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Ju-on: The Beginning of the End (呪怨: 終わりの始まり Ju-on: Owari no Hajimari) is a 2014 japanese supernatural horror film and the tenth installment in the Ju-on franchise. The film was directed by Masayuki Ochiai, written by Ochiai and Takashige Ichise, and released in June 28. Actress Nozomi Sasaki stars.[2][3] After White Ghost and Black Ghost, The Beginning of the End focuses back on the deceased Saeki family and their grudge curse that sets on anyone who steps inside the family's house. The film is a reboot of the series[4] and premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.[5][6][7][8]

Plot[]

In 1995, Tokyo, after a report of a child abuse happening in the Yamaga household, social worker and teacher Mitsuko Yoshizaki, photographer Yamamoto, and a police officer search the house to find it in a state of disarray. They enter the second floor bedroom and find family's eldest child, Toshio Yamaga, with his hands and feet bound in the closet. Yoshizaki and police officer go for help while Toshio gets up and kills Yamamoto.

9 years later, the house was taken for sale by real estate agent Kyosuke Takeda and his wife. His wife's little sister, Aoi, and her friends, Rina, Yayoi and a sensitive Nanami go the Yamaga house, due to rumors of it being haunted. Nanami is afraid of ghosts, and feels the curse's presence at the house even from the outside. When the others begin to enter the house, Nanami says that she'll wait for them outside, but is then dragged inside by Rina. Inside Nanami hears Toshio's singing at the second floor bedroom and goes to investigate, while Yayoi finds his drawings, depicting the deaths of each of them except Nanami. They look at the drawings and burst out in laughter, not understanding their meaning and significance. Meanwile, Nanami enters the second floor bedroom and tries to turn on the light when Toshio appears behind her and she sees blood oozing from the floor and closet. She panics and tries to escape but Toshio appears and grabs her. Nanami screams in fear, falls out of the room, and meets the others outside. They just laugh it off, and leave the house in boredom. Nanami looks into the room one last time, grabs her bag, and follows the others, leaving the house in fear.

During a basketball class, Yayoi hears and sees Toshio moving at the backstage hall. She finds the piano playing by itself and is grabbed by Toshio. Hurriedly entering an empty infirmary, she goes to bed and finds one of the drawings from the house. Toshio appears in bed with her and kills her by dragging her under the sheets.

Nanami and Aoi visit Rina and find her panicking, shivering in fear, and talking about a white boy. Toshio appears in the room and begins influencing it. Nanami notices it and tells Aoi that they must go. Aoi gives Rina a protective charm and they leave the house in fear. Rina begins preparing tea, and grabs milk from the refrigerator. She tries to pour it in into a cup, but the milk turns to blood. The teapot begins to heat up and the lid bursts. The steam burns Rina's face. Toshio opens the refrigerator, grabs Rina from behind and kills her by dragging her in and closing the door.

Aoi confides to her sister about the house, but her sister does not want to talk about it, while Kyosuke is concerned at the prospect of Aoi visiting the house. Aoi goes to the bathroom, looks into the mirror, and asks what happened to Rina and Yayoi. Toshio appears in the mirror. Aoi sees him and freezes in fear when he grabs her lower jaw and kills her by ripping it off and leaving it in the shower. Aoi's sister hears her scream, goes to the bathroom, finds her jaw and screams in fear, falling to the floor.

Nanami is riding on a train when ghosts of Aoi and Rina appear nearby. She notices them and tries to talk to them, but they turn around and she sees their faces and screams in fear. She falls to the floor and tries to escape, but sees Yayoi's ghost in the ceiling and is transported to the Yamaga house. There she loses her bag on the stairs before being repeatedly slammed to the walls and then dragged away and killed. Right afterward, Aoi's sister guides two potential buyers, a couple named Takeo and Kayako Saeki, inside the house. The couple happily agree to take the house and Aoi's sister sees Nanami's bag on the stairs. Eventually, Aoi's sister is killed by the curse too.

