Ju-on
Encyclopedia
is the title of a series of horror film
s by Japanese
director
Takashi Shimizu
. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa
. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.
, or direct-to-video
releases, but became surprise hit
s as the result of favorable word of mouth. The story is a variation on the classic haunted house
theme, as well as a popular Japanese horror trope, the "vengeful ghost
" (onryo). The curse
of the title, ju-on, is one which takes on a life of its own and seeks new victims. Anyone who encounters a ghost killed by the curse is killed themselves and the curse is able to be spread to other areas.
Under very tight budgetary constraints, Shimizu's films garnered much acclaim from both critics and genre fans for their effective use of limited locations and eerie atmosphere to generate chills. Shimizu was at the same time perfectly willing to show his ghosts onscreen, in contrast to some directors who might choose only to hint at their appearance. But critics noted that Shimizu's minimalist approach to directing and storytelling — a necessary by-product of the production's limited overall resources — allows the films to retain their ability to unnerve viewers. Very few scenes in the movies are graphically bloody, making such scenes more disturbing when they occur.
Following the success of the two direct-to-video films, and the international success of Hideo Nakata
's Ring
(1998), Kurosawa and Ring screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi helped Shimizu develop Ju-on as a theatrical feature starring Megumi Okina
and Takako Fuji
. Titled Ju-on: The Grudge, this was released in 2003 to critical acclaim, and the US
remake
rights were purchased, with Shimizu himself attached to direct and Sarah Michelle Gellar
starring. Later that year, a theatrical sequel
, Ju-on: The Grudge 2, was released. In 2004, the US remake, The Grudge
, was released.
The stories of Kanna and Tsuyoshi are further extended in Ju-on 1.
. There were also two manga adaptations released in the same year, called Ju-On -video side-, and Ju-On 2, which follow other events from the series that were omitted in the novel. They were all published by Kadokawa
in Japan, and Dark Horse
in North America.
was developed for the Wii. The game was released in Japan in 2009 by AQ Interactive
under the title Kyoufu Taikan: Ju-on (Fear Experience: Ju-on), and in Europe under the title Ju-On: The Grudge - A Fright Simulator.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s by Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu is a Japanese film director, best known for the Ju-on series of horror films.-Filmography:...
. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...
. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.
History
The title of the films translates roughly to The Curse or The Grudge. The first two films in the series were so-called V-CinemaV-Cinema
Japanese is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but is widely used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video release. In Japan the term used is...
, or direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
releases, but became surprise hit
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
s as the result of favorable word of mouth. The story is a variation on the classic haunted house
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
theme, as well as a popular Japanese horror trope, the "vengeful ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
" (onryo). The curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
of the title, ju-on, is one which takes on a life of its own and seeks new victims. Anyone who encounters a ghost killed by the curse is killed themselves and the curse is able to be spread to other areas.
Under very tight budgetary constraints, Shimizu's films garnered much acclaim from both critics and genre fans for their effective use of limited locations and eerie atmosphere to generate chills. Shimizu was at the same time perfectly willing to show his ghosts onscreen, in contrast to some directors who might choose only to hint at their appearance. But critics noted that Shimizu's minimalist approach to directing and storytelling — a necessary by-product of the production's limited overall resources — allows the films to retain their ability to unnerve viewers. Very few scenes in the movies are graphically bloody, making such scenes more disturbing when they occur.
Following the success of the two direct-to-video films, and the international success of Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker.-Life and career:Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring , Ring 2 and Dark Water...
's Ring
Ring (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
(1998), Kurosawa and Ring screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi helped Shimizu develop Ju-on as a theatrical feature starring Megumi Okina
Megumi Okina
is a Japanese actress, and J-Pop singer in the 1990s.Born in Hiroshima and raised in Tokyo, she made her J-Pop debut on 19 August 1995. She starred in the Japanese original of The Grudge....
and Takako Fuji
Takako Fuji
is a Japanese actress and seiyū with strong ties to theatre.-Biography:A native of Tokyo, Honshū Island, Japan who was born there in 1972, Fuji studied acting at the Aoyama Gakuin University, and subsequently joined the Ein Theatrical Company. Her work was usually on-stage or in voice-over studios,...
. Titled Ju-on: The Grudge, this was released in 2003 to critical acclaim, and the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
rights were purchased, with Shimizu himself attached to direct and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
starring. Later that year, a theatrical sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Ju-on: The Grudge 2, was released. In 2004, the US remake, The Grudge
The Grudge
The Grudge is the 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge, and the first horror film in the Ju-on series, Ju-on 1. The film is the first installment in the American horror film series The Grudge...
, was released.
