Noroi

Noroi: The Curse (2005), Japanese

Director: Kôji Shiraishi

Synopsis

A documentary of apparently unrelated events that finally piece together to reveal the darkest details of a history based on an ancient unknown entity. The demon, a tool capable of causing disasters referred to as Kagutaba, appears to be able to leave a trail of dark and sinister deaths.

Review

Noroi relies on tension building, being expected to be particularly intriguing with a satisfying twist at the end. The movie was particularly hyped as one of the scariest films to be watched. Limited CGI effects and visually disturbing moments were used which allowed the fear to be mainly psychological, leaving imagination to create itself an atmosphere of terror. Dead pigeons acting as a death omen, ritualistic symbols, disturbing videotaped sleepwalking scenes, massive suicides, resurrecting demons, characters simply loosing any shred of sanity they once had, exorcisms and even ghost fetus are all great elements that were effectively used. The camera-work was particularly satisfying inevitably reminding a few The Blair-witch Project scenes, especially towards the ending during a few moments shot at night deep in a forest. Therefore, while Noroi won’t scare the viewer per se, an unsettling feeling of insecurity throughout the film will most likely be well appreciated. A large number of loose ends are left for interpretation, which is however usually characteristic of found-footage movies as it allows an atmosphere of desperation to be prolonged as the film becomes to an end.

The construction of Noroi as a found-footage documentary is particularly satisfying. No credits were added at the end for example, the shooting and image quality are distinct during the different scenes and the use of different documentaries and news footage allowed making the story more grounded in reality. A few scenes were however by some means irrelevant. The pacing was slightly off during the first half of the movie, although the editing, the back and forth of a few disturbing moments and a few frozen-frames helped keeping the tension of the movie. Overall, the acting is satisfying as well. Regrettably, a few characters are particularly exaggerated borderlining a feeling of exasperation. Nonetheless, the overall character construction and development allows the viewer to create a connection with the demon itself, as each character appears to develop different ways to connect with the unknown entity, either by being able to hearing it, feeling it or even potentially seeing it.

All in all, the creepiness factor and the editing are all major points that are easily subjective. Furthermore, found-footage movies always seem to exhibit a thin line between credibility and fakeness. The plot, the argument and ultimately each scene shall imperatively be studied in order to allow the reliability of the film to be kept. Unfortunately, the shaking camera is sometimes extremely exaggerated and scenes in which the person holding the camera struggles to keep holding it are somehow extremely implausible or even inconceivable.

Even if considering it one of the scariest horror movies ever may however seem to be slightly overrated, bottom line Noroi succeeds as the movie it attempts to be, with a sense of increasing suspense and rising horror competently culminating in the final scene.