goes to investigate but the woman isn’t there. Concerned he starts looking around and sees signs something happened odd happened in the house and catches a glimpse of a young girl out of the corner of his eye. The true horror surrounding him won’t be revealed though until he sees a body appear that wasn’t there moments ago and then he suddenly encounters a white faced old ghost who only makes a creaking noise. From here the feature will proceed in a nonlinear fashion as it shows different glimpses into the lives of the Isobe family who lived in the house as they move into their new house and the odd events and behaviors certain members start exhibiting afterword. It will also affect the life of a young girl named Akane who is friends and a classmate with the youngest girl in the Isobe family. What will be the paths that lead to the horrors in the Isobe house and a quiet death in the forest? Will the powerful grudge destroy all who even barely cross its path or is there a chance that when people die something else may be left behind as well?
Black Ghost begins on a rainy afternoon at a middle school that is being let out. As the children all leave in their colorful rain garb and carrying umbrellas one youth glances back at the school and sees a classmate standing at a ground floor window. Curious he moves closer and sees she seems to be talking to herself and just as he is about to leaves she strikes the window in panic before falling backwards. He rushes to the window and sees he looking like she is having a spasm on the floor and he darts into the building to find the school nurse and so misses the spectacle of her lying ridged as her eyes become completely black and a creaking sound escapes her throat.
The film then shows a news report as it covers a grizzly scene of the deaths of the three members of the Matsuoka family murdered brutally at their home in Tokyo and the next day a young man, Tetsuya is walking past the scene for kicks while talking on his phone. Tetsuya lives next to a young nurse, Yuko, who he has a crush on and he wakes in the middle of the night and hears moaning from her apartment which makes him envious-until something starts hammering against their shared wall hard enough to knock things off his side. When he sees her the next day she appears completely flat and affectless but when her apartment door is left open Tetsuya is curious and he discovers she can still react-though it comes at a price as she is caught in the grip of terror when a black shadowy hand wraps across his leg and drags him in to the room.
Yuko it turns out is the nurse for the young girl in the open, Fukie who has been hospitalized while they run tests to see what is wrong with her. While she seems to be an energetic and bright girl as she likes to play around Yuko is disturbed when Fukie says she is sure she is going to die soon. The film proceeds in a nonlinear fashion showing the people connected with Fukie as the strange events start to spiral out from Fukie as it starts to engulf those closest to her like Yuko, her father, her aunt who attempts to help her and even her mother as well as Tetsuya who a degree of separation from her. As the events spiral will the source of the grudge that is lashing out be discovered? And even if it is, is there any way for anyone to fight against it or will it consume everyone around it in its bitter grip? And what fairness is there in a world that spawns such a powerful grudge that could have been beyond anyone’s power to prevent?
The original Ju-on ranks on my list of creepiest films I have ever watched and given the disappointment I found in its sequel I approached this newest release with a bit of lowered expectations. What role exactly the lowered expectations might have played I’ll probably never know but I was thrilled to find the familiar cold chill crawl up my spine when the ghosts started to appear with their patented creaking noise. From almost the first screen I was dragged into this otherworldly tale as the nonlinear nature of the stories force the viewer to work a bit harder to put the story into its proper chronology. This decision on the manner in which to show events helps to lower the viewer’s suspension of disbelief a bit which in turn helps sell the chill aspect even more. The features have only a sliver of connection to the previous films bearing the title Ju-on but this in turn allows for the franchise to branch a bit and give new surprises to the viewers. The features also found some pretty good actors and the script gives most of them enough material for the audience to be able to feel for their plight when the story takes its darker turn. Neither script is perfect however and in their roughly 60 minute each runtime some characters really don’t get fleshed out as well as others as well as a few events seem just like odd orphans whose greater impact or means of cohesion to the story was left lying on a cutting room floor somewhere. For those people who don’t buy into the ghostly presences in the film this title isn’t going to bring much to keep them around and the nonlinear nature may at times feel like more work to piece together than it needs to be.
In Summary:
Through its use of nonlinear storytelling and some wonderful camera work Ju-on White Ghost/Black Ghost bring back the fear and suspense to the franchise that the second movie largely lacked. While fans of the two previous films may be a bit disappointed by the almost complete absence of connection to anything from those films the contained ghost stories makes the release more than worth its weight in chills that it brings and it handily surpasses the first sequel. All in all though it is a very good pair of short features that can give you chills to help cool off during the hot summer months.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Well Go USA
Release Date: May 17th, 2011
MSRP: $19.98
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.