(no subject)
So last night Croik and I went to see one of the horrorfest movies--Reincarnation, by the creator of Ju-on and The Ring. I thought it was actually a pretty good movie, though we got into a discussion afterwards that got me thinking. So I just felt like sharing those thoughts now. ^^ Some spoilers for the movie, just in case you want to see it and want to keep the twist a surprise!
Obviously, there were quite a few Grudge and Ring elements to the movie--that's the style of the director/writer, after all. But there wasn't as much scary hair in this one, hooray! The basic plot of the movie was an insane professor studying reincarnation takes his kids to a hotel for a "vacation." While there, he murders 8 guests and workers, and his two children, before killing himself. He recorded the whole thing with a small 8mm camera, and was rather terrifying as he stood over the people he stabbed, just wating for them to die. Nearly 35 years later, the spirits of those dead people are back, taking what seem to be random people. A movie director obsessed with the story begins writing and casting a new film based on the story.
The man character in the movie is a 20-some year old actress who has been picked to play the part of the professor's last victim, his 5-6 year old daughter (aged for the movie) As she starts reading the script and rehersing, she seems to be haunted by the spirit of a little girl carrying a really creepy doll (that looked like a gelflin from Dark Crystal, strangely enough.)
After the movie, Croik and I were talking about how it was an interesting plot for the movie, but that it wasn't really that scary. Save for a few jumps and some creepy Professor-with-camera moments, it wasn't as shiver-inducing as some of his other movies have been.
Personally, I think Shimizu isn't really a "Horror Movie" writer. At least, not in the American way of thinking. His stories aren't so much about the deaths and the gore as movies like Saw, Hostel, Texas Chainsaw, or Elm Street are about. In those, you're really meant to hate the killers. In some cases, you might feel a bit sorry for the circumstances that send them to become monsters, but you really only can empathize with the victims of the film.
Shimizu seems to take a different approach. Although you're horrified by the deaths, especially those that seem rather unfair (like the sister in the first Grudge who got pulled under her bed), there is a real sense of sympathy for the villain. With Sadako/Samara, though she was obviously a troubled child, she had been abandoned by her crazy mother, sent to live with a mother that feared her and a father that imprisoned her. Her ghost lived on because of vengence.
Same is true of the Grudge (duh, the title, right?) Though Kayako is merciless to her victims, it was because no mercy was shown to her. Her husband was so hateful that he killed her because he suspected she had cheated on him. And he even killed their innocent son! However bad you feel for the people Kayako is killing, you can't help but feel a little of her pain as well. In the end of Ju-on, Rika escapes her wrath by actually empathizing with her, seeing through her eyes for once. She took the moment to put herself in Kayako's shoes, to understand why she might have been so hateful. Of course, doing that ended up putting her into the hands of Kayako's husband and she died anyway, but that just makes you feel all the more sorry for both the women.
I felt this new movie, Reincarnation, was in the same vein. You feel awful for the victims of the killing, especially the children and the very likeable maid. They want vengence and return, but not just to get revenge on the man that killed them. They also claim the lives of the people they were reborn as, so that they would be "together forever"--so says the spirit of the little daughter. The real twist of the movie--DON'T READ IF YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!!--is that the main girl that you all along believed was the reincarnation of the child turns out to be the killer. Nagisa is a very timid, polite, quiet girl, and it was a bit unexpected that she turned out to be the insane professor. (Unexpected unless you're Croik--she figured it out rather early on :P ) All this time you've been sympathizing with her, thinking she's this tortured soul of a girl killed by her own father, after having watch that father stab her protective older brother to death. And now you realize that she used to be that heartless man herself. And even though part of you is going "finally! the bastard deserves to be tortured," you're also torn from wanting Nagisa to be forgiven, since she was such an innocent person.
This new movie got me to see Shimizu's movies in a bit of a new light, and I think I'll end up appreciating them more because of it. I like that he tries to deliver a different angle on a typical horror concept like deadly hauntings by making you empathize with the villain, as that's something you don't really see in a lot of American movies--it's always the good verses the bad, in a way.
So in the end, I kinda liked the movie, even if it wasn't all that scary. Maybe I'll have better luck with one of the others, if we find time to go. I'm so glad it was in Japanese, though! Even if it was a little hard to read such big words, it was much better than if it had been badly dubbed.
Okay, end rant! ^_^ Phew.