Kayako could not have a child with Takeo, and became pregnant when Toshio ented her body. Takeo eventually finds out the truth and kills Kayako, Toshio and Mar, before dying from the curse as well.

Ikuno Shouno Yui always wanted to be a schoolteacher and works in an elementary school with her colleagues, homeroom teacher of Class 3-3 Konishi and headmaster Inui. Yui's boyfriend, Naoto, is a filmmaker. Toshio became Konishi's student, but soon after he suddenly stopped coming to school. Konishi was concerned by it and decided to visit him. Konishi went to the Saeki house and met Kayako. She repeatedly said that Toshio was resting and Konishi was not able to meet him. Eventually Konishi decided to visit the Saeki house again. He returned to the Saeki house and falls under the curse's influence. He goes back to school and begins to draw spirals in his diary. He quits from his work and tries to escape the curse, but is eventually killed. Inui learns of his death from his family and asks Yui to replace him, while telling her that Konishi suddenly "quit" the job. Yui happpily takes the job. She heads outside and calls Naoto to tell him the news. He congratulates her and says that they should celebrate. Yui ends her call and notices an ominous spiral in the courtyard. She walks inside it and looks around, confused.

Yui and Naoto celebrate Yui's assignment at their apartment and discuss Naoto's film. In her first day Yui notices Toshio's absence and is concerned about it. She reads Konishi's notes, and finds that Toshio has been absent for a long period of time. She decides to visit him. Yui visits the Saeki household and sees Toshio pale arm hanging out the upper window. She enters the house and meets Kayako, who welcomes her. Yui hears Toshio's singing coming from upstairs and follows it. She enters his room and finds a closet sealed with duct tape. Yui rips of the tape and finds the closet empty. Kayako appears behind her and scares her. Yui tells her she just wanted to see Toshio's room. Kayako replies that it's not Toshio's room, then offers her some tea, and goes downstairs. Yui follows her downstairs, and sees empty teacups. Kayako begins to draw spirals at her diary and sing Toshio's song. Yui hears her singing and asks her if she's all right but get's no reply. Yui comes closer to her and finds Kayako eerily staring and rattling at her while filling the pages of her diary with spirals. Terrified, Yui runs out of the house in fear while the door closes behind her. Yui returns to school, meets Inui, and tells her about her meeting with Kayako and that "something was not right about that woman". Inui informs her that Konishi had actually mysteriously died. Yui continues to read Konishi's journal. In his last note, she reads that he planned to visit the Saeki household again. She then discovers that all of the next pages are written in spirals. Just as Konishi, Yui falls under the curse's influence and comes back home. The day after, Yui sees a crestfallen Toshio among her students. He begins scratching spirals on his desk while singing his song. Yui asks him to stop that, but he ignores her. She calls and grabs him by the hand, but he disappears and she realizes that only she sees him. Later that night, Yui begins to subconsciously draw spirals on students' exam papers. Then she is haunted by Kayako and Toshio. She sees Kayako walking outside the office and follows her to the classroom. There, she finds her diary and briefly reads it, when Kayako appeaars behind her and posseses her.

Naoto works from home when ghosts begin to haunt him and he hears the meowing. Mar appears in the microwave and sets it off, then disappears. Naoto opens the microwave and sees nothing. He then leaves the apartment for awhile. While he's gone, Yui returns home and stands by the window. Naoto returns and sees her. She draws a spiral on the window, and faints. He catches her and takes her to bed. Naoto worries about Yui, finds Kayako's diary inside her bag and reads it. While he's reading Kayako appears behind him, then in front of him, but he dosen't notice. Naoto sees Kayako's eye in the diary and screams in fear. Naoto leaves the apartment. Yui wakes up, and takes a shower while singing Toshio's song. After the shower she returns to bed and sleeps again. Naoto goes to the Saeki house and meets with Kyosuke, who tells him about the curse, about Toshio's first death, and about Aoi's and her sister's fate. Naoto goes to the library and reads about Toshio's first death. Naoto returns to the apartment, checks on Yui and sees that something is under her blanket. He pulls off the blanket, but sees nothing. Naoto finds out that Toshio Yamaga and Toshio Saeki are one and the same. Kayako appears behind him, grabs his head, and slowly begins to turn it backwards. She snaps his neck and kills him. Yui recovers from her posession and wakes up. She goes to the room, finds Naoto, and screams in horror, pain and anguish, before falling to the floor and crying.

