JP Nunez
If you’ve been following our Fantasia coverage, you might know that House of Sayuri was one of my most anticipated films of the festival. It was directed by the man who made Noroi: The Curse, one of the best found-footage movies way too many people have never heard of, and that was enough to get me on board. I wanted to check this film out before I even knew what it was about, and now that I finally have, I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint.
House of Sayuri was directed and co-written by Koji Shiraishi, and it stars Ryoka Minamide, Fusako Urabe, Toshie Negishi, Zen Kajihara, Kokoro Morita, Ray Inomata, Haruka Kubo, Nonoka Terui, Hana Kondo, and Kitaro. The movie follows the Kamikis—three kids, their parents, and two grandparents—who move into a new house, but little do they know, the place is haunted by a vengeful ghost.
The malevolent spirit starts to terrorize its new victims soon after they arrive, and surprisingly, the one who fights back first is the dementia-stricken grandmother. After seeing her family’s tormentor, the woman’s condition clears up almost miraculously, and she enacts a plan to uncover the truth behind the house’s unhappy spectral resident.
One of the keys to making a great haunted house film is to populate it with likable characters, and House of Sayuri succeeds wonderfully in that regard. The Kamikis all love each other immensely, and seeing their affection and care for one another will melt even the coldest of horror-loving hearts. These people pretty much embody the meaning of the word “family,” so you simply can’t help but root for them to overcome their upcoming plight even before anything spooky happens.
Then, once the ghost starts to make its presence felt, House of Sayuri uses your love for these characters to amplify its scares in terrifying ways. It’s the kind of approach that makes movies like The Conjuring and Poltergeist stone-cold classics, and it’s super effective here as well.
At first, the horror is fairly typical haunted house fare. For instance, there are a few shots with spooky figures standing motionless in the background, we hear a bit of eerie laughing, and there’s even the requisite scene where the ghost slowly emerges from behind a door one inch at a time. It’s all pretty standard stuff, but don’t let that fool you. These scares are executed almost perfectly, so despite their lack of originality, they’re just about guaranteed to creep you out.
But if they don’t, director Koji Shiraishi has a few other tricks up his sleeve, and they’ll certainly do the trick. The horror quickly goes from scary and fun to genuinely dangerous, and when it does, House of Sayuri gets dark. I don’t want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that what happens to these poor people is worse than the supernatural harassment we normally expect in the haunted house subgenre. It’s utterly heartbreaking, and that emotional impact makes the film exponentially more terrifying than it would be if you didn’t care about the characters so much.
When we reach the halfway point or so, House of Sayuri changes gears a bit. The grandmother’s mind clears up, and she turns into what can best be described as a hippie ninja. This woman is a tai chi master who once successfully fought off five yakuza members, and actress Toshie Negishi makes you believe that she really is that much of a badass.
In fact, her transformation into this new version of the character is simply staggering. Everything about this woman’s performance, from her facial expressions to the tone of her voice, completely changes, so if I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was two different people. But it’s one actress the whole time, and Toshie Negishi’s great dual performance is worth the price of admission.
What’s more, this newly rejuvenated grandmother also brings some lighthearted humor to the story. To be fair, the first half of House of Sayuri has a few gags as well, but the comedy becomes much more prominent in the latter half. To take just one example, there’s a hilarious line involving the phrase “full throttle” that gets repeated a few times throughout this part of the movie, and if you’re anything like me, it just might become your new secret mantra.
Unsurprisingly, this action-hero grandma takes a somewhat novel approach to fighting the evil presence in her house, but it’s not completely new. There are obvious strands of traditional ghost lore mixed in with the film’s more unique elements, and that combination makes for a conclusion that’s both fun and poignant.
In fact, when all is said and done, House of Sayuri ends up being a really nice metaphor for the importance of life, love, and joy. You might even call it a celebration of the things that make our lives worth living, so despite the dark and dreary exterior, this movie is actually pretty uplifting. It’ll leave you feeling like you’re ready to take on the world, and if a film can do that, it’s a winner in my book.
So if you get the chance to watch House of Sayuri sometime in the future, whether at another festival or when it gets a general release, I highly recommend that you check it out. It’s a creepy haunted house movie that’s both heartbreaking and heartwarming, so it’s another feather in the cap of the great Koji Shiraishi.
House of Sayuri played at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 2.
