Junk (2000)

Even Japan wasn't immune from the outbreak of zombie themed horror movies. It could be argued that the Japanese helped usher in the movement with such films as "Versus" from 2000 as well as today's review, "Junk". Personally, I found "Junk" to be more entertaining and ridiculous than "Versus". Labeled as a Yukuza Zombie film, "Junk" pays homage to zombie classics like "Re-Animator" and "Dead Alive". Because of these obvious influences, the zombie make-up is kept cheesy and barely a step above the quality of work that Tom Savini was doing in the early 1980's. But the film does capture a hint of the comedic undertones that both movies had, sometimes to the point that you think that the acting is a bit too much over the top.

A team of four amature thieves pull off a daring jewelry robbery and make off with an estimated 100 million yen worth of loot. They make plan with a local yukuza boss to sell the stolen goods to and begin daydreaming of what their lives are going to become. The trade is to take place at an old abandonded military base. Unknown to these two groups, the US military was using the base to conduct unauthorized tests in reanimation. The tests were successful but the scientists and other personnel were all killed and turned. It's not long before the thieves and the yukuza run into the zombies, and during a fire fight between the two, more zombies are created. Now it's a race for survival until the military can come save the day, led by the co-creator of the reanimation serum.

Favorite moment - Watching the "zombie queen" in action, clearly more of a video game final boss than a regular old standard zombie!

Kyoko the zombie queen is hungry

Kyoko now has white hair! Whaa?

Yukuza checking out the stolen loot.

Kuchisake-onna (2007)

"Kuchisake-onna" aka "Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman" is a Japanese horror film based on the urban legend from the 1970's about a disfigured woman who kills children after asking them if she is pretty. The film is able to incorporate the urban legend and gives it an origin and expands on it in modern day Japan. The film also deals with the theme of child abuse by having the two of the main characters being victims and another being an abuser. This adds an interesting and deeper element that often isn't seen in horror movies but at the same time doesn't look in to the issue as deeply as it might have been if it was an American film.


Kyoko Yamashita is a teacher who becomes involved with the Slit-Mouthed Woman after the Kuchisake-onna kidnaps one of her students. The matter is extremely personal because Kyoko is trying to make amends for abusing her own daughter by trying to save her student, Mika, from a similar situation with her mother. Kyoko teams up with another teacher from her school, Noboru Matsuzaki, when she learns that he hears the faint words "Do you think I'm pretty" right before a child is kidnapped. The two manage to rescue a boy from the Kuchisake-onna just in time, killing her in the process. But when the corpse of the murderer suddenly turns into a local housewife, they realize that the ghost possesses people and that the terror is only beginning....

Mika and her teacher Kyoko

The Kuchisake-onna kidnapping Mika

Kyoko and Noboru fight with the Kuchisake-onna

The Kuchisake-onna makes an example of her victim

The Kuchisake-onna unmasked

Ju-on 2 (2003)

"Ju-on 2", the full length sequel to "Ju-on: The Grudge", is a surprising improvement over the original film that kick started Americans interest in Japanese horror films. The film has a stronger plot and is scarier than the the original. The effects are more effective and more profound, using photo techniques rather than out right CGI. The story is again broken up into individual chapters that focus on a primary character. The chapters are not in exact chronological order but are presented in a way that is not too confusing and makes sense when the movie is over.

The film focuses on a set of primary characters who are involved with filming a TV show inside the haunted house where housewife Kayako and her son Toshi were violently killed by their husband/father.

Kyoko is a horror movie actress and is set to make a guest appearance on a weekly TV show. This particular episode takes place and is about the violent murder of a housewife and the disappearance of her son. After filming the episode, Kyoko and her boyfriend have a horrible car accident (cause by seeing Toshi). Her boyfriend falls into a coma and she believes that she lost her unborn child; the baby turns out to be ok. While she survived her run in, her mother dies at home under mysterious circumstances.

Others at the filming also have run ins with the ghosts, including the episodes co-star, Tomoka and her boyfriend, the make-up artist Megumi, and the random disappearances of the camerman and sound guy. Only the director, Keisuke, lives more than a few days....

Favorite moment - A chilling scene where Kayako is coming for one of the characters but is stopped by another force!

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

The original "Ju-on: The Grudge" is an excellent Japanese horror film that inspired an American remake, allowing director Takashi Shimizu that chance to go back and tweak his original work. I was surprised at how many little differences there were and yet satisfied that the two films were still alike. The first half is almost identical to the remake with only minor differences. The sound effects and visuals are better in the remake but the ones in the original still do a decent job. The story line in the remake also makes more sense, having an American family seen moving in versus having a family already there. Otherwise, everything is more or less the same.

