Gurozuka 

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review: JA Kerswell

This occasionally creepy but slow-going slasher whodunnit is a relatively rare example of the subgenre from Japan. A newly reformed, all-female college Movie Club return to a remote house where, years earlier, rumours abound that a tragedy happened with two previous members. Once there, the past seems to reoccur, and the college students are haunted and hunted by someone in a traditional Japanese female demon mask. The film borrows as much from the then-current en-vogue Asian ghost genre as it does the North American slasher movie.
 
After seven years, a college Movie Club is reformed and—when cleaning out a classroom—they discover an 8mm reel that shows two masked women in traditional robes, where one hits the other over the head repeatedly with a curved blade. There are rumours that during that shoot, one of the previous Movie Club members went mad and was confined to an asylum, and another went missing. 
 
With classic slasher movie logic, the group decides to venture back into the remote woods to the isolated lodge to create their own film. The women are chaperoned by Yôko (Yûko Itô), a teacher who had once been a member of the old Movie Club. Her younger sister, Maki (Yôko Mitsuya), is surprised and even more taken aback that another young woman, Takako (Nozomi Andô), is joining them—especially as Takako is a mute ‘shut-in’. The others have even spread rumours suggesting Takako and the teacher are in a lesbian relationship. After being questioned about past events, Yôko insists there is no truth to the stories concerning her past classmates, and they are all just lies.
 
Hiking through the woods, the group reaches the house and settles down for the night. However, factions develop among them after it is revealed that the plan is to make a horror movie based on the rumoured events. The group’s megabitch, Natsuku (Yûko Kurosawa), says that she thought that they were going to be making a love story and threatens to take all the food she bought with her and leave the others to starve. The next day, the group split into two, with one starting the love story with Natsuku and the other scouting for the previous shoot’s locations for their horror movie. Naturally, they have brought with them a replica of the Deigan demon mask and curved blade axe as props.
 
However, on return to the house, they find that all the food and phones have been taken. Natsuku is also missing. Has she made good on her threat, or has something more sinister happened to her? 

The shadow of Hideo Nakata’s original RING (1998) looms large over GUROZUKA, just as it did for much of the Asian horror output in the decade or so following its release. A prominent example is the seemingly surreal and disjointed 8mm tape that captivates the Movie Club. Nevertheless, while this film employs folklore to frame its narrative—with the legend of a demon woman inhabiting the woods and consuming wandering monks—it demonstrates a greater emphasis on psychological elements rather than the supernatural. The film has a nicely evocative sense of foreboding, which is complimented by its chilly winter setting, isolated locale and good cinematography. There are some effectively macabre touches, too, such as the discovery of a freshly dug—or clawed out of—grave. However, the constant bickering between the students and their ever-shifting personalities and motivations might test the patience of some—although it does add to the growing unease of the proceedings. 
 
GUROZUKA has the somewhat novelty of an all-female cast (although the director and writers are male). The film also tends to buck the trend of much Japanese genre cinema by sticking to a relatively rational, linear narrative without entering into the gonzo or surreal—at least until its final moments. However, the revelation of who the killer is doesn’t appear to make any sense. Arguably, where the film works less well is with its slasher movie theatrics—or lack of. Most of the murders are off-screen, with bodies being randomly discovered in the woods. The demon-masked killer is suitably creepy, but outside of flash cuts, it is seen little until the last 15 minutes or so during a brief chase scene and unmasking. 

The film was shot on Hi-Def video and had a limited theatrical bow in Japan before finding its more natural home on video—where it developed a small, but enthusiastic cult following.  

BODY COUNT 6: 
Female 6 / Male 0

1. Female is hit over head with a curved blade
2. Female is seen dead
3. Female is seen dead
4. Female is seen with her throat cut
5. Female is seen dead
6. Female is stabbed through her chest with a nail 

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