Leave The House!: Ju-On- The Grudge (2002)

At long last, I tackle another J-Horror Series.  It's fitting that I cover Ju-On- The Grudge in 2020, since I apparently covered Ringu in 2010.  Yes, even I'm surprised that it has been that long.  What happened to my life?!?!?  Enough ennui for now- the Film is bleak enough.  The Plot is that an angry ghost or ghosts will kill you if you go into/live in this House.  That's basically it.  Since this was inspired by stuff like Pulp Fiction, they decide to tell the Narrative OUT OF LINEAR ORDER.  Yeah, that's going to be fun to summarize.  Is it really a Modern Classic?  Are people being generous?  If you haven't already made up your mind beforehand, feel free to read on...

Anyone that enters a cursed House will be tormented by a ghost (or two).

You get the creepy kid, plus some stuff with cats and the girl, so I'm a bit confused about the hierarchy here.

The Film proper is roughly 8 Scenes of people at various points in the Story wandering around, hearing about a curse, wandering around some more and being killed in some way.

Wikipedia is nice enough to put the Plot in *actual* order, which helped me quite a bit.

You won't be so lucky.  After all, it's 'part of the experience,' right?

Without a straight-forward narrative and a consistent Lead, the Film basically turns into a series of vague vignettes.

Granted- it would make some sense, at least, if presented in chronological order, but, nope.

In lieu of that, we do at least get some creepy imagery in each section.  Some of it very overt, but most of it subtle.

For instance, seeing the ghost in a glass door's reflection, but not in the other shots.

When the Film wants to have some direct payoff, it is usually quite good.

You just have to linger through lots of confusion and slow glances around a room to get there.

It all leads to a big climax that may or may not actually be the proper end to the Story.  I can only trust Wikipedia (and it's anonymous Editors) on this one.

Given how hard it was to summarize, I kind of just wrote my Review in those lines above, didn't I?  The Film isn't bad.  It would be sacrilegious to Film Gods to say that about this Film.  My main problem is just the presentation.  If it was presented normally, the scares and story would mean more.  It still wouldn't have one Main Lead, but at least I wouldn't need a Wiki to clarify which part is supposed to take place in which order!  As it is, Ju-On: The Grudge is a series of vignettes that kind-of connect, but mostly work for a Horror Anthology Film.  Instead, they are supposed to act as overlapping parts of a Story...which barely works.  Here's hoping for more coherency in the Sequel, which I'll obviously be tackling next.  In the meantime, enjoy the mystique being ruined...

Next up, the obvious follow-up.  Will he learn his lesson or double down the confusion?  Stay tuned...