It's hard to believe it was just ten years ago that the first installment of Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On franchise hit the scene with the first of the straight-to-video entries arriving. Both Shimizu himself and the franchise in general have proven prolific, Ju-On to date spanning two Japanese straight-to-video installments, two Japanese theatrical installments and two American installments as The Grudge films. And what to do for the tenth anniversary? Make more. Lots more.
Not counting the video game entry into the franchise - also coming as part of the anniversary - there are two new feature length installments in the works - both of which are due to release on June 27th. Ju-On: Shiroi Roujo - directed by Ryuta Miyake - and Ju-On: Kuroi Shoujo - directed by Mari Asato - are the new installments, both of them supervised by Shimizu and original producer Taka Ichise. A two-for-one teaser has arrived on the anniversary website, both of them creepy as hell, and both of them looking to mess about substantially with the series mythology while also incorporating certain key elements. Check it out below the break!
i'm a sucker for asian horror...so i'll be checking out these for sure!
Never cared for this franchise. Every single movie is pretty much the same thing.
Looks like it was shot in 30p straight to video... like Chev, never really liked Ju-on. I thought it was very overrated. Ringu was much better
I'll have a look, it just can't be worse than the HORRIBLE AMERICAN THE GRUDGE 3 (one little piece of advice: stay away from this turd!).
30p? I think it was actually shot in 31.67p, with a 3:2:2:3 pulldown and a 4:1:0 colour space. Shutter angle is probably around 195 degrees, and some scenes had the gain definetly cranked up to 12db.
Looks creepy as hell.
A little disturbing for my own taste...
I love Ju-On. Just good creepy fun
I wouldn't necessarily bash on the franchise. It had its merits but do we really need more? As someone said already, its pretty much the same movie to movie.
Actually, they've changed it up a lot with these. No Kayako or Toshio in either. Same house but different stories.
I just did some digging through the archives of Twitch and it seems that at one point TOKYO GORE POLICE director Yoshihiro Nishimura was set to direct these. I guess if they had given him total creative freedom that could have been amusing but somehow I'm still glad he made VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL instead.
http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/tokyo-gore-police-diretor-talks-drill-bra-sisters-and-ju-on/
Actually the third US Grudge movie is quite decent and a lot better than the second instalment.
I liked the first two Japanese Grudges - I especially liked the way the second one manipulated time-lines so that in some cases people were being haunted by their own ghosts and the ending was creepy as hell.
Oh yeah - that "baby" thing in the second-half of the trailer - holy crap. Terrifying.
I was all excited to jump in here and support Grudge 3, but it looks like Mike and Collin have my back. Me, I'm sick of the series. Enjoyed the hell out of the first Ju-On (when it was fresh), love Marebito, and really enjoyed Rinne. But Shimizu never really seems to expand on his ideas with the sequels. Looking forward to seeing something fresh from him in the future.
Oh, and despite what I said, I'm so there for both of these.