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Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 11:59 am
by thatcambridgebird
Didn't see a thread for this. Probably because it was dreadful.

Again, some unintentionally funny dialogue moments, though I'm not sure if that was just subtitle issues or if the filmmakers really did mean for certain lines to come across that way ("I am afraid one of you will have to be sacrificed" !!).

Versus movies are always generally crap, but this took the entire biscuit barrel. Ringu, for a long time, was one of the all-time-scariest for me. Sadly it seems like the Sadako character has such popularity (at least in Japan) that the story is starting to head down the caricature/joke route, like Freddie / Pinhead and so on. Shame.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 12:22 pm
by DJBenz
I honestly don't think it's intended as comedy - only because generally Japanese movies don't do subtle comedy it tends to have to be over the top and goofy for audiences to pick up that they're supposed to laugh (not that they're stupid, cultural differences I believe).

To a western audience the po-faced ridiculousness and matter of fact way that some things are translated come off as dry humour. It got a pretty decent cheer and most feedback is good, but it's not the horror comedy a lot of people will take it as. If you liked the two films it's spawned from then you'll no doubt enjoy this.

There's an after credits sequence too, not that it makes any difference if you miss it but:
Spoiler:
It's the Ring video again, but this time it has the Sadakayako character coming throught he door.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 1:54 pm
by ChrisReynolds
The Japanese have a fine history of doing monster mashes in their kaiju films, but this fails to be as entertaining as many of those. As soon as you start piling in monsters, any chance of scariness goes out the window so you have to go for craziness, humour and action. I think Sadako vs. Kayako is trying for a tongue-in-cheek tone, and a few of the knowing jokes about the conventions of the series are some of the best bits. What makes the film a drag is the lack of action; it's almost all setup for a brief fight between Sadako vs. Kayako at the end, and it takes ages to Kayako's cursed house to be brought into the plot.

The film seems to have three ideas on how to set up the fight: a) Somebody accidentally finds Sadako's video in an old second-hand store and watches it, then seeks out Kayako's house to play off the two curses against each other, b) the opposite, somebody enters Kayako's house, then seeks out the video, c) Students investigating urban legends come across both curses. For some reason it decides to do all three at once, leading to masses of setup that could have been trimmed.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:31 pm
by mamawaldi
With the number of sequels, remakes and rip-offs for these two, it was unrealistic to expect anything remotely like their early incarnations. From that platform then, this delivered a fun, bizarre and occasionally bewildering film experience. The big clash the title promises was a bit of a damp squib but overall yeah it was enjoyable. Loved the pair of exorcists too - give that blind girl her own film!!

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 11:32 am
by ThisisLukeOwen
Yeah, I felt the comedy was intentional. Japanese studios know when they're doing something goofy, and Sadako vs. Kayako certainly was that. I actually really enjoyed it, I was just disappointed that the actual showdown was so short lived.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:29 pm
by wakko
The second I see a "versus" in the title I run away. Unfortunately it was also true for "Ash vs Evil Dead".

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:50 pm
by WraithApe
ThisisLukeOwen wrote:Yeah, I felt the comedy was intentional. Japanese studios know when they're doing something goofy, and Sadako vs. Kayako certainly was that. I actually really enjoyed it, I was just disappointed that the actual showdown was so short lived.
Ditto. There's no way the humour in this was unintentional IMO - I was surprised to see people even suggesting that. The problem with most franchise face-offs is that they do try and play it straight, which is where they fail. This one, on the other hand, is full of self-referential jokes but doesn't over-egg it. How could anyone think characters like Kyozo and the blind chick were intended to be anything other than a comedy duo? :s I was pleasantly surprised by the film myself, having had very low expectations going in.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:18 pm
by ian
wakko wrote:The second I see a "versus" in the title I run away. Unfortunately it was also true for "Ash vs Evil Dead".


whhhaaaaaaa? loved the show.

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 10:00 pm
by wakko
ian wrote:
wakko wrote: whhhaaaaaaa? loved the show.
Ash was great, but the other characters and the story was a bit bland. Stopped at Episode 4, maybe I should give it another go..

Re: Sadako vs Kayako

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 5:47 pm
by gazadams
thought the effects in this was really bad. Not sure if it was trying to be comedy but those subtitles were a riot. Hated that guy who kept trying to use magic