Redwarmin
This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Skyler
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Derek Childs (totalovrdose)
If you were to encounter a film titled 'Sadako Vs Kayako', I imagine you'd expect much of the film to be a death match between two of Japan's most renowned ghouls. Sadly, these famed frighteners only appear in the same room together in the final few scenes, the lead up to their encounter been unnecessarily long-winded.The film centres on two story lines, which gradually intersect. The first involves Suzuka (Tina Tamashiro), who enlists the help of her friend, Yuri (Mizuki Yamamoto) to drag her parents wedding video into the 21st century as an anniversary gift. Purchasing a used VCR to do the job, Yuri finds a tape inside. Three guesses who this tape belongs to.Suzuka happens to watch the tape, only to discover she now has 48 hours to live, rather than the stereotypical 7 days. Considering Sadako Vs Kayako rarely takes the time to honour its inspired source material, it's occasionally difficult to trust the filmmakers with the product. In fact, watching the legends that have been created around these known ghosts get torn down in exchange for unappreciated thrills is almost as painful as watching the film itself.Worried for the sake of her friend, Yuri enlists the help of Shinichi (Masahiro Komoto), a professor infatuated with Japanese urban legends, his knowledge of Sadako's tape been of use. Like most secondary characters however, Shinichi's role is only to progress the narrative, the lacking depth applied to all characters largely resulting in conversations that are plastic and one dimensional.If the film is hard to swallow before the arrival of natural exorcist Koyozo (Masanobu Ando), who can terrify away ghosts with a snap of his finger, and his young accomplice, the blind Tamao (Mai Kikuchi), the feature is incredibly difficult to digest after. Both look to be cosplayers who happened to step onto the set by accident, their total lack of empathy only making it more difficult to accept them as characters. Through Shinichi, Yuri is introduced to Koyozo, who is heralded as the last hope she has to save her friend.The second narrative taking place, which is only occasionally glimpsed, revolves around Natsumi (Aaimi Satsukawa), who happens to move in next door to Kayako, the deathly house frequently calling out to her.It is Sadako however that steals the show most of all, her silent, shambling movements constantly giving me goose bumps. When the feature embraces the subtlety of the horror franchises it is adopting, Sadako Vs Kayako works effectively, the ambiance evoking a sense of dread. Unfortunately, the feature typically opts for in-your-face violence, which is seldom scary or entertaining.Unlike Freddy Vs Jason before it which revelled in the homicidal bloodlust of its antagonists, Sadako Vs Kayako revels in its own absurdity. Though I am a fan of Ju-On and Ringu, I can't deny both franchises have overstayed their welcome, becoming mere shadows of what they once were, the filmmakers possibly aware of this, considering at times the feature appears to be making a joke at its own expense, resulting in a series of cheesy moments.Considering the number of unanswered questions which still exist as the credits roll, Sadako Vs Kyoko feels more like a television pilot than a complete film. Whether a sequel will answer these is anyone's guess. As for who wins the fight – you'll have to watch to find out...
Louie413
Is it just me, or isn't the whole point of doing a versus movie to give the audience what they want, an entertaining versus-movie?And yet they did same mistake that many other versus movies has made? eg. Batman vs. Superman, Mummy vs, Frankenstein etc. A long movie where you just kinda sit around and wait the entire movie until the "versus" appears, then they give you barely 1 minute of the actuall versus- scene, then the end. What a waste of time.This movie is not like Alien vs. Predator or Freddy vs. Jason, which is how a versus movie should be. If you think you're in for a "fight of the year" you're wrong. The fight itself lasted about 45 seconds in total. Just fast forward to it if you want to se it imo, don't waste your time watching the entire movie.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
At first impression, I must say that I was a little bit perplexed about why the world needed a movie that would plot the entity from "Ringu" (aka "The Ring") up against the entity from "Ju-On" (aka "The Grudge"). I am a fan of Asian cinema and love Asian horror, and I have watched the movies from both franchises, but I can't claim that I was ever craving anything even remotely in the likes of these two entities being put up against one another. Unlike the "Freddy vs Jason" movie, for example, which was long waited and had been pitched. But perhaps the Japanese audience have been waiting and longing for a movie that put Sadako up against Kayako.Regardless, given the chance to sit down and watch "Sadako vs. Kayako", I of course did jump at it. This is a Japanese horror movie after all, so it is right up my alley.The movie does start out by raising a good point about the curse of Sadako almost coming to an end as the video (VHS) format is obsolete. That was a nice touch of detail from writers Takashi Shimizu and Kôji Suzuki."Sadako vs Kayako" has