Noroi: The Curse
Directed by Koji Shiraishi
SADAKO VS. KAYAKO director Kôji Shiraishi helms this highly praised, riveting found-footage horror must-see. NOROI takes the form of a documentary by a prominent paranormal journalist named Kobayashi, who went missing shortly after completing it. What begins as an investigation into strange noises soon evolves into the chilling mystery of a demonic entity named Kagutaba, as suspense and terror build steadily to a heart-stopping finale.
A paranormal journalist explores a series of strange events that may be connected to an ancient demon.
Cast: Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno, Tomono Kuga
Member Reviews
Unfortunately, not as good as I had hoped. As a fan of the found footage genre, Noroi had been on my watch list for a long time. Today, I finally decided to watch it, and I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed. I've heard about this film countless times, always that it's supposed to be one of the scariest in its genre. But apart from a few scenes, I didn't notice much of that, unfortunately. I don't know if it's just me or if the film caught me on the wrong foot today, but it didn't really create a scary atmosphere. The story is presented as a pseudo-documentary and works quite well in that respect. However, I have to say honestly that too little happened, especially considering that the film is over two hours long, which is generally very long for films of this genre. There were a few good scenes here and there, but you can count them on one hand. The rest of the film is spent following our protagonist on his detective hunt for an old demon. When things happen that could be interesting or frightening, they are unfortunately mostly only shown in writing and not directly. Surprisingly, the ending is quite powerful, but unfortunately for me personally, it comes a little too late, because I found it difficult to maintain my interest during parts of the film. As a crime thriller or pseudo-documentary, "Noroi" works quite well, but unfortunately, it doesn't really scare or horrify me. The effects also leave room for improvement and further pulled me out of the intended mood. Fans of Asian horror and the genre may well enjoy this, but in my opinion, the film absolutely does not live up to the hype.
The premise was very interesting. The acting was amazing, give the tinfoil man an Oscar.
WTFF!
Very disappointing. I was excited to watch this because the ratings were so high, but this movie fell flat for me. It was cheesy, comical, annoying and lacked scares. The folklore around Kagutaba was cool, but no connection is established between many of people affected (why are they affected? How are they connected to the main woman and her son?). The movie was far too long and focused on meaningless details. Loved the main character because he's adorable, HATED the tinfoil man's character (beyond annoying). 2 instead of 1 out of 5 for the few things the film gets right: good backstory to Kagutaba and the village + a fun ending.
Top five Found Footage films of all time!