Takashi Shimizu Movies
By the time Ju-on found its way to American shores via grey-market bootlegs and Internet-acquired, non-Region 1 DVD releases, it had already gained a near-legendary reputation as being the most terrifying entry into the so-called "J-horror" trend of the late '90s. The slow-burning tale of supernatural vengeance blended Eastern horror aesthetics with Western convention to chilling effect, and director Takashi Shimizu would spend the following years building something of a franchise with a series of sequels and the obligatory American remake.A native of Maebashi City, Japan, Shimizu studied drama at Kinki University before enrolling in film school in Tokyo; he subsequently found work as an assistant director in film and video as the millennium drew to a close. Enrolling in a night class in film production, the burgeoning filmmaker began studying under respected Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (whose films Cure and Kairo are considered modern Japanese horror classics by many genre fans). When it came time for the students to turn in their three-minute film at the end of the semester, the professor took a special shine to Shimizu's unusually frightening short. Impressively establishing a formidable air of dread within the restrictive confines of a brief running time, the film eventually resulted in Kurosawa introducing Shimizu to a Kansai-TV producer -- who just so happened to be preparing a 90-minute television horror anthology. Though the producer was indeed impressed with Shimizu's talent, the new director's lack of experience proved something of a complication, and instead of helming a 30-minute segment, he was asked to prepare two three-minute shorts for Gakkô No Kaidan G. The shorts offered something of a prequel to Shimizu's eventual Ju-on series, and in the following year, the director would compile numerous elements of multiple scripts he had written over the years into a frightening release for the lucrative Japanese straight-to-video market.
Released in early 2000, the original Ju-on terrified audiences with its clever use of misdirection, terrifying pale-skinned ghosts, and unearthly use of sound. A sequel was quick to follow later that same year, while the 2001 film Tomie: Rebirth (the third in a continuing series of film adaptations of Junji Ito's popular manga) offered Shimizu his feature debut. By then, there was little question that Shimizu was competent in taking the reigns for a feature, with the obligatory film Ju-on: The Grudge (2003) serving as his sophomore theatrical release. Though it didn't open to the wild success that some may have expected or anticipated, its sequel, Ju-on: The Grudge 2 -- released later the same year -- offered enough scares to prove that the series still had potential for a lucrative franchise. When word arrived in 2003 that filmmaker Sam Raimi had acquired the rights to an American remake, with series founder Shimizu once again at the helm, anticipation for a seriously terrifying fright film shot to stratospheric levels among genre fans worldwide. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2013
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A married couple (Ryan Kwanten and Amy Smart) and their two best friends board a plane bound for Japan, but they experience some supernatural turbulence when the aircraft comes under attack from unearthly forces in this tale of terror from director Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge). Meanwhile, a flight attendant (Leslie Bibb) ponders the potential repercussions of a complex, clandestine relationship. Nicky Whelan and Jamie Chung co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Japanese horror auteur Takashi Shimizu (Marebito, The Grudge) weaves this dark tale of a troubled young boy whose unusual friendship with a stuffed toy rabbit begins to blur his perception of reality. As his father seems to slip deeper into insanity and his sister seems to hover between life and death, the boy finds his only faithful companion, a plush rabbit, springing to life. Meanwhile, the bizarre relationship between the child and his toy serves as the catalyst for a shocking sequence of events. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2010
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This intimate look at sculptor Katsura Funakoshi observes the artist as he moves through the creative process, preparing his pieces for an upcoming exhibition, while offering insight and commentary about the personal and philosophical force that motivates and inspires him. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2009
Japanese horror auteur Takashi Shimizu (best known for his international success Ju-On: The Grudge) leads viewers through a puzzle of fear and suspense in this thriller. Ken (Yuya Yagira) and Motoko (Ryo Katsuji) are a pair of old friends who haven't seen each other in over a decade, and when they run into one another, Motoko suggests they pay a visit to Rin (Ai Maeda), his girlfriend who knew Ken back in the day. When they arrive at Rin's place, everyone is surprised that their pal Yuki (Misako Renbutsu) has stopped by -- particularly because Yuki has been dead for nearly ten years, having perished in an accident at an amusement park. When Yuki suddenly falls ill, the three friends insist on taking her to the hospital. However, when they arrive, they discover the hospital is abandoned, and it soon transforms itself into an enormous haunted maze, where Yuki is determined to take revenge against her former friends. Senritsu Meikyu (aka Shock Labyrinth) was the first Japanese film to be shot in High Definition 3D. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The ghosts of Kayako and Toshio return to spread terror as the Grudge saga continues in this sequel featuring Saw star Shawnee Smith. Jake (Matthew Knight) may have survived the previous supernatural onslaught, though the sheer terror of his harrowing ordeal has rendered him nearly insane. Hospitalized, Jake is haunted by visions of his ghostly attackers as his caretaker Dr. Sullivan (Smith) sets out to investigate his incredible tales. In the midst of exploring Jake's Chicago home, Dr. Sullivan discovers that Kayako and Toshio have targeted a new family. Should Dr. Sullivan fail in convincing a mysterious Japanese woman to help in banishing the vengeful spirits, everyone involved faces a fate worse than death. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2009
