Noroi: The Curse

A noted journalist who had investigated “supernatural phenomena since 1995,” fascinated by strange occurrences and unsolvable mysteries, first in print and then in a series of self-produced video documentaries, the rigorous research conducted by Masafumi Kobayashi and his dignified conduct marked him as a well-regarded professional until his presumed death in a housefire on Monday 12th April, 2004.

The circumstances unknown to the public until the release of the footage which was assembled under the working title of Noroi (ノロイ), “The Curse,” roughly edited together it chronicles his simultaneous investigations into the disturbed mother Junko Ishii, the psychic child Kana Yano and the television presenter Marika Matsumoto, disparate events knotted together by a tangled history leading to shocking revelations.

Directed by Sadako vs Kayako‘s Kōji Shiraishi, Noroi: The Curse was originally given limited release in 2005, a fake documentary starring Jin Muraki as Masafumi Kobayashi and Marika Matsumoto as a fictionalised version of herself with Rio Kanno as Kana Yano, capitalising on the popularity of found footage and J-horror prompted by the huge international success of The Blair Witch Project and Ringu and their wronged and vengeful supernatural brethren.

Three seemingly random stories, of an abrasive woman disliked by her neighbours, of a prodigy and the presenter who hosted the television show on which she appeared to demonstrate her powers, both now suffering nightmares, all eventually lead to the site of the village of Shimokage, flooded in 1978 when the Shikami Dam was built, the locals who feared the demon Kagutaba no longer able to perform their traditional ritual of appeasement.

A grim tale of possession, dead pigeons and “ectoplasmic worms,” reclusive paranoid psychic Mitsuo Hori (Satoru Jitsunashi) wearing an aluminium foil suit to protect himself from their influence, the early stages of Noroi: The Curse unfold carefully and convincingly, evidence gathered without presumption of where they will lead, Kobayashi starting with scientific analysis before turning to folklore experts.

What at first is effective, even at times eerie, struggles to maintain interest and momentum, with grainy footage constantly reviewed to highlight previously unseen anomalies and gauge the reactions of the participants, and as the pieces start to assemble into a larger picture there is a sense that the most disturbing revelations regarding Junko Ishii (Tomona Kuga) are glossed over, a curious choice when other matters are pondered so carefully, though it should be appreciated as an original story never remade for international audiences.

Noroi: The Curse will be streaming on the Arrow platform from Monday 28th October

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