some very interesting sound work, and it really helped to build the atmosphere and mood of the movie. There is a lot of atmospheric sounds put into the movie when Sadako and Kayako are on the screen, and also when something creepy is about to happen or actually happening on the screen. I must admit that I was rather impressed with the sound department and the work they mustered in this movie.There are some pretty interesting visuals in the movie as well, and director Kôji Shiraishi really managed to use these visuals so well in the movie to establish scares and atmosphere.As for the acting in the movie, well I can't claim to be familiar with anyone on the cast list, but I will say that the cast ensemble did great jobs with their given roles and characters. And it was nice to see this many new faces in a movie.There was a good pace to the movie, and the dialogue was good and seemed quite natural. And the character development was also good throughout the course of the movie, because it made the characters stand out from one another and not just be generic and pointless characters. Do take into consideration that the character gallery is rather extensive, and there is a lot of people to keep track of, some more important to the story than others, of course. So keep vigilant and attentive to the story, or you might miss something important.While the design and layout of the Kayako house was rather interesting, I think it was a shame that it was kept so dark all the time, because a lot of details were being missed and obscured by the darkness. Sure, it sets mood, but would have been nicer to have had a bit more of proper lighting.Actually a good portion of the movie is filmed in a relatively dark setting. Sure, it adds to the atmosphere, but it becomes annoying after a while, especially because it is so much more nice to actually see everything that is going on clearly in a movie. Especially since you did pay money to watch this.One thing that puzzle me is why there is no consistency from movie to movie as in what you see on Sadako's cursed VHS tape. It keeps changing from movie to movie. That really makes no sense to me.As a seasoned horror veteran, I can't claim to find a Japanese woman in a white dress with her long black hair covering her entire face as being particularly scary. Nor can I claim to find a milky white boy with funky hair who sounds like a cat as being scary either. But hey, they are iconic characters of the two Japanese franchises. I guess you have to be Asian in order to find this particularly scary. And also the thing with long black hair showing up out of nowhere in places it shouldn't or couldn't be is not scary either, it is just downright weird.For an actual showdown between Sadako and Kayako, then you actually have to wait a very, very long time throughout the movie, and that is even before someone just suggests pitching the two evil entities against one another. It is not before the last 15 minutes of the movie that the actual pitching of the two iconic entities take place. And the showdown was not really as satisfying as it should have been, especially since it took almost the entire movie leading up to it."Sadako vs. Kayako" is an entertaining enough movie for what it turned out to be. But I can't really claim to find that this was a movie that was particularly necessary for either of the franchises. This wasn't a scary movie, not even by a long shot. It was an interesting enough ride up to the last 15 minutes, which culminated in a less than satisfactory manner.My rating for "Sadako vs. Kayako" lands on a mediocre 5 out of 10 stars, because this wasn't an outstanding movie in any way, nor was it a particularly necessary movie or a necessary crossover between two franchises.
Alexey Vartanyan
Not bad at all. Fans of Japanese horror should be satisfied. To say the truth, I didn't expect anything good. The latest movies about Kayako were so-so, and the latest movies about Sadako were even worse. I thought the Japanese had lost their fantasy, the theme had been completely explored. And here is this promise – Sadako vs Kayako. Must be a silly trash. I was pleasantly surprised. The Japanese produced a serious well-built film. Of course, I don't mean that it's like the original "Ringu". From the point of view of the style it's more like "The Grudge" franchise – a horror with frequent scary scenes. Apart from it, as it often happens in Japanese films, there are some interesting original ideas, the main heroines are cute (I mean the girls that get cursed, not the onryos (this type of Japanese ghosts)). The fight between Kayako and Sadako is also good. Only it's too short. Minuses. First of all, there are "minuses" – I mean things that narrow-minded people dislike in Japanese movies. It has one static atmosphere, perhaps slowly or evenly paced. I so understand that some people find it boring, as other Japanese films are often criticised for it. Also some moments can seem strange to a western viewer. So I think that those who don't typically like Japanese horror movies, would not like this one. If to add some objective criticism, there is little new in the film. It doesn't repeat one to one moments from the previous films, and yet the onryos do the same familiar tricks. I wonder if there will be a sequel. The film has an unexpected ending, which may lead to new and interesting beginning.