Over the years, Japanese
made horror films, or J-Horror, have gained international notoriety as being
some of the scariest and most cutting edge horror films ever made. The truth
is, I have only seen a handful of truly great ones, and it seems to me that
much like the horror genre anywhere else in the world, the bad ones outnumber
the good by a ridiculous number. Films such as Pulse and One Missed Call
didn’t really do anything for me; in fact, they almost put me to sleep. Upon a
friend’s recommendation, I recently watched Kōji Shiraishi’s The Curse,
a found footage style documentary which has drawn inevitable comparisons to The Blair Witch Project. Which I am a bit embarrassed to say, I still haven’t seen.
I am happy to report though, The Curse
had moments that genuinely spooked me.
The Curse
is presented as the final work of Masafumi Kobayashi, an expert paranormal
investigator who travels Japan
in search of unexplained phenomenon, writing books and producing documentaries.
This chubby, slightly bumbling character’s exploits form the body of the film,
with Kobayashi conducting interviews and piecing together clues in a sort of
tabloid private detective way. We follow Kobayashi on a house call to visit a
woman who has heard strange noises emanating from her strange next-door neighbour’s
house. It is here that the curse begins… Sharing the cameraman’s point of view,
we are positioned as an onlooker, a part of Kobayashi’s production crew. This
sets up a parameter of distance yet involves us at the same time, drawing us
into the atmosphere of the film quite effectively, with the camera as our eye
dictating what we see; the film’s terror comes from careful inclusion and
omission and is divided into clear, often short sections. For example, the
aforementioned house call is followed by footage of a television variety
program, the relevance of which is not apparent at first, yet provides
information which later falls into place. The film seems full of these
red-herring type clues, but this wide range of media, such as newspaper headlines
and archival footage, was for me, the films greatest strength, retaining my
interest throughout the bit-too-long two hour running time.
These various sources
succeed in creating a kind of trashy TV exposé style, accurately recreating the
loud enthusiasm of Japanese variety TV shows and also the kind of true crime
investigation shows that exploit eerie music and inter-titles to create clichéd
late night TV trash. Director Hiraishi has recreated this kind of TV show style
so well that I actually forgot I was watching a movie and felt a bit queasy
watching what seemed like such a lowbrow show. In that respect, his film is a
resounding success. Another of the film’s strong points is its cast. There are
so many characters in the film that it would be hard to keep track, and it is
the film’s convoluted nature that has attracted much criticism. But the film
focuses closely on Kobayashi and a select few who remain present throughout the
investigation, the majority of the actors are really quite amazing. Kobayashi
at first seems like a pitiful little man with a bogus occupation, but becomes
quite endearing over time. The character of Hori-san is pretty over the top and
annoying, but particular attention should be paid to actress Marika Matsumoto,
who gives a great performance (and scream) as a TV personality with some
psychic ability.
For me, the large cast of
characters coupled with the abundance of clues added to, rather than detracted
from the overall mood and style of the film and its perplexing happenings. The
slow burn unravelling of the curse and its increasing creepiness helps to
convey Kobayashi’s role as investigator in a believable and engrossing way. We
learn of the relevance of certain information as he does, following him through
this maze of fear.
The film contains many
textbook examples of the found footage style, including its low budget
aesthetic, and is by no means a masterpiece, but it is a horror film that is
definitely worth a look, and as I mentioned, does contain some scary scenes and
truly terrifying imagery, much of which stems from the ancient demon ritual
that the film explores. The last scene of the film was one of the scariest
things I’ve seen in a while, the perfect payoff to a slow moving and yes, at
times complex, but overall entertaining horror film.
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