Sarah Michelle Gellar

THE CURSE OF Ju-On holds that those who die in the throes of rage are doomed to hold a lethal grudge against the living forever. And if it’s naked albinos who rise from the grave to exact bloody vengeance upon us, all the better.

Opening today at the Rafael Film Center, "Ju-On: The Grudge" is the latest entry in the Japanese horror film renaissance that’s included such films as "The Ring," "The Eye" and "Audition" (while earning itself the obligatory American re-make due out later this fall) and helped reinvigorate a genre grown stale in the hands of Hollywood filmmakers more interested in re-making "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" than coming up with anything original themselves.

"Ju-On" is a film that seems especially ripe for American consumption as, on the surface, its thrills are primarily derived from creepy figures jumping out at victims while discordant chords leap jarringly from the soundtrack - an over-used and lazy Hollywood scare tactic if ever there was one.

And yet "Ju-On" overcomes its limitations by following the very model that has made Japan’s horror machine the toast of Fangoria conventions everywhere - it punishes indiscriminately.

Traditionally in Hollywood horror films, from "Halloween" to the "Scream" movies, the sinful and arrogant are punished by the unseen killer while the pure of heart generally escape unscathed. But in "Ju-On" (and other Japanese bloodbaths like "Battle Royale"), friendly youths, doddering elderlies, un-credited extras and top-billed main characters are all equally subject to random and bitter slayings.

It’s blood-letting laced with a refreshing air of unpredictability.

"Ju-On" begins as home-care worker Rika (Megumi Okina) makes a call at the house of an elderly woman only to find her collapsed in a state of shock. When Rika discovers a pasty-skinned 5-year-old naked boy and his pet black cat locked in an upstairs closet, she starts to suspect something’s amiss. When she witnesses an ethereal black phantasm enshrouding the old woman’s body in a grisly death grasp, she knows something’s amiss.

Though Rika is found alive by investigators, a string of other household intruders aren’t so lucky, and soon the 5-year-old and his feline friend are pretty much having their jollies with just about anyone who dares trespass. And as if a kitty and a kindergartner aren’t trouble enough, the kid’s equally dead, equally albino mother keeps crawling around on all fours and sneaking up on soon-to-be-never-seen-again innocents.

After the body count reaches "orange alert" levels, it finally dawns on the police that the house’s previous owners were involved in a grisly episode whereby a deranged husband murdered and carved up his wife. And legend has it that their 5-year-old son and his pet black cat were never seen again. Hmmm. Could it be ...?

On the one hand, "Ju-On: The Grudge" is just another house-that-kills-people movie along the lines of "The Shining" or "The Amityville Horror." But director Takashi Shimizu (who’s also helmed the upcoming American version starring Sarah Michelle Gellar) infuses the film with such an edgy creepiness that even when you know what’s coming next, you get an eerie feeling that it won’t be quite how you expect it.

Part of this is due to the erratic use of movement by the albino baddies.

The little boy and his mother don’t maneuver through a scene so much as they seem to quickly relocate, providing viewers with a tension derived from not knowing exactly where the danger lurks, only that it lurks. (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez did this to great effect in "The Blair Witch Project.") Adding to the strange sense of movement is the dead mom’s preference for slithering over walking, which, while never fully explained, is as disturbing as it is disorienting.

"Ju-On" also benefits from a distinct lack of character development - a screenwriting no-no that continues to be an overlooked benefit to the horror genre. Scary films that provide its killers and victims with detailed histories and unique personality quirks often serve to distance viewers from the situation by pointing out how we’re not like the people on screen. Yet when a film holds its characters on a more static level, as does "Ju-On," it draws us to the scary situations simply because we haven’t been able to separate ourselves from the pedestrian individuals about to be chopped, garroted or what have you.

"Ju-On" isn’t perfect. There are a couple of jumps in time early in the film that leave certain events chronologically confusing. And, even for a thriller about zombies, curses and the paranormal, this film leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

But there was a time when Japanese horror filmmakers looked to Hollywood for inspiration. Now, when you compare films like "Ju-On: The Grudge" to "Alien vs. Predator," here’s hoping Hollywood begins looking back.