Sadako vs. Kayako (2017) by Kôji Shiraishi

Director: Kôji Shiraishi
Year: 2017
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts

Plot:
Hearing a story in their class, a group of students seek out a cursed videotape of urban legend and after finding themselves under it's curse try to alleviate the danger by introducing another local urban legend to counteract the effects of the curse leading the entities to battle each other.

Review:

This was quite an overall enjoyable if slightly flawed entry. One of the finest aspects of this one is the fact that it manages to incorporate both aspects of the franchises pretty neatly. The fact that this one takes the atmosphere of the cursed house, ably captured in the opening moments of the attack at the house followed by the appearance of the ghost behind her, coupled with the urban legends featuring the adventures of the bullies in the house where they each encounter spirit in fine scenes from the initial scenes of them egging the kid on to his game inside the house followed up by the relentless and efficient manner in which they take out both the bullies and their other victim while inside. It leaves a great impression with the ability to feature such a strong implication of the storyline into this one.

However, it's the other storyline here that really manages to get a lot to enjoy with this one. Not only does the stetup for requiring the outdated form of technology in today's modern society come off rather nicely, but the series of isolated scenes to showcase this while playing through the idea of killing off those associated with the cursed videotape. Those scenes are incredibly fun, from the series of flashes to the ghost coming up on them unaware to finding clumps of hair in their hands or falling on them from above which are somewhat shocking while getting this one setup for the other great scenes that emerge from this storyline including the fantastic exorcism scenes that relate closer to mythology in their country than a tradition scene.

The cast here isn't bad and certainly come off rather nicely. Mizuki Yamamoto plays student Yuri Kurahashi, the one who was initially the most curious about the tape but soon grows dubious of the distinction. Basically she seems to be more or less simply there for the concern she has for the others which manages to give her quite an appealing if bland presence. Aimi Satsukawa as her friend Natsumi Ueno is a bit more memorable with her being apprehensive about watching the tape and then being the cursed figure in the storyline. Her freak-outs are considered appropriate for the situation and gives some rather difficult moments throughout here somewhat easily for a great character. Masahiro Kômoto as the obsessed teacher Shin'ichi Morishige nearly steals the show from the ghosts. Given a crazy backstory that's quite believable and some outrageous antics, his frenzied excitement over the situation contrasts nicely with their grave seriousness making him a nice standout. The other big role is Masanobu Andô as Spiritual Medium Kyozo, who with his wacky mannerisms and eccentric touches is quite a character to be thrust into that late into the mix. These here hold it up over it's few minor flaws.

There's a nice sense of respect and continuity offered in these scenes with getting both storylines somewhat setup for the big final confrontation which could've been highly enjoyable and really had a lot to like but was just a slight disappointment which is the first flaw here. Both sides could've had plenty of chances to showcase their skills but instead it's quite a rushed and slightly underwhelming series of scenes that could've had them clashing more than what goes on here that gives this a quite shallow ending. Likewise, the other problem with this one is the fact that this one takes way too long to get going because it severely shortchanges the screentime of one of the franchises, featuring plenty of chances for one while not so much the other and it doesn't really give itself enough to condense the two settings which leaves it a little lopsided. Otherwise, there's not much else wrong here.

Overview: ****/5
While there are a few minor issues to be had here with this one mainly from the rather troubled finale, the fact that there's far more fun to be had with this mashup makes for a fine crossover entry from these franchises. Definitely give this a chance if you're into either series or are a fan of the creative side here, while those wanting to be more familiar with the storyline should look at the other entries before tackling this one.