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Film: The Curse
Year: 2025
Director: Ken’ichi Ugana
Writer: Ken’ichi Ugana
Starring: Yukino Kaizu, Yu and Yutaka Kyan
Review:
This was a film that intrigued me when I saw it was starting the evening block for day three of Nightmares Film Festival. One of director Ken’ichi Ugana’s other films, Love Will Tear Us Apart, was shown the previous year. I enjoyed the different takes he did there. Other than knowing this, I came into seeing this film blind.
Synopsis: after seeing her friend’s disturbing social media post, Riko (Yukino Kaizu) tries to intervene. When that fails, she is convinced there is more going on which leads down a dark path.
We start this with an interesting cold open. A woman is fleeing, thinking that she’s being followed. She hides just off the road and sees a hand appear from behind. It touches her, causing her to panic. She steps into the road, in front of a large truck.
It then shifts over to our lead character, Riko. We get to know her. She works at a salon where she is friendly with her boss. She goes on break and we see that she is on her phone quite a bit. It is primarily Instagram. It is here that she comes across the post from the synopsis. Her friend moved to Taiwan. There is a creepy entity in the background and the caption is harsh. Riko then shows this to her roommate, who recommends she call her ex-boyfriend. It gives her a reason to connect with him. He also moved to Taiwan and stayed in touch with this friend.
Riko and her roommate also continue piecing together what happened. This leads them down a dark path where the roommate gets cursed. It causes her to do disturbing things like eating what looks like human meat. She also harms herself in Riko’s bed.
This traumatizes her and she cannot give up trying to stop what is happening, as she is the next target. This leads her to Taiwan where her ex-boyfriend, played by Yu, helps her. Along with his group of friends, they seek out the sister of the original person who was cursed and an exorcist for help. Time is short as they try to survive and figure out why they’re being targeted.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this feels like a new take on J-horror. I saw a similar film earlier this year, The Invisible Half. Where that one used cell phones, this one is focusing more on social media. I love elements of the story where other aspects do feel cheesy. Regardless, this would be the next logical step after that boom.
Now that I’ve set that up, where I want to start would be exploring more about the J-horror aspects of this. This is playing with the idea that younger people are on social media. They live their lives through it, sharing every aspect that they can. This then uses the idea, what if a spirit used that to target people. Riko learns from her ex-boyfriend that the person from the post she’s trying to help died six months prior. The family was keeping it quiet. There is a new post, in which Riko pushes her roommate to send a message to the account, making her a target. She then gets a response where a curse was placed on her.
It is from there that we get the investigation and try to find a cure for how to fix it. It is here that it started to feel like Ringu, The Grudge or Shutter. There were even elements of The Wailing since they seek out an exorcist. What is good though, I like that this ramps up the elements. This goes violent, it goes bloody and gross. I like that the things we’ve seen in the past fail, which helps to build the tension.
If I do have a gripe, this does get cheesy in the end when it reveals who is behind what is happening. I don’t hate it though. It feels in line with what I’ve experienced with social media. This in a way is a commentary on ‘internet trolls’. People feel powerful when they’re able to hide behind a keyboard. Even more so in this case since they’re able to perform rituals. It is here that it could go off the rails, but I think we see just how determined they are, even if it is extremely misguided.
I’ll then shift over to the filmmaking aspects. I think this is well-made. The cinematography and framing was good. This one is much less subtle. I tend to prefer the more interesting angles and hiding the scares. This one ramps up the blood and gore at times, going more for a gross out. There is CGI that doesn’t look as well. It feels rushed going that route, but I’m sure it is also more budgetary. The sound design does help build tension, so credit there.
All that is left is acting performances. I do have to be brief since I don’t have a great cast list of who plays what characters. Kaizu is good as our lead. She’s meek which is interesting. The only gripe there is that I wanted more of a character arch than what we got. Yu was solid as her ex, who steps in to help. The rest of the cast were solid then to round this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this offers a compelling, modern twist on J-horror tropes by centering its narrative on the pervasive influence and dark potential of social media. While it occasionally leans into cheesy territory, particularly with the final reveal, the film successfully builds tension and delivers satisfyingly violent, bloody, and gross-out scares. Director/writer Ugana showcases solid filmmaking, effective sound design, and good performances from Kaizu and Yu, despite some uneven CGI and a desire for more character development from the lead. Ultimately, this film stands as an enjoyable and relevant entry in the genre.
My Rating: 7 out of 10