The "Art-Horror" of Ju-on

Ju-on is a probably one of the greatest examples of what Noel Carroll classifies as “art-horror”. The reason I say this because the movie actually “horrified” several individuals in our class through its monster(s), plot, scenes, shots, and details.

According to Carroll for a movie to be “art-horror” it has to have a monster. This monster has to be threatening (dangerous) and impure (unclean, scary, and a sense of uneasiness). Ju-on is a great example of an art-horror movie. In this film the monster(s) are both threatening and impure. The monster(s) are threatening because they seem to try to kill anyone that comes inside the house. If I remember there were more than twelve deaths throughout the film. If someone goes into the house the evil spirit will follow them until they die. This goes against the moral order of the world and the idea of the monster(s) seeking to destroy people’s identities. The impurity of the monster in this film is that it is scary looking and unclean. The monsters are ghost who have are blue, disgusting, and revolting looking. They move oddly and look very abnormal.



Carroll also mentioned that the characters must show emotion to the monster(s). In the film the characters and audience both fear the monster because they are disgusting and revolting. The characters in the film show their disgust by shrinking, screaming, shuddering, and nausea. The audience does these things as well, because “Our (the audience) response are meant, ideally, to parallel those of the characters” (Carroll 18).

If I were to classify the monster(s) I would say that they would be classified as both fusion and masses. The reason that I say that it would be classified as a fusion monster is for the fact that the monster(s) are spirits in human form. They are dead spirits, but can walk, touch, and take hold of humans through human touch. Also, the monster can do many unusual things with the human body, such as crawl oddly, crack the neck oddly, and the little boy was seemed to look alive when Rika and her friend talked to him. The second type of monster classification that I would use is the idea of masses. When the school girl was about to die she had five ghosts following her. These ghosts were her school friends who died earlier, she saw her father’s spirit, and the main girl ghost took her body away and killed her.



The next reason that it should be classified as an art-horror film is that it has an “art-horror” plot. Ju-on is considered to have a complex discovery plot. The onset in the film is the history of why the house is haunted and who is haunting the house. The audience knows this but the characters do not. The discovery of the movie is when Rika and other characters discover that there are ghosts inside the house. Rika is probably one of the main discoverers because she mentions to the authorities about the little boy that she saw in the house and the oddness of the grandmother. Other characters discovered the ghosts but weren’t able to tell anyone about it because they died beforehand. The third part is the confirmation scene. Rika tries to convince to the authorities about what she saw, but they don’t seem to believe her and wanted to get more information before they did anything about it. They later find out the truth and they both end up dying. The confrontation scene in the end was very dramatic and suspenseful. In the end, Rika sees the ghost and flashbacks of the ghost human life, and the deaths that she caused. Rika is later seen to have been killed by the ghost of the spirit’s husband in the end. This meant that evil prevailed.

The scenes and shots throughout the film caused a lot of suspense and horror to the film. The first thing that should be mentioned is the mise-en-scene. The darkness (lighting) made the movie scarier and mysterious. Also, the lighting used in the flash forward helped emphasis that it was a scene for the future and not for the present. The eerie music and voices of the characters caused me and others to shudder. The monsters’ makeup and dark appearances made the monsters more like spirits/ghosts. The messy house, photos, and the telephone ringing at a random time made the movie more horrifying and scary. Also, the use of shadows helped show the temptation and harming of the monster.

The second thing that should be talked about is the mise-en-shots. There were many close-ups of the monsters. This closeness of the monsters seemed to make the movie more dramatic and horrifying. Also the camera angles gave the ghosts a more terrifying look. There were also emphasis on doors and objects to help the audience know that something was about to occur. Also, there is great use of editing. In one scene, there would be a character who seemed to think that something is behind them. The character then slowly turn around and the camera would change to a shot of the room, showing only the room and not the ghosts. This made the shots more dramatic and eerie. The same thing could be said about the cat shot in Rika’s bedroom. In this scene there were several cats but a second later there were no cats to be seen.



There are other details that also should be talked about. Schneider says that “arguing that the life of the horror genre is in its detail” (Schneider 33). For one thing, the movie had a lot of suspense scenes. For example, the audience hopes the characters in the film will get away from the monster(s) but in the end the audience knows that it unlikely that they will (morally desirable/unlikely). Also it can be said that evil will mostly likely win in the end (evil/likely outcome). A lot, of the scenes build so much suspense that it is built up that they might get away from the ghosts, but in reality the audience knows the characters will die sooner or later. Another detail that should be mentioned is that the audience wants to know what will happen to the characters in the film. It is the curiosity of the audience to figure out how, who, and when the characters will die next. The movie is also erotetic. The reason I say this is for the fact that the audience keeps questioning the plot and what could happen next. Some of the questions that could arise are: Is the ghost behind the door, who will die next, where is the little boy’s body that is still missing, and can the ghost be stopped. Many of these questions are answered but some of them are left unanswered. It would be these questions that would lead the audience to keep watching until the very end.

In the end, I would like to say that I find this movie more of an art-horror than an art-dread. The reason I say this is because there are more attributes that make it an art-horror than an art-dread Film. Also, Schneider says, “…audiences too, can and do create their own pathways through horror as well, providing their own definitions of what horror is for their own purposes” (Schneider 31). My definition of horror is a movie that scares me and makes me jump. In the case of Ju-on it did a little bit of both and I am usually not easily scared. Ju-on is a great example of a horror movie and if I had to recommend any horror movie this would be the one I would recommend.