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This documentary takes an in-depth look at the work of artist Hisashi Tenmyouya, an innovator in the realm of NEO-Traditional Japanese Painting. The film details Tenmyouya's unique use of media like gold foils and fine brushes, and offers intimate descriptions from the artist about his personal creative process. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
This film in the New People Artist Series devotes itself to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Not content to work in only one medium, the multitalented Kusama has earned the Japanese National Lifetime Achievement Award for her paintings, sculpture, and novels. Yayoi Kusama: I Love Me follows the artist as she brings her avant-garde sensibility to a series of dozens of drawings created over 18 months. ~ Kimber Myers, Rovi
- 2008
Director Takako Matsumoto explores the life and work of world-renowned avant-garde artist Yayoi Kasuma in the installment of the ongoing Near Equal documentary film series. By painstakingly documenting Kasuma's creation of fifty monochrome drawings in size F100, Matsumoto offers a rare glimpse into his subject's creative process while simultaneously highlighting just what Kasuma's life is like on a day-to-day basis. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Japanese horror specialist Takashi Shimizu returns to the mythology that terrified audiences the world over with this terror-inducing sequel to the hit 2004 frightener. When a cursed Tokyo home is burned to the ground, the baneful spirit once confined within its walls is suddenly unleased to terrorize anyone and everyone who crosses its dark path. Original producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Taka Ichise return to help Shimizu realize his hair-raising vision with this tale that finds Karen's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn), teaming with spellbound journalist Eason (Edison Chen) to investigate the spectral mystery. Meanwhile, the ghostly grip of Toshio (Oga Tanaka) and Kayako (Takako Fuji) tightens on a Chicago housewife (Jennifer Beals) halfway across the globe. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amber Tamblyn, Arielle Kebbel, (more)
Eleven Japanese filmmakers (including one duo) from all genres and backgrounds gather together under the Nikkatsu banner in order to realize the marvelous stories of novelist Soseki Natsume in this adaptation of the author's enduring episodic tome Ten Nights of Dreams. Each imaginative story takes on a different one of Natsume's surreal dreams, and with such filmmakers as Kon Ichikawa, Takashi Shimizu, Yudai Yamaguchi, and Suzuki Matsuo involved, audiences can rest assured that each one of these tales is told in a distinct and entirely unique style. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Grudge director Takeshi Shimizu returns to tell this tale of a film crew that descends upon a hotel that was once the scene of a vicious killing spree, only to find that the horrors of the past have a malevolent means of manifesting themselves in the present. Years after a professor slaughtered his wife, his young daughter, and nine hotel guests at the Ono Kanko just north of Tokyo, horror filmmaker Ikuo Matsumara (Kippei Shiina) and his crew prepare to make a movie about the murders. As pre-production on the film gets underway, the lead actress experiences a vivid vision of the murders and is shocked to awaken in the very room where the body of the professor's daughter was discovered. In her vision, the actress watched helplessly as the professor sadistically captures the final moments of his victims on film. When the actress finds the very same camera she saw the professor using in her vision and the cast members begin dying in the same manner as their real-life counterparts, it begins to appear as if the mad professor has returned from beyond the grave to ensure that his dark story never makes it to the silver screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Boro Yukadinovic, Yayoi Kinoshita, (more)
Terror takes on both human and mechanical form in this independent horror film from Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Masuoka (Shinya Tsukamoto) is a freelance photographer who has become malignly obsessed with fear. Masuoka believes there is a physical component to terror, and he is determined to find it. While his rattrap apartment has become a shrine to documents of fear, he's particularly fascinated with a videotape of Furoki (Kazuhiro Nakahara), a disturbed man committing suicide in a Tokyo subway tunnel by stabbing himself in the face. Masuoka think if he can recreate Furoki's experience, he might be able to find out what he saw at the edge of panic, and after throwing away his antidepressants he makes his way down to the place where the suicide was recorded. Masuoka finds a mysterious passageway in the tunnel, and discovers Furoki is alive and unwell underground. Masuoka also learns of a strange breed of robots who terrify people both beneath the Earth and on the surface; he also finds a strange feral woman and attempts to rescue her, but someone else has already claimed her, and wants her back immediately. Marebito (aka The Stranger From Afar) stars Shinya Tsukamoto, himself a noted Japanese horror filmmaker, best known for his experimental feature Tetsuo (aka Ironman). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shinya Tsukamoto, Tomomi Miyashita, (more)
