Finally, some real horror films

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2002)

Actual horror has become a lost art lately, probably drowned in the flood of teen slasher flicks with pop soundtracks. It's become the norm that horror movies are out to make you laugh rather than scare you, as if the filmmakers don't want to be seen taking it seriously. As happened when it was time to save the American action film, Hollywood looked to Asia, and here we have a remake of a Japanese film which has already seen a remake in Korea.
I'd seen the other two before walking in on this version, so perhaps I'm not qualified to talk about whether the plot is inventive or surprising, being intimately familiar with the story already. What I can say is that this version stacks up very favorably. Whether consciously or not, it has taken some of the most interesting elements of both version, and added in a few little twists of its own. The backstory has been fleshed out a bit more extensively as well. The look of the film is excellent, using a washed-out, desaturated color pallette to create an oppressive tone (admittedly not difficult in Seattle in the winter). Director Verbinski (director of MOUSEHUNT?!) does excellent work, allowing scenes to play out slowly, refusing to generate false excitement with jarring editing tricks like most modern horror directors.
The bottom line, of course, is "Is it scary?". Well, I knew every turn of the plot right up to the end, and it still had me nervous, creeped out, and on the edge of my seat. This is a perfect horror film, a thing we see all too little of these days. If you have any fondness for the genre, you must see this film, and let Hollywood know that this is how it should be done.