In the Japanese version there is one additional chapter that is not seen in the American version, and this particular piece is perhaps the scariest part of the movie. It takes place several years later and revolves around a high school girl who, with her three friends, went inside the house. She ran away while her friends were killed, and now she knows that they are coming for her.

The final chapter revolves around Rika, the character that was later re-written for Sarah Michelle Gellar in the remake. This chapter also takes place several years later. Rika still works for the mental health insitution, and meets up with an old friend who is now a teacher. Her friend is having to make house calls and ends up visiting the same house. Meanwhile, Rika is having visions of the ghost boy and his cat, and when she realizes that her friend is in danger, Rika tries to stop her before it's too late. But this is a horror movie, so it's always too late....

Shikoku (1999)

"Shikoku" is a slower, more spiritual, Japanese horror film from 1999. Shikoku is the name of the smallest of Japan's four main islands, and depending on the kanji used, the meaning of Shikoku is either "four countries" or "land of the dead". This fact is used as one of the primary elements in the story. The film is about ghosts but the scares and gore are minimal while the movie depends more on plot and the building atmosphere.

It revolves around three main characters, Hinako, Fumiya, and Sayori. Sayori and her family perform various spiritual rites and Japanese style seances, and all Sayroi wants is to grow up and and leave the small village so she can live life to the fullest. Instead, she ends up dying while still in school. Fumiya is the boy that Sayori has a crush on; after her death he leaves the small village and works in Osaka for three years before returning home. Hinako, seen more as Sayori's sidekick that real friend, ends up moving away to Tokyo with her parents at a young age. But before she moved, she accidentally witnessed one of Sayori's rituals, and in the next scene she is seen almost drowning in the river but is "saved" by Sayori just in time.

Several years later Hinako returns to the village to handle some affairs concerning her family's old house. She meets up with her old playmate Fumiya and learns that Sayori had drowned in the same river that she almost died in. Hinako asks who is living in Sayori's old house after seeing someone in the window, but no one does. After seeing what could be a yurei (Japanese ghost), both Hinako and Fumiya begin looking into Sayori's family history and wondering why her mother is continuing to go on the "pilgrimage" to the 88 temples that surround the island. When they find out that Sayori's mother is visiting the temples in reverse order, they realize that she might be trying to open the divide that separate the world of the living from the world of the dead in hopes of bringing Sayori back to life.

Hidako returns to her hometown.

Sayori returns to life!

Fumiya and an officer check out some vandalism.

Fumiya discovers a weird ritual site.

One Missed Call 2 (2005)

I must admit that I have never seen the original "One Missed Call" or it's American remake but it's safe to say that any viewer will pretty much gets the idea of what the story is about in the sequel without needing to see them. The theme is the same, a victim will receive a missed phone call and that the victim will receive a voice message on how they are going to die. The cursed phone call comes with a unique ring tone that the phone's owner doesn't recognize. While there are some clues that carry over from the first film, a new set of circumstances replace those and up the ante of the curse. In the film, you discover that the rash of "murders" is also occurring in not only Japan but also in Tawain, where the curse ultimately began. The suspected killer in the first film turns out to be a victim themselves and the curse is older than any one could have guessed. The race is on to fins a way to break the curse as more characters receive the cursed phone call with a mysterious date in the near future....

The Roommate (2010)

"The Roommate" is a low, low budget Japanese film that feels more like an amateurs ode to the genre of recent Japanese ghost films than an original movie. I didn't mind the acting, the story line, or the visuals but the sound effects were sometimes very grating, especially in one scene where there is supposed to me a stabbing sound. (shudder). Even though the film is full of Japanese ghost cliches, the ending was still unique and the movie was overall enjoyable. The short run time of only 70 minutes also helps.


The film follows two women, the pretty and likable Tamaki, and the plain hard working Ayako. They live together in an apartment in Tokyo. You can tel pretty quickly that Tamaki has more than just a crush on Ayako and that Ayako is beginning to feel the same. One night, Ayako is surprised by a phone call from her father, who she hasn't in over ten years since moving to Tokyo. Her father shows up while she is out and Tamaki is mistaken as Ayako. Ayako's father apologizes and admits that it's been too long since he's seen his daughter. In the next scene, Ayako comes home but her father has left and Tamaki says that she couldn't convince him to stay. That night, Ayako begins to have visions of a female ghost; this ghost continues to appear throughout the film. The more that Ayako sees the ghost, the more people around the two women begin to disappear. Will Ayako find out the secret of the ghost or is Tamaki trying to hide something form her roommate?