Ju-On (The Grudge)

For another one of my films to research, I chose to look at the Japanese film Ju-On. I decided to look at a Japanese film to see a different country's take on the supernatural horror genre (this and I greatly prefer the original Japanese to the American version).

The opening to this film is very short before the opening credits play. The entire film is very episodic and follows the stories of different people, all their stories revolving around the one house. This opening minute to the film gives some background to the film, but also keeps a lot of mystery. There is no dialogue in this first section which makes it very interesting.

It begins with a very simple image of writing on a page, which explains what a Grudge is - a very important theme for the rest of the film. It says that it's a curse on a place where somebody frequented in life, which is also an idea which is explored throughout the film. This is a very simple introduction, and it is simply words on a page and nothing more. There is also atmospheric music playing, which begins to build the audience's expectation for this film.

The rest of the opening scene has been edited to be black and white and grainy in appearance - it isn't the clearest of images, and this is to add a sense of mystery to the events that play out throughout this scene. It also gives a very distinct unhappy feel to the film. The music continues to play throughout this scene, with very few diegetic sounds. As the scene opens in it's establishing shot, we hear a cat's meow. This is significant, as the cat will be seen and heard a lot more times throughout the film as one of the spirits. The establishing shot shows the gates to the property on the left hand side, and the street leading up to it. This is a view visited a lot throughout the film, and is usually used to link all of the stories together. Having this shot at the beginning of the film, as well as the brief, confused scene that comes after, gives the audience a feeling of dread when they see someone coming up this road towards the house.

The house isn't shown in full, but what is shown is a small window at the top of the house with the light on, showing us where the action in this scene takes place. After this we see some very confused images that aren't very clear.

The sudden jumpy cuts and shaking camera gives the idea of a manic scene and gives the audience a sense of heightened panic. Each shot is only for a few seconds, but all show aspects of one man. The first image simply shows some blood staining some fabric of some sort. It isn't entirely clear what this is, all it shows is something grim has definitely happened. The next shot is a cut-in of a man's foot tapping the carpet. This is recognisable as a nervous tick, as well as the nail biting in the next shot. The scene around him shows chaos - images and photographs have been cut apart. The scissors have been abandoned carelessly on the floor by the torn and cut pictures. The pictures show the eyes of a woman, although we can't see very much more - in another picture we can see a woman's face has been cut out of a picture. This is clearly not the scene of a calm home. The scene looks manic, and it seems to revolve around this man's obsession with the women in the picture. We can automatically assume that this man has done something. The blood immediately tells the audience that something gruesome has taken place. Over top of the music we can hear the diegetic sound of the foot thumping, and in the next shot, the sound of him biting his nails. There is even more blood on the man's hands and face, adding to the chaotic and frantic look of this scene. The fingers in the foreground look redder, and stick out on the almost monotone background.

The next shot is of the man's eyes. We can see the blood splashed across his face- even more evidence of a frenzied attack. There is a calm, empty look in his face that is unnerving, given the environment around him. It becomes clear that this man is the perpetrator of this attack, although we don't know what he has done, or how this came to be. The next shot shows him methodically sticking a photograph back together - this is contrasting with the messy scraps of pictures at his feet. This is clearly odd behaviour, and it makes the audience curious about what has happened. The fact that all of these shots are extreme close ups deliberately doesn't show us the full image, which makes people confused, and interested as to where the story is going to go. Throughout all of this we can hear the sound of the cat meowing - the animal is clearly unhappy, however this sound has faded to the background behind the music, and we are used to it.

The next shot is not of the man, and is of something different, which draws the audience's attention once more. It seems to be the image of a hand, also covered in blood, but this hand is still. The hands are feminine, and from their stillness we can assume this is the body of the victim in this crime. The clothes by the side of the hand are originally white, but also covered in blood, suggesting an incredibly violent attack.

The next shot is very sudden, considering that there has not been very much action going on for the rest of the shots, so this shot of the man suddenly grabbing the cat is sudden. We hear the cat meowing desperately as it is grabbed without care. It is clear the man doesn't care about the cat and is intentionally hurting it. It also conforms the suspicions of the audience that this man is dangerous.

We don't directly see the death of the cat on screen, but it is heavily implied, as the next time we see the man he no longer has the cat, and we cannot hear the cat anymore. This makes the audience feel uneasy because this man is clearly violent. The next shot after the black cat has been attacked makes the audience even more uncomfortable, as we see a small boy. This boy is also dressed in simple white, similar to the dead woman and the man, which links all three of the introduced characters together. The fact that there's a child in the house makes us worry for the boy's safety. The boy is surrounded by drawings - which clearly shows that he's been left on his own for a long time - he has also drawn on the walls of this room, so it's clear that there has been no one checking in on this boy for a little while. The boy is also drawing a picture of a girl, which links to the photographs of the woman we've seen in the shot before. This mid-shot shows the boy in his entirety as he sits. This shot is also filmed from a high angle, making him seem even smaller. His back is showing to the camera, which presents mystery about his character, but also makes him seem vulnerable, like he's facing away from the action. This boy is seen later on in the film, and his posture and his sitting stance later on in the film can also be recognised here, helping us to see that it is the same boy. The boy's reaction to the commotion is sudden, but he doesn't look surprised. One might expect a small boy to call out for his parents or to look into the reason for the noise. This boy looks up, and then immediately looks towards the cupboard to his right. This cupboard is covered in his drawings, which suggests that he spends a lot of time in here - an alarming type of behaviour for a small child: he is used to hiding. He makes his way quickly over to the cupboard, efficiently making his way inside to hide. We don't find out what happens to this boy by the end of the first scene, and that mystery leaves us with anxiety. Although when the ghosts are shown later on in the film: first the cat, then the boy, then the women, we realise that he was also killed during this period.

The next two shots also suggest violence. We see the mouth of the woman, covered in more blood, and the man fiddling with a blade, and cleaning it off, clearly preparing it for something else. The shots don't seem to have a chronological feel to them, which adds to the confused feel of the piece, as though we can feel the manic state of mind that the man is in.

The next shot is a mid-shot of him turning around to approach something else. The lighting in this scene makes his face look deathly white, which links to how the ghosts of the victims are seem later on, as they are deathly white. There are also blood marks on his face. The blood marks on his chin look like finger marks from a struggle, also suggesting more violence has occurred. He looks so calm in this situation it's sinister, and the audience is made to feel uneasy about this presence. The next shot is suddenly black, and then the next shot is even more fuzzy, but appears to be from the woman's point of view. We can hear the man's breathing - it's uneasy and raspy, putting us on edge. It's a close up, and shows primarily the knife in the foreground, reinforcing the dangerous situation. The camera movements are very jerky as there is an extreme close-up on the dead woman's eyes. From her eyes we can recognise her from the pictures that were cut up on the floor, and we will be able to recognise her later on as the ghost when she appears.

The title card is on the same white paper as before, and the characters soak through the page, linking to the bloody first scene. This sets up the film with mystery, and only a vague backstory as to what is going to occur in the film. It does set up a very dark story of murder and obsession which will unravel through the film.