Horror DVD Tuesday the 9th

I just got both of those DVDs in stock. Havn't cracked any open yet but I hear they are both fantastic and Ju-On is way better than Buffy could ever make it.

Floyd ... personally, I love the Asian horror wave of the past decade, and while it's definitely true that the original JU-ON is in fact better than the remake, I wouldn't get your hopes too much ...

JU-ON ( the original ) is very good, but, for example, if you didn't like RINGU, you may be underwhelmed ...

I like JU-ON and think it is a very good film, so I definitely say "buy it" ... but don't go in thiking it's gonna blow you away ... after all, it was made by the same guy as the remake, and isn't as good as KAIRO or RINGU, not to mention AUDITION, TALE OF TWO SISTERS or SUICIDE CLUB ...

Ugh, now you've got me wondering if I want to see it. I didn't much care for Audition or Suicide Club. Ringu I loved though.

BN, if you liked RINGU, you'll definitely enjoy JU-ON ... SUICIDE CLUB and AUDITION are a bit different in that they are not supernatural / ghost stories, so neither could be considered all-out horror ... I mentioned them because for me, they have set the bar to which most Asian genre films are measured ...

Now, I realize that is a bit unfair ....... Just because a film originates from a particular part of the world shouldn't mean that all films from that area be lumped together .....

Getting back to JU-ON ...... It is a haunted/supernatural/ghost story, and unlike SUICIDE CLUB and AUDITION, it doesn't tread the line between genres: it is straight-ahead horror ....

Great! because to be frankly honest, Ringu scared the #### out of me. Looked over my shoulder for days for that damn Sadako.

Rumour has it that "Dead End" is only fullscreen. The box doesn't say anything about which version it would be, but others are reporting that there's only a fullscreen version available.

Boy, you suck.

Go! Go buy Dead End! All of you, now!

Hey it's on my netflix queue.

I think the Ju-On/The Grudge preference is much like Ringu/The Ring: it really can depend on which film you saw first. Since both films share many (but not all) of the same scares, some of the effectiveness is gone before you even get a chance to see the other film. That's the nature of remakes, of course.

Ju-On's vignettes are slightly different than The Grudge (there is a side story in Ju-On that isn't in the American remake, and vice versa). However, much of it is the same. I understand some elements from the earlier videos made it into the American remake as well.

I think I prefer The Grudge. I liked the effects a little more, and there was a tad more of an arc to the story than the Japanese version (which should tell you how little a story there IS in the Japanese version). Plus the director had many more options when making the remake, and it shows (he filmed on a set instead of on location for all the house scenes, so it allowed him to do more with the camera than he could before).

That being said, I like some of the acting in Ju-On more than The Grudge. I was a huge fan of the Buffy series, but I've never really been a fan of Gellar herself. She's not awful, but I never really find her terribly engaging. I felt more empathy for some of the Japanese characters than their American counterparts.

The extras on the DVD are ok. There are several interviews with various (female) cast members. The girls are all stereotypically Japanese female types (i.e., they giggle a lot and don't say anything actually informative). The commentary track that Raimi is on is. . . . well, it's goofy. There's a lot of, "This is really creepy" in it, and a lot of jokes throughout the commentary. It's fun, but again not terribly informative (of course, Raimi had nothing to do with the production of the first film, so it wasn't likely to be informative in the first place).

I'm not upset I bought the DVD, but I can't say that I'd enthusiastically recommend it to anyone.