The next day, withdrawn and grief-stricken Yui went to school and stands by a window in her classroom, deep in thought, reminiscing of everything that happened and mourning Naoto. She then turns around, looks at Toshio's desk with hatred, and decides to get revenge and stop the curse. She goes back to the Saeki house, goes to Toshio's room, opens the closet, and discovers a box with the Saeki's family album, and their home videos. She views the album and notices that in all of the photographs of Toshio his face is scratched out. She watches the videos and finds one last tape, hidden inside an envelope. She watches the tape and learns that Kayako got pregnant not by Takeo, but by Toshio entering her body. Toshio's face then appears on the screen and scares her. Kayako and Takeo suddenly appear in the room and Yui sees them. Kayako told Takeo that Toshio was not his son and began laughing manically. Yui witnesses how Takeo grabbed her and broke her neck, left Toshio's pet cat, Mar, to burn to death inside the microwave and tried to kill the boy only to be seemingly be attacked and killed himself. They then all disappear. Yui heads to the attic and sees Kayako who then "awakens" and crawls towards her. Yui runs downstairs and falls down the staircase just as Nanami did years ago. Toshio appears to her, looks down at her, and once again calls her "teacher". Yui looks at him from below and begs him to help her and spare her life. He ignores her and looks up, waiting for Kayako to appear. Yui notices it and looks at the staircase, but Kayako is not appearing. She then looks at him again, bur he is still looking up. She then hears a death rattle from above her and sees Kayako on the ceiling. Kayako drives Yui upstairs where Toshio appears behind her, grabs her belly, and calls her "mother". She screams in horror and disgust and runs from him. As the two ghosts corner her, Yui is suddenly taken back to her apartment, where she wakes up in her bed. She hears Naoto's voice and assumes that everything was a dream. Yui walks into the room, and hears a death rattle behind her. She turns around and is shocked and horrified to see Naoto, posessed by Kayako, rattling and walking towards her with his head still snapped. Toshio appears on the table behind her and stares at her. Yui looks at Naoto and cries, the film ends, leaving her fate unknown.

Cast[]

Production[]

The film was first announced at a press conference held at Akagi Shrine in Tokyo on February 26, 2014, following a spirit cleansing ceremony at the shrine.[9] Beginning of the End is written by Masayuki Ochiai and Takashige Ichise, familiar names of Japanese horror cinema. Ichise produced every previous installment in both Ju-on and The Grudge film series. Filming began soon thereafter on March 4, 2014. Beginning of the End premiered on June 28, 2014 in Japan. A teaser trailer was released on March 14, 2014, followed by the theatrical trailer released on May 9th.

Release[]

The film premiered in June 28th 2014 in Japan. Singer Chihiro Onitsuka who sings the film's theme song attented the premiere alongside Nozomi Sasaki, Reina Triendl, Misaki Saisho, Shô Aoyagi, Kai Kobayashi, director and writer Masayuki Ochiai[10][11][12].

Box office[]

The film has grossed ¥226 million at the Japanese box office.[13]

Novelization[]

A novelization written by Kei Ohishi was published by Kadokawa in Japan in June 20 2014, eight days prior to the film's release.[14]

Notes and trivia[]

Ju-kay7

Before and after the Kayako make-up process for the Korean promo.