The Curse
The Ju-on movies follow the lives of the people affected by a curse created by a murdered housewife in a house in Nerima. It was said that when one person dies with a deep and burning grudge, a curse is born. The curse gathers in the place where that person has died or where he was frequent at (in the series' case, the house in Nerima) and repeats itself there. The curse manifests on those who encounter the curse by any means, such as entering the house or being in contact with somebody who was already cursed. The curse's manifestation is mainly death, where the victims' bodies may or may not disappear. The following deaths create more curses and spreads the curse in other places.Ju-on timeline
Ju-on was originally released as two low-budget straight-to-video Japanese television movies in 2000. Three years later, due to the success of the videos, Takashi Shimizu, director of all, made a theatrical version based on the videos, titled Ju-on also, (sometimes noted as Ju-on: The Grudge). This version is widely available in America. Then that version spawned a sequel, now available in America, titled Ju-on 2 (Ju-on: The Grudge 2). A year later Takashi Shimizu directed The Grudge, an American remake. It is based on the theatrical version of Ju-on, but it contains scenes re-enacted from all of the Ju-on movies.1998
- Katasumi and 4444444444Katasumi and 4444444444Katasumi and 4444444444 are two 1998 Japanese horror short films directed by Takashi Shimizu, related to the Ju-on series.-Creation of the Ju-on series:...
(shown within television movieTelevision movieA television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
Gakkō no kaidan G)
- Katasumi follows the demise of Kanna and her classmate, Hisayo. They are feeding rabbits at school when Kayako, the ghost in the series and the curse's fulfiller, attacks them both.
- 4444444444 follows the death of Tsuyoshi, Kanna's older brother. Tsuyoshi comes to school to meet his girlfriend, Mizuho, and finds a mysterious ringing cell phone whose caller ID shows a strange number, 4444444444. (The number 4 in Japanese is a homophoneHomophoneA homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
of the Japanese character for "death.") The ghost of Toshio, Kayako's son and also one of the curse's fulfiller, appears and takes Tsuyoshi; his body is never found.
The stories of Kanna and Tsuyoshi are further extended in Ju-on 1.
2000
- Ju-on, aka Ju-on: The Curse (V-CinemaV-CinemaJapanese is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but is widely used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video release. In Japan the term used is...
); (Available only in Japan, Germany, and Scandinavia)
- Ju-on 1 follows the lives of the people connected to a house in Nerima, Tokyo where a gruesome murder of a housewife occurred. School teacher Shunsuke Kobayashi visits the home of his absent student, Saeki Toshio, where he discovers Toshio beaten and bruised. He waits for Toshio's parents to come. Too late, he realizes what the Saeki family has become and not even Kobayashi's wife makes it out alive. The movie also explores the fates of the next family to live in the house, the Murakami family, as well as two people who come into contact with them. This timeline of the film also extends the stories of Tsuyoshi and Kanna from Gakkō no kaidan G. The last timeline shows a snippet of Suzuki Kyoko's experience, a psychic invited by her brother to look into the house that he was going to sell, which was the cursed Saeki house. This movie showed death or vanishing as the curse's result.
- Ju-on 2Ju-on 2Ju-on 2 is the second film in the Japanese Ju-on series. The film was released in Japan on March 25, 2000 and was later released onto video on April 14, 2000....
, aka Ju-on: The Curse 2 (V-Cinema); (Available only in Japan, Germany, and Scandinavia)
- Ju-on 2
- Ju-on 2 continues the story of Suzuki Kyoko and shows how the curse affected everyone in her family. It also shows the story of another couple, the Kitadas, living in the house and the extended storyline of Det. Kamio from Ju-on 1. Ju-on 2 also shows a snippet of a scene that plays in the theatrical versions of the films, being the fate of the school girls who had snuck into the house, one of which is Toyama Izumi, whose story would be continued in Ju-on: The Grudge.
2003
- Ju-on: The GrudgeJu-on: The Grudgeis a 2003 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. The film is the third entry in the Ju-on series and is the first film theatrically released...
, aka The Grudge; (Japan, released in the UK and USA)
- Ju-on: The Grudge centers on the fate of social worker Nishina Rika. Rika comes to visit the house of Tokunagas (the old Saeki house) where she was summoned after the social worker assigned to the house has disappeared. Surviving a terrible experience in that house, she discovers the real reason about the deaths connected to the house. It was later revealed that Rika was the one destined to play out the curse: she was to die the same way as Kayako and become the next fulfiller of the Ju-on. In this movie, it was revealed that the curse has some time-traveling capabilities (or residual hauntingResidual hauntingIn the terminology of ghost hunting, residual hauntings, also known as restligeists , are repeated playbacks of auditory, visual, olfactory, and other sensory phenomena that are attributed to a traumatic event, life-altering event, or a routine event of a person or place, like an echo or a replay...