This American remake of director Takashi Shimizu's popular Japanese movie franchise The Grudge puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Sarah Michelle Gellar back into the line of supernatural fire. When Karen (Gellar), an American student working with a Japanese health center for college credit, comes across a mysterious curse, she quickly finds herself embroiled in a fight for her own sanity, and, ultimately, her very survival. Known as a "grudge," the curse was born inside of a house after its inhabitants died while consumed by rage -- according to legend, the curse touches all who come into contact with it, and will torment those unlucky individuals until they, too, become part of the grudge . Each time the curse finds a new victim, it is, in a sense, reborn, and will continue on its path unless Karen can free herself from its control over her. This version of The Grudge is also directed by Shimizu, and features Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, Kadee Strickland, William Mapother, and Bill Pullman in supporting roles. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, (more)
In this Japanese horror anthology that sets out to prove that fact is infinitely more terrifying than fiction, Ju-on director Takashi Shimizu and Ring 0 director Norio Tsuruta team with thirteen of the hottest up-and-coming directors in Japan to push the boundaries of modern horror. With fifteen, five-minute stories designed specifically to rattle the psyche and quicken the pulse, Tales of Terror from Tokyo offers a shocking look at the future of cinematic terror. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Directed by Takashi Shimizu, The Grudge follows volunteer homecare worker Rika Nishida (Megumi Okina), whose altruism leads her to Chiharu (Yui Ichikawa), a catatonic old woman slowly dying in a home filled with years worth of accumulated filth. Rika's suspicion is aroused when, during the course of her volunteer duties, she can't help but sense an overwhelming feeling of dread. Eventually, Rika opens an old wardrobe only to discover a malevolent boy who introduces himself as Toshio (Yuya Ozeki). It seems as though the house was formerly occupied by a young couple -- Katsuya (Kanji Tsuda), Chiharu's son, and his wife, Kazumi (Risa Matsuda). Sadly, Kazumi was killed thanks to Toshio shortly after moving in, and it wasn't long before Katsuya met a similar fate. When one of Rika's colleagues alerts the local authorities, an investigation turns the house inside out and exposes an ancient and deadly history. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Megumi Okina, Risa Matsuda, (more)
- 2001
The third installment to Tomie, the Japanese horror series, follows Tomie -- otherwise known as The Girl Who Will Not Die -- to an art student's loft for what she thought was a modeling job. The student makes the unwise decision to murder her, and eventually realizes that Tomie has been haunting him and his friends ever since. Directed by Takashi Shimizu, Tomie: Rebirth also features Miki Sakai, and is based on a manga series from Junji Ito. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
The most terrifying ghost story in screen history continues as Kyoko loses her unborn child in a car accident and finds out to her shock that something is still growing within her in director Takashi Shimizu's sequel to the groundbreaking horror hit Ju-On: The Grudge. Kyoko is a pregnant actress who has recently lost her baby on a tragic road mishap. Despite her overwhelming grief, popular scream queen Kyoko determines to carry on with her career by taking part in a television program that will explore the home purported to be haunted by a child whose parents were once killed there. When Kyoko begins to fall ill and seeks the advice of a doctor who is unaware of her recent loss, she is shocked when he informs her that her pregnancy seems to be progressing normally. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2000
Writer/director Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on (The Grudge) originally aired on Japanese television, and eventually developed a worldwide cult following as a low-budget horror classic. Shimizu went on to make an extended version of the movie, misleadingly titled Ju-on 2, and a big-budget film based on the original video. Ju-on is a series of vignettes about a curse that passes on from one aggrieved dead person to the next. Kobayashi (Yuurei Yanagi), a young teacher with a pregnant wife, goes to visit the home of Toshio (Ryôta Koyama), a boy who's been missing from his class. He finds the house a wreck, and the boy alone and seemingly traumatized. The story then makes a temporal leap, as we find a teenager, Yuki (Hitomi Miwa), at the same house, studying with her classmate, Kanna (Asumi Miwa), who lives there with her brother, Tsuyoshi (Kazushi Andô), and their mother, Noriko (Yumi Yoshiyuki). Yuki has some kind of phobia about cats. Kanna remembers that she forgot to feed the rabbits at school, and rushes off, leaving Yuki. A cat wanders into the room and frightens Yuki into the closet. She hears a rattling noise coming from the crawlspace over the closet, and ill-advisedly takes a look up there. Mizuho (Chiaki Kuriyama), Tsuyoshi's girlfriend, goes looking for him at the school, where she runs into a ghostly Toshio, mewling like a cat, and meets a gruesome fate. Noriko returns home to an empty house. Kanna soon comes home, but she's...changed. The film then cuts back to Kobayashi, as he discovers the gruesome fate of Toshio's mother, an old schoolmate of his, and also finds out about his own surprising link to the strange boy. The story ends with Kyôko (Yûko Daike), a woman with psychic powers who is helping her brother sell the cursed house. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
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