I’ve seen several Reddit posts asking for users’ “scariest” movie recommendations. It seems that every one of these posts will inevitably include Noroi: The Curse. For the longest time, I thought that I had already seen it and thought that it was pretty good but not terrifying or anything. So, when I stumbled across it while scrolling through the (paltry, imo) offerings on Screambox and didn’t recognize the synopsis, I was confused. It couldn’t have been that forgettable, right? When I compared it to what I remembered of it – found footage, possession, a cursed/possessed child, demonic presence, occult shit – I realized that I was thinking of the 2022 Taiwanese film, Incantation. (all of those things can be said of both films, so I can’t be blamed for mixing them up!) Turns out I hadn’t seen the movie that several people on Reddit think is the scariest movie ever. SWEET! I am surely in for a treat. Let’s get into it, shall we?
Kobayashi is a paranormal investigator who has made many documentaries on the subject. He and his adopted child have recently gone missing after a house fire that killed his wife. Through the footage he shot for his most recent movie, we find that he has been researching something that he called “The Curse” (or at least that was what the movie was going to be called). He found people hearing crying babies where there were none, dead pigeons, dead dogs, a very strange lady and her creepy silent son, a psychic girl who goes missing, a (literal) tinfoil hat wearing crazy man who might also be psychic, and tons of ropes/strings/yarn tied into repeating loops. As he dug deeper, he found that the strange things seemed to be connected with the weird lady somehow. Is she just crazy or is there a demon named Kagutaba responsible for it all?
Let me tell you right away that this is not the scariest movie that I’ve ever seen. I know that is a very subjective title on a very subjective scale, so take it as you will. What I can say though, is that this is a pretty good and effectively creepy paranormal mystery. The framing device – a documentary filmmaker researching the paranormal – addresses one of my biggest gripes with found footage. Namely, why are they filming this? That is a big win for a found footage movie because so many of them not only don’t address the question adequately, but also have characters in mortal danger looking back at a killer with their GoPro helmets and keeping him in frame. That instantly takes me out of the story. This means the Noroi is already ahead of the pack right out of the gate. But what about the scares? There are plenty! Especially if demonic possession/presence is your phobia. I don’t really have that though. But the imagery and chaos of some of the scenes did get my goosebumps up a few times. And the multi-layered mystery at the center of the film is handled really well. It kept me engaged and guessing the whole time. I ended up enjoying this one quite a bit!
The Final Cut: Noroi: The Curse is a very effective and well-executed paranormal mystery that will satisfy the ghosts/demons/possession itch for fans of the subgenre. If you’re really afraid of such things then maybe you’ll join the ranks of internet strangers who think this is the scariest movie ever.