) where a victim may see another victim from another time frame. An example is that Det. Toyama Yuji saw what will happen to his daughter, Izumi, years after his death when she entered the house. Izumi was just 12 when Yuji died and when she entered the house at 16, she sees her father just before he encounters Kayako. However, this is not just prior to his death, because he runs out of the house and it is later revealed by Izumi's mother that he went crazy before he died.- Ju-on: The Grudge 2Ju-on: The Grudge 2Ju-on: The Grudge 2 is a 2003 Japanese horror film and the fourth in the Ju-on series written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. The film was released in Japan on August 23, 2003....
, aka The Grudge 2; (Japan, released in the UK and USA)
- Ju-on: The Grudge 2
- Ju-on: The Grudge 2 revolves around the actress Harase Kyoko's pregnancy. After a car accident caused by Toshio's ghost, Kyoko apparently miscarries. When her doctor assures her of a healthy pregnancy, Kyoko becomes perplexed. It is revealed that Kyoko was involved with a television production filmed at a haunted house - the house of the Saekis in Nerima. Producer Keisuke finds Kyoko and informs her that most members of the film crew have been killed or gone missing. The outcome of Kyoko's pregnancy is horrifyingly revealed as she gives birth to Kayako. As another incarnation of the curse, this showed that the curse could cause a pregnant woman to carry Kayako in her womb.
2004
- The GrudgeThe GrudgeThe Grudge is the 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge, and the first horror film in the Ju-on series, Ju-on 1. The film is the first installment in the American horror film series The Grudge...
(American)
- This was largely a remake of Ju-on: The Grudge, following the story of Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
), a social worker assigned to take care of Emma Williams. The movie varies slightly from the original, because Karen burns the house and survives the curse. However, the house is saved.
2006
- The Grudge 2The Grudge 2The Grudge 2 is the 2006 sequel to the 2004 American horror film remake The Grudge. The Grudge 2 is the second film in Sony's The Grudge series and is directed by Takashi Shimizu and written by Stephen Susco. The film is produced by Sam Raimi and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amber Tamblyn, Arielle...
(American)
- This movie tells the story of a school girl Allison who entered the house upon the pressure of her friends Vanessa and Miyuki. The curse follows her to Chicago even though she was trying to escape it causing the whole Chicago apartment to be cursed. This movie also followed the story of Aubrey, Karen's younger sister, on her quest to stop the curse after her sister Karen falls to her death from the hospital roof.
2009
- The Grudge 3The Grudge 3The Grudge 3 is the direct-to-DVD sequel to the American horror film The Grudge and its sequel, The Grudge 2. The film was directed by Toby Wilkins taking Takashi Shimizu's place. The film was released on May 12, 2009. It stars Johanna Braddy and Shawnee Smith-Plot:Jake is brutally murdered by...
(American) was released on DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on May 12, 2009. This film is a continuation of the events that took place in the Chicago, Illinois vignette of The Grudge 2. - In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Ju-on series two new Japanese Ju-on films titled Ju-on: Shiroi Rōjo (The Grudge: Old Lady in White) and Ju-on: Kuroi Shōjo (The Grudge: Girl in Black) premiered in simultaneous screenings in theaters in Japan on June 27, 2009. Takashi ShimizuTakashi ShimizuTakashi Shimizu is a Japanese film director, best known for the Ju-on series of horror films.-Filmography:...
and Taka Ichise return to supervise the films, each with a different director.
Books
In 2003, a novelization of stories from the film series was was written by Kei Ohishi, called Ju-On. It elaborates on events and characters from both Ju-on and Ju-on: The GrudgeJu-on: The Grudge
is a 2003 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. The film is the third entry in the Ju-on series and is the first film theatrically released...
. There were also two manga adaptations released in the same year, called Ju-On -video side-, and Ju-On 2, which follow other events from the series that were omitted in the novel. They were all published by Kadokawa
Kadokawa Shoten
is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
in Japan, and Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
in North America.
Video Game
In honor of the series' 10th anniversary, a game, titled Ju-on: The Grudge Haunted House SimulatorJu-on: The Grudge (video game)
Ju-on: The Grudge—Haunted House Simulator, known in Japan as titled Ju-On: The Grudge—A Fright Simulator in Europe, is a first-person graphic adventure video game developed for the Wii game device. It is an adaptation of the Japanese horror film series Ju-on directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also...
was developed for the Wii. The game was released in Japan in 2009 by AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. AQ stands for Artistic Quality. It was the parent company of the developers Artoon, Cavia and feelplus, and most recently the U.S. publisher Xseed Games...
under the title Kyoufu Taikan: Ju-on (Fear Experience: Ju-on), and in Europe under the title Ju-On: The Grudge - A Fright Simulator.