Ju-on: The Beginning of the End

Present me with an Asian horror movie and I will immediately sit down and watch it. And being familiar with the "Ju-On" franchise, of course I will sit down to watch this Japanese horror movie, as I was given the chance to do so.

However, I must say that "Ju-on: Owari no hajimari" (aka "Ju-On: The Beginning of the End") was somewhat of a swing and a miss.

First of all, there was absolutely nothing scary anywhere to be found in this movie. Well, unless you are an Asian, of course, then you'll find the little white painted boy and his floor and ceiling crawling mom scary. But for a seasoned horror veteran as myself, nothing scary in this movie at all.

Secondly, the storyline was just rubbish. It kept jumping to and from various storylines and following different characters. Sure, it was interwoven, but it just had very little appeal, especially since none of the storylines were particularly interesting and had zero scary stuff in them.

It should be said that the acting in the movie was actually good, taking into consideration the fact that the actors and actresses had very little to work with in terms of a proper script.

All in all, "Ju-On: The Beginning of the End" was a less than mediocre foray into the "Ju-On" genre, and it was a weak movie in itself. My rating of the movie is a meager three out of ten stars.

Another scary flick in this long running Jap-horror series that seems to run out of new tricks this time around. The SCARE here is still scary and creepy, however it just feels too repetitive and we can see that it tarted to run out of any new ideas or scares here. Even they might have some new ideas here but in the end those scenes unfortunately just become laughable and make the film even less scarier and just become an embarrassment to this respected franchise. I have to admit I did laugh out loud in one of the scenes because of that. There are also some GORES here but nothing that shocking or that you haven't seen before from other horror films. Overall, this latest Ju-On film may have some classic scares here and there but in the end, the film is still a disappointing one in the series that try to bring in some new scares but ultimately resulting in becoming a laughable and forgettable one instead. >>C+<<

I watched this movie last night right after I watched Ju-on: Black Ghost (2009), which was rather disappointing. I had seen its co-installment, Ju-On: White Ghost (2009) the night before, which was better in terms of scares and atmosphere as well as being more cohesive, still, Black Ghost wasn't a bad effort.

This movie felt like a huge improvement from the previous two installments, which weren't all too bad, but they could have been scarier. I did like that they were shorter than most movies, clocking in at only 60 minutes. This one picks up the pace again that is very similar to Ju-on: The Grudge (2002).

Now, this is not a sequel to Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003), so there are certain reviewers incorrectly referring to this movie as Ju-on 3. This is a reboot... an American one is in the works as well. I, for one, really like the non-linear storyline and I never get bored of it. And this is coming from someone who has seen 5 Ju-on movies this week alone (sixth one will be Ju-on: The Final Curse (2015)).

The scares, or the story in general now, has been used in different variations overtime, so it has gotten pretty repetitive now up to the point where I wasn't scared but rather impressed by the changes they made in this movie (talking about the last few scenes here). The very ending was funny and pretty disturbing at the same time.

All in all, I'd recommend this movie to everyone who loves the Ju-on series, it will not be disappointing. Let's see what the sequel, Ju-on: The Final Curse has in store for us.

While this might not be as good as some of its predecessors, it is a pretty decent reboot with great scares and an anachronistic plot.The fact that there are two POV's makes it seem a bit unique compared to a few horrors with a linear plot. But despite having such great suspense, atmosphere and a decent plot. It does also have its flaws. While I did like the sound effects that were used in this film, the film seemed to go way too extreme with some of them and made them a bit too loud.

Now I'm going to put my thoughts and stars out of ten put into the work they made.

Suspense - 9.4/10 = The suspense on the film manages to catch a high score as it makes the film more better as we get further onto it. It could do a little bit more improvements, but overall I think the suspense in this film would probably be one of the best I've seen in films I've watched.

Plot - 7.4/10 = While it was a bit repetive with a few flaws to the plot. It still is a very decent story line that supports the suspense further on. The anachronism order is what makes the plot even more decent. Although, I do wish that it could've branched out more in terms of narrative and ideas, because some plot points had potential, but eventually became slightly stale further on. Still doesn't mean it wasn't bearable though.

Sound Effects - 8.7/10 = The sound effects that are used in the film can be a bit loud for your ears sometimes, but are very unique in their own ways. The film perfectly deforms simple sounds into what sounds horrifying and scary.

To conclude this review: This film is not as strong as some Ju On movies, in my opinion, but does have some features that do make it stand out from most movies in the franchise - such as the color palette of the film being slightly dull (in a good way from my view but some will disagree), and instead of it being quiet, it was kinda loud (and no, I don't mean loud as in there's multiple jumpscares, I mean loud in terms of the sound effects) although some others will also disagree with me on this.

My overall rating for this film, will be 9/10.

(Edited in 14th April 2020 at 6:58 PM GMT - extension of plot section, some word changes, and a final consensus before rating)

In recent years, we have experienced a fair bit of disappointments from the J-horror releases. From the unremarkable extensions of classics such as The Ring (1998), to the mundane new additions to the franchise of Ju- On (2003) which features the iconic pale white kid. Ju-On 3: The Beginning of the End, contrary to what the name suggests, is the seventh installment of the franchise of Ju-On. This is the first film that has no involvement from the series creator, Takashi Shimizu. Instead, a familiar name in Japanese horror film making, Masayuki Ochiai (director of Infection, 2006) takes over. Will J-Horror films ever come back with something equivalent to one of those we've seen in the golden era of J- Horror?

For those who are familiar with the Ju-On franchise, you may already know that it adopts a format where the narrative is being 'chopped up', going back and forth to tell a story. Hence it might frustrate the viewer a little, trying to keep up and link the dots. This time, the story focuses on Yui (Nozomi Sasaki), an elementary school teacher who will slowly uncover the true reason for one of her student's absence from school. She pays the family a visit at their house, only to unravel the tragedy that happened 10 years ago. The vengeful spirits are still out to haunt for the next victims – seems like anyone who enters the 'cursed house' will not come out unscathed.

The movie begins with a hand-held camera styled sequence, which closely follows the first group of people who discovered the body of a child being left to die in the summer heat. Brace yourself for the first 'boo' scare of the movie, which sets out the tone and atmosphere of the movie. As much as we humans have this tendency to be masochistic (i.e. it's so spooky but it's so good), the truth is we won't deliberately walk into an obvious trap/danger. Hence in that respect, you may find some sequences in the movie rather illogical. Nonetheless, the whole horror atmosphere was well maintained from beginning to end – giving you the chills and keeping you in good suspense. This was supported by the seamless use of horror tracks and sound effects, one of the hallmarks of Japanese horror movies.

Director Masayuki Ochiai takes a slightly different approach as Takashi Shimizu when it comes to the scares. Masayuki has a penchant to use more graphic scenes to create the shock and impact. While it does create an impression, the prolonged screen time of some of the grossly gruesome scenes numb the eyes. The converse of having less is more will probably work better in this aspect.

Nevertheless, this new addition to the Ju-On franchise is not too shabby a J-Horror. Though any may say that this still does not match up with the first theatrical release of Ju-On in 2003, Ju-On 3 has set another milestone for the Ju-On cult for giving it a more edgy and modern remake, redefining it for the new generation that have never encountered what Ju-On is. While many of the horror sequences have to do with daily activities, be glad that a lot of them are not the common experience in Singapore – hence it won't haunt you through those endless nights.