Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)

Sadako vs. Kayako: Directed by Kôji Shiraishi. With Mizuki Yamamoto, Tina Tamashiro, Aimi Satsukawa, Misato Tanaka. The vengeful spirits of the Ring and Grudge series face off.

“At first impression, I must say that I was a little bit perplexed about why the world needed a movie that would plot the entity from u0026quot;Ringuu0026quot; (aka u0026quot;The Ringu0026quot;) up against the entity from u0026quot;Ju-Onu0026quot; (aka u0026quot;The Grudgeu0026quot;). I am a fan of Asian cinema and love Asian horror, and I have watched the movies from both franchises, but I canu0026#39;t claim that I was ever craving anything even remotely in the likes of these two entities being put up against one another. Unlike the u0026quot;Freddy vs Jasonu0026quot; movie, for example, which was long waited and had been pitched. But perhaps the Japanese audience have been waiting and longing for a movie that put Sadako up against Kayako.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRegardless, given the chance to sit down and watch u0026quot;Sadako vs. Kayakou0026quot;, I of course did jump at it. This is a Japanese horror movie after all, so it is right up my alley.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie does start out by raising a good point about the curse of Sadako almost coming to an end as the video (VHS) format is obsolete. That was a nice touch of detail from writers Takashi Shimizu and Kôji Suzuki.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Sadako vs Kayakou0026quot; has some very interesting sound work, and it really helped to build the atmosphere and mood of the movie. There is a lot of atmospheric sounds put into the movie when Sadako and Kayako are on the screen, and also when something creepy is about to happen or actually happening on the screen. I must admit that I was rather impressed with the sound department and the work they mustered in this movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are some pretty interesting visuals in the movie as well, and director Kôji Shiraishi really managed to use these visuals so well in the movie to establish scares and atmosphere.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs for the acting in the movie, well I canu0026#39;t claim to be familiar with anyone on the cast list, but I will say that the cast ensemble did great jobs with their given roles and characters. And it was nice to see this many new faces in a movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere was a good pace to the movie, and the dialogue was good and seemed quite natural. And the character development was also good throughout the course of the movie, because it made the characters stand out from one another and not just be generic and pointless characters. Do take into consideration that the character gallery is rather extensive, and there is a lot of people to keep track of, some more important to the story than others, of course. So keep vigilant and attentive to the story, or you might miss something important.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile the design and layout of the Kayako house was rather interesting, I think it was a shame that it was kept so dark all the time, because a lot of details were being missed and obscured by the darkness. Sure, it sets mood, but would have been nicer to have had a bit more of proper lighting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActually a good portion of the movie is filmed in a relatively dark setting. Sure, it adds to the atmosphere, but it becomes annoying after a while, especially because it is so much more nice to actually see everything that is going on clearly in a movie. Especially since you did pay money to watch this.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne thing that puzzle me is why there is no consistency from movie to movie as in what you see on Sadakou0026#39;s cursed VHS tape. It keeps changing from movie to movie. That really makes no sense to me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs a seasoned horror veteran, I canu0026#39;t claim to find a Japanese woman in a white dress with her long black hair covering her entire face as being particularly scary. Nor can I claim to find a milky white boy with funky hair who sounds like a cat as being scary either. But hey, they are iconic characters of the two Japanese franchises. I guess you have to be Asian in order to find this particularly scary. And also the thing with long black hair showing up out of nowhere in places it shouldnu0026#39;t or couldnu0026#39;t be is not scary either, it is just downright weird.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor an actual showdown between Sadako and Kayako, then you actually have to wait a very, very long time throughout the movie, and that is even before someone just suggests pitching the two evil entities against one another. It is not before the last 15 minutes of the movie that the actual pitching of the two iconic entities take place. And the showdown was not really as satisfying as it should have been, especially since it took almost the entire movie leading up to it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Sadako vs. Kayakou0026quot; is an entertaining enough movie for what it turned out to be. But I canu0026#39;t really claim to find that this was a movie that was particularly necessary for either of the franchises. This wasnu0026#39;t a scary movie, not even by a long shot. It was an interesting enough ride up to the last 15 minutes, which culminated in a less than satisfactory manner.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy rating for u0026quot;Sadako vs. Kayakou0026quot; lands on a mediocre 5 out of 10 stars, because this wasnu0026#39;t an outstanding movie in any way, nor was it a particularly necessary movie or a necessary crossover between two franchises.”