Horror Movie Review: Noroi: The Curse (2005)

There was a time when I was obsessed with Japanese horror. Coming home late and drunk one night in my early 20s, I made some food and sat down to watch some TV and ended up watching a J-horror called The Ring (Ringu). I missed the first third, had no idea what was going on, but was hooked. Talk about a way to sober up, eh?

That started a love affair that saw me binge watching as many horrors as possible from the other side of the world and many remain some of my favourite films to date (The Eye is up there). I thought I had seen most of the major films from Japan, but it turns out I had missed a few and some of which come from the subgenre of horror that I have a love/hate relationship with – found footage.

Noroi: The Curse comes from director Kōji Shiraishi, who co-wrote it with Naoyuki Yokota. It stars Jin Muraki as Masafumi Kobayashi, a paranormal investigator who has spent this life documenting supernatural activity. While working on his latest documentary titled ‘The Curse’, Kobayashi disappeared, but not before his house burned down. If this wasn’t bad enough, the remains of his wife were found in the ruins of the building.

What happened to Kobayashi and his wife? That is what we, the viewer watch, via the footage recorded by his cameraman, Miyajima. Put together, documentary style. Yes, it’s my favourite kind of found footage horror, the mockumentary, a much more watchable style. Not only because it avoids many of the found footage tropes, but because it has added realism. I find this kind of horror particularly frightening, and Noroi: The Curse is a frightening film.

Kobayashi documentary uncovered something truly terrifying and the deeper down the rabbit hole he fell, the more it became clear, there was no way out for anyone.

It’s not just him wrapped up in this either as some of the film’s best, and scariest moments, surround actress Marika Matsumoto, who is playing herself (sort of), and Kana Yano (played by Rio Kanno). The former plays her role with quiet dignity, even when faced with moments that terrify. Whereas the latter is likable and involved in some of the film’s darkest moments (the actress would also star in another excellent Japanese horror, Dark Water).

Unlike so many other found footage horrors and mockumentaries, Noroi: The Curse makes you care about its characters, even the oddballs (Satoru Jitsunashi as Mitsuo Hori is a challenging watch), simply by taking its time. Which I personally found made the film more enjoyable, but I recognise that it might result in many others seeing it as a slow watch. It is, it’s a slow burn of a film and doesn’t quite have the payoff to warrant it, but I found myself transfixed throughout.

What Noroi: The Curse does so well too is scare, and not in the jump scare way either. This is all about subtly, all about how characters react, all about strange behaviour, and what we don’t see. Again, likely to frustrate those hoping for more visceral horror, but if you’re like me, you’re going to love the creeping feeling of dread that comes over you as the film builds carefully, and quietly, to something disturbing. Who would have thought someone tying knots in their sleep would be so creepy?

That’s Noroi: The Curse though, a horror that stands out as one of the best in the found footage genre. It stays with you long after, even if you wished it didn’t.