Review: ‘Sadako vs Kayako’ is one crossover you'll definitely want to catch!
Toshio (Rintaro Shibamoto) in “Sadako vs Kayako.” (Encore Films)
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
Secret ending? Yes!!!
Running time: 99 minutes (~ 1.75 hours)
“Sadako vs Kayako” is a horror crossover movie that involves both “The Ring” and “Ju-On” franchises. A ghost hunter who encounters victims of both ghosts decides to pit them against each other in a bid to eliminate both curses forever. It stars Mizuki Yamamoto (Yuri), Tina Tamashiro (Suzuka), Masanobu Ando (Keizo), Mai Kikuchi (Tamao), Elly Nanami (Sadako), Runa Endo (Kayako), and Rintaro Shibamoto (Toshio). It is rated NC-16.
First announced as an April Fool’s Joke last year, “Sadako vs Kayako” became a reality this year with the monsters crossing paths as they assert their rights over victims who have fallen prey to both curses. It’s one of those premises which is so unbelievable that it crosses into awesome territory. While the film is incredibly entertaining, it doesn’t forget to scare you either, springing the best of each franchise’s horrors on you. “Sadako vs Kayako” is everything you wanted to see in a crossover horror movie, with an amazing surprise at the end.
Kayako (Runa Endo) in “Sadako vs Kayako.” (Encore Films)
Highlights
All “The Ring” and “Ju-On” tropes
If you’ve watched any of the above franchises, you’ll know all the mandatory scenes for each film. The classic death croak of Kayako, the inexplicable long hairs everywhere, the eye of Sadako, and so on. “Sadako vs Kayako” has all of these classics in while still maintaining a logical and coherent story, and even manages to scare you in the process! After all, that’s what you’re expecting when you watch films in either series, so flavour-wise it feels exactly like a cross between both movies.
Tongue-in-cheek treatment
Knowing how silly the premise is, the film plays everything straight and doesn’t take itself too seriously. “Sadako vs Kayako” assumes you’re familiar with both ghouls so there’s no unnecessary exposition that slows down the film. It doesn’t waste time trying to convince you of the plausibility of the story itself (which still makes sense), and plunges you straight into its rendition of “The Ring” and “Ju-On” scares.
Entertaining and scary
You can feel the glee oozing from the film, along with the usual creepy black gunk that follows either witch. It teases you with promises of an epic confrontation between both monsters, stringing you along with genuine scares from both monsters. It even has unexpected deaths and fairly sensible decisions made by the human protagonists. The cast members themselves also clearly have great fun being in “Sadako vs Kayako.” Most importantly, the film entertains and scares in equal measure, fulfilling its purpose gloriously.
A fantastic closing to the film
In a film where there are so many protagonists (since Sadako and Kayako are, arguably, protagonists as well), it’s difficult to have a conclusion that satisfies the needs and goals of all the characters. Yet the ending manages to respect all of the characters and even includes a twist that is possibly the best part of the film! Remember to stay for the post credits scene, and here’s to crossing our fingers for a crossover sequel!
Yuri (Mizuki Yamamoto) in “Sadako vs Kayako.” (Encore Films)
Letdowns
Not as scary as “The Ring” or “Ju-On” movies individually
Because the film sets you up for a fight between the titular characters, the mood is different from that of a horror film. The scares also follow the stereotypes of either film, so they’re not unexpected either. It ends up being maybe only half as terrifying as either film, but it does try its best to inject scares where appropriate.
Sadako (Elly Nanami) in “Sadako vs Kayako.” (Encore Films)
“Sadako vs Kayako” is scarily entertaining.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes!
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you’re a fan of “The Ring” and/or “Ju-On” series, definitely!
Score: 3.75/5
“Sadako vs Kayako” opens in cinemas 23 June, 2016 (Thursday).