  • To promote this film, a Toshio-themed earphone jack was released.[15] As usual for Japanese horror films, Misaki Saisho (Kayako) and Kay Kobayashi (Toshio) attended the second press meeting as their characters.
  • Differently from other films, the storyline significantly focuses more on Toshio's character rather than Kayako's, though she still has a main part. While in the previous installments the characters meet Toshio first, it is now Kayako who welcomes Konishi and Yui to her house.
  • The idea of a ghost returning to life is revisited after the last installment, Ju-on: The Grudge 2.
  • The first film to (partially) show a cursed individual having their jaw extracted by the ghosts.
  • The film is titled Ju-on 3 in some countries even though it is a reboot from the previous films.
  • Yui's storyline is reminiscent of both Kobayashi and Mariko's plots from Ju-on: The Curse and Ju-on: The Grudge respectively. Both were teachers visiting the Saeki house after their pupil, Toshio, goes missing from school and are killed by the curse.
  • Instead of the Ju-on films, Yui's storyline references Karen's, from The Grudge. Both cross paths with the curse by replacing a missing worker. Also, both learn the origin of the grudge curse through a vision from the past.
Ju-on-masayuki-a3916b1543db120868b8c046ece8a139

Masayuki Ochiai directing the film.

  • Takashi Shimizu has no involvement with this film. His last work on his Ju-on series was as a supervising producer for White Ghost/Black Ghost.
  • Kai Kobayashi is the sixth young actor to play the ghost of Toshio.
  • Misaki Saisho is the second actress to portray Kayako in the Ju-on film series, and the fourth overall. On her Twitter, Saisho stated she has met Fuji-san at several occasions.[16]
  • In a promotional clip for the film's Korean release, Kayako's ghost is portrayed by an uncredited actress.[17]
  • The first installment written by Takashige Ichise.
  • Unlike many Ju-On films which rely on a more quieter, darker and ambient atmosphere, Ju-on: The Beginning of The End incoroperates louder sound effects, a slightly faster pace and a moderately brighter atmosphere for most of the movie than it's predecessors, contrasting the preceding films' darker colours.
  • The first Ju-On film to have Kayako crawl up the stairs towards the ending where she chases Yui instead of having her crawl down the stairs (which is widely recognized as one of her signature movements).

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. https://sg.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/show- buzz/review-ju-3-begnning-end-sets-skin-crawling-001909067.html
  2. http://news.mynavi.jp/articles/2014/06/28/sasaki-nozomi/
  3. http://www.moviecollection.jp/interview_new/detail.html?id=335
  4. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/76834/fantasia-2014-second-wave-titles-include-new-ju-film-open-windows-life-after-beth-drownsm#axzz36c4irBmU
  5. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/76834/fantasia-2014-second-wave-titles-include-new-ju-film-open-windows-life-after-beth-drownsm#axzz36c4irBmU
  6. http://twitchfilm.com/2014/06/juon---begining-of-the-end-check-these-exclusive-images-gallery.html
  7. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/abel-ferraras-welcome-new-york-715452
  8. http://bloody-disgusting.com/images/3301086/fantasia-14-grudge-beginning-end-haunts-festival/
  9. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-02/new-juon/the-grudge-horror-film-announced-with-nozomi-sasaki
  10. http://www.cinemacafe.net/article/2014/06/28/24323.html
  11. http://www.cinematopics.com/cinema/c_report/index3.php?number=8185
  12. http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2014/06/29/032/
  13. http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/maleficent-dethrones-frozen-in-japan
  14. http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%91%AA%E6%80%A8-%E7%B5%82%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AE%E5%A7%8B%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8A-%E8%A7%92%E5%B7%9D%E3%83%9B%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E5%A4%A7%E7%9F%B3-%E5%9C%AD/dp/4041018005
  15. http://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw1038002
  16. https://twitter.com/bariukeuke/status/484829558714036224
  17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3njtyMcXAk

External links[]

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