Content Advisory: Rape and Sexual Assault, Child abuse/pedophilia, Death/harm to Child, Suicide
A family moves into their dream house only to discover it is haunted by a vengeful spirit in House of Sayuri. Kamiki Akio (Kajihara Zen) moves his large family, consisting of his wife Masako, children Norio (Minamide Ryoka), Keiko (Morita Kokoro), and Shun (Inomata Ray), and parents Shozo (Kitaro) and Harue (Negishi Toshie), into a large home in the countryside. However, strange events begin happening in the house, such as the sound of a laughing girl and Keiko sleepwalking and acting violently during the night. It is soon discovered that the house is being haunted by the vengeful spirit of Sayuri, the murdered daughter of the previous occupants of the house.
House of Sayuri Synopsis
House of Sayrui is a J-horror film co-written and directed by Kôji Shiraishi (Sadako vs Kayako). With a plot that can be described as a mix between Ju-On and The Amityville Horror, the teenage protagonist Norio is told by his neighbour Oura that “people who live here always move out quickly” and he is warned by his medium classmate Sumida (Kondo Hana) to get out of the house before it is too late. After a particularly tragic series of events, Norio is surprised when his dementia-suffering grandmother Harue suddenly regains her state of mind and helps train Norio to fight back against Sayuri.
My Thoughts on House of Sayuri
Probably the element of House of Sayuri that will make or break the film for most viewers is a mid-film tonal shift from a truly creepy and unnerving J-horror film into a darkly comic revenge thriller. However, this shift somehow works, with the true horrors of the film coming in the revelation of the titular ghost’s tragic story. While House of Sayuri doesn’t quite reach the level to become a modern J-horror classic, it still gets close, with some truly unsettling scenes.