Ju-on: White Ghost

The Japanese short (1 hr) horror films Ju-On: White Ghost and Ju: On Black Ghost were released together on 27th June 2009, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the start of the Ju-On (Grudge) horror franchise. White Ghost was directed by Ryuta Miyake and Black Ghost by Mari Asato. Each film deals with the massacre of a family by what turns out to be supernatural means (the events of White Ghost are fleetingly referenced at the beginning of Black Ghost), but other than that they are unrelated. And be warned - they are in that trademark Ju-On non-linear style of storytelling, so piecing together what happens can be a challenge if you fancy it (or just look at the Wikipedia entries for each film - they summarise the events for both chronologically).

White Ghost is easily the better of the two. The story's actually pretty deep, and deals with (amongst other things) the sexual abuse of a child. It also has a fantastic and gory third act and one of the creepiest openings ever for a haunted house movie (the cake delivery).

Black Ghost starts off well but never really achieves the level of creepiness of White Ghost. It also doesn't help that some of the adult female characters look so similar (it does, however, have the stunning Kana Tsugihara in a small role near the beginning).

White Ghost and Black Ghost both have some well-shot and atmospheric scenes, but White Ghost utilises them better - and has a much better payoff.

White Ghost -- 8/10, Black Ghost -- 6/10.

Just saw this movie and the bad thing about this is that it only hour one long.

it not got anything to do with Ju-on-The Grudges movies! This is brand new Grudge story, it dose have the same feel to movie just like other but not great like the other two movies but still really really good, I really liked this movie it is creepy and it had some great creepy moment and one and two shocking moments too, I Can't believe it just less then hour, it was so good wanted to see again.

If you liked the other Ju-on movies, give this watch, it only 58min long 8/10

The only Ju-on movie I've watched so far, I think this one is okay. There are a lot of scary and brutal moments at the beginning, but one of the worst things about it is that the final 20 minutes aren't really that scary. I hope to give Black Ghost a try soon.

Format: Amazon Prime - Language: Japanese (English Subtitled)

Released: 2009

Director: Ryut Miyake

Starring: Hiroki Suzuki, Ichirota Miyakawa, Naysuki Kasa

Where to start? Well it's short, which is a blessing!

To be strictly fair to the film it does start out well enough, with the initial building up of tension that I have come to expect from Japanese horror films; then sadly, rather then building on the initial success, the whole thing falls apart.

Ju-On: White Ghost is the story of a house that was the location of a brutal mass murder. The film consists of a series of short segments, each one showcasing the history of a different character and setting out why they eventually come to their various unfortunate ends, as well as giving the background to the murders.

As a direct to DVD film it is very low budget and it shows, badly. Yet for all the appallingly bad and cringe-worthy acting there are occasional moments of great, outstanding performance; for all the unbelievably poor stories there are some strong, genuinely creepy tales.

At an hour long it is worth sitting though the rubbish mainly because when this film gets it right, even with the cringe fest that some of the actors put us through, it delivers some genuine scares. It just unfortunate that director, Ryuta Miyake, comes across as not having the slightest clue about how to make/direct a film.

Like this film this is really all I can think of to say on the matter, short and pretty much lacking in any direction.

Even tho "White ghost" does provide some very, but very tensioned moments, I found it hard to take it seriously. I mean, after watching it, it's rather difficult to say that this one is worthy of a grade over 6, cause let's face it, for a cheesy Asian fun, it does the job, but if you in for some real scares with a over the top plot and development, "White ghost" looks like a cartoon!

Again, don't get me wrong, dunno how, but when I saw it, it scared me out of my mind, cause the execution is very good, but if they were able to put it on screen like this, why didn't they try harder on the script part? Get a decent idea, make use of it, and put your name up there, with the rest of Asia's greater horrors! They did everything better than most such films, again, the plot is what killed it for me. Check it out and you'll see what I'm talking about!

Cheers!