Thursday, October 29, 2009

JUON: Old Lady in White


(2009)

Believe it or not, Japan continues to birth out more JUON films. In the latest installment the son of a prominent businessman murders all 5 members of his family after failing the bar exam. He later hangs himself while recording his death on cassette. In the now-familiar disjointed manner of the previous JUON films, Old Lady in White is presented as a series of short, spooky vignettes that follow the deaths of all who come in contact with the ‘grudge’ and, for reasons never explained, the cassette tape. Unlike the previous installments where there was one identifiable grudge murdering everyone, in Old Lady in White all the dead family members are grudged out and causing everyone headaches.



This is not a good film, but damnit, I still get spooked out by those damn grudge ghosts! The first appearance of a grudge in this film gave me my biggest jolt of the Horrorthon season. I was glad no one was around to hear me squeal like a schoolgirl who has just been pinned by her dreamy boyfriend. As noted above the story makes little sense but its intended audience probably won’t care given the sufficient grudge scares throughout its short run time. This film also offers the most ridiculous grudge of the franchise - the family’s grandmother who walks around hunched over holding a basketball.



I mean, even I wouldn’t be afraid of that. Also, for no discernible reason, except perhaps to link this film to the previous installments, the blue boy makes a very brief appearance meowing at a toy dog.



By the way, there is another JUON film…

4 comments:

Trevor said...

Yeah, the bright yellow fisherman's hat on the grudge girl doesn't add much to her creepiness either.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

I dunno, the ghost with the basketball seems as scary as Freddy in the sunglasses.

DKC said...

I totally thought that was a hard hat! Both options make me giggle, frankly.

Octopunk said...

I thought it was a hard hat, too, at first. Her tuxedo shirt isn't so scary either.

Cripes there's a lot of these. I love that you've taken to calling the creepies in this grudges, as in "The first appearance of a grudge in this film gave me my biggest jolt of the Horrorthon season." Awesome. It reminds me of when Julie started calling the mutant babies of the It's Alive series "its alives." "Look out, there's an it's alive in that bush!"

Great, funny review, you little schoolgirl.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...