Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)

 

Director: Kōji Shiraishi

Screenplay: Kōji Shiraishi

Cast: Mizuki Yamamoto as Yūri Kurahashi; Tina Tamashiro as Suzuka Takagi; Aimi Satsukawa as Natsumi Ueno; Masahiro Komoto as Shin'ichi Morishige; Masanobu Andō as Keizō Tokiwa; Mai Kikuchi as Tamao; Misato Tanaka as Fumiko Takagi; Masayoshi Matsushima as Sukemune Takagi; Ichiruko Domen as Hōryū; Runa Endo as Kayako Saeki; Elly Nanami as Sadako Yamamura; Rintaro Shibamoto as Toshio Saeki

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #196

 

Originally beginning with a trailer released on April Fool's Day 2015, Sadako vs. Kayako was officially confirmed in December of the same year as a film which would have two Japanese horror franchises, Ring and The Grudge, cross over. A Western equivalent would be like Freddy vs. Jason (2003), where the villains of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises crossed over to fight. This type of crossover in its nature that will appeal more to fans, to which Sadako vs. Kayako itself has to effectively retell these characters whilst yet appealing to their existing fandoms, all to pit two fictional female ghosts against each other in an actual fight.

The Ring franchise originates from a 1991 novel by Koji Suzuki. The actual first film was a strange 1995 TV movie ‎Ring: Kanzenban, which was yet far more accurate to the source material in adaptation; the film that caused a cultural phenomenon, in the West and the East, was the first theatrical adaptation, Hideo Nakata's 1998 movie. From there, as someone who has seen quite a few of the films in this franchise, it kept going through sequels to that original Japanese film, including two attempts at a direct sequel (Rasen (1998) and Ring 2 (1999)), a US remake with its own franchise, and reboots. The Grudge, known as the Ju-On franchise, is fascinating as it is, in contrast, entirely a property from cinema itself, the creation of filmmaker Takashi Shimizu who began with experimental shorts and a V-Cinema film before his theatrical length version Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) started the ball rolling for this franchise, with its own sequels and own US remake franchise.

This film, from the director of Noroi: The Curse (2005), is very self aware of itself with a humorous edge. By this point in their franchises, including Ring having a brief fling with 3D frills, there is time now to poke with humour at the material. Mostly this is a Ring continuation, as the central figure dominating the film mostly is Sadako, the antagonist of that franchise. There is a retelling of the original narrative from the 1998 film, but also a playful absurdity coming from the fact that, originating from the idea of a cursed videotape which when watched cursed you with death by Sadako, the narrative has to bear in mind the drastic technological shifts which make videotapes obscure over the passing decades. So here, two young women requiring an old VHS player to transpire the parent's wedding video of one of them to DVD accidentally find one with Sadako's crusty and cursed tape within it in a second hand store. Thankfully for one, she is distracted by a text message on her mobile phone so does not watch the short film on the tape that causes the curse.

The figures from The Grudge, a murdered woman Kayako and her son, turned vengeful ghosts whose death curse acted as much as a virus able to be spread, feel like loose ends. It would be in itself inspired that, if all these franchises crossed over, ghosts and monsters of such priority in their own narratives would just be in each other's vicinity by coincidence, but it does feel tacked on how The Grudge's connection is ultimately. It means another disconnected plot line about a schoolgirl becoming tempted to their haunted house just next door from her new home, but honestly a big factor to consider with Sadako vs. Kayako is that is meant to be selling a full length fight between these horror figures. It is a contrived one, as by the end it is not really a fight, just a bag containing one ghost being thrown into another's location.

Truthfully, looking back, the entire point of the film, to see two horror figures fight, is less appealing for me whilst there is nonetheless a fascinating with such ideas as a crossover. They have existed for a long while long before the modern day, as far back at least when Maurice Leblanc sneakily had Sherlock Holmes in his Arsène Lupin stories without copyright permission, and they are fascinating more to imagine how two different figures existing in the same space would react to each other. It makes less sense, mind, to have the equivalent of the playground argument of who would win a fight between Batman and Superman transpire between two ethereal female ghosts.

The film is set up as a potentially interesting one. They have changed Sadako considerably from how I knew her, even in the South Korean remake from 1999 let alone the American version, where she now curses people to commit suicide rather than the more eerie prescience of before with a background in psychic powers. There is far playfully dark humour here though that would have added a greater reflective tone, and with a scene where young boys make the mistake of visiting the Grudge house for a dare, no one is safe in this film. It suggests a lot of potential, such as the apocalyptic notion of someone uploading the cursed videotape online. Throw into this two interesting side characters, a surly ghost exorcist and his female child ward, a girl who is just as gifted in sensing ghosts and has a cynical habit of telling people's ill fated futures, and I could have easily appreciated a dark humoured take on these two characters. [Major Spoiler Warning] It definitely comes off as even nihilistic, as everyone one baring the ghosts dies in the end, something which could have followed the humoured tone as much as its own dark morality tale about the dangers of curiosity. [Spoilers End]

Instead, this does feel like empty calories. It definitely does not have the slower mood, or the mad energy, of other Japanese genre films I have come to admire. It was fun whilst it lasted, but ultimately a sad case of a film within the Ring franchise especially, as a huge fan of it, where it is not even interesting in terms of its mistake and curiosity, like Hideo Nakata's sequel to his own film inexplicably (and knowingly) being inspired by the misfire that was Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), or the weirdness of Ring: Kazenban, or the fascination of The Ring: Virus (1999), the South Korean remake. Considering how the characters from The Grudge as well, this is not a great attempt at expanding upon these characters either. This will definitely be a case of a film that will leave my thoughts very quickly as time passes...

"...once you get to the climax you realize you've been waiting 80 minutes to see two nightgown-wearing Japanese ghost ladies with long black hair twitchily walk up to each other in the dark and it dawns on you that maybe, just maybe, you need to set better priorities in life..." - Barthalen (Criticker.com Review)