Sadako vs. Kayako

Sadako vs. Kayako
Poster
貞子 vs. 伽椰子
Directed by	Kōji Shiraishi
Written by	Kōji Shiraishi
Based on	Ring Trilogy and Ju-On by Koji Suzuki and Takashi Shimizu
Starring	Mizuki Yamamoto Tina Tamashiro
Production company	Kadokawa Daiei
Distributed by	NBCUniversal Entertainment
Release dates	June 18, 2016 (2016-06-18)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$8,385,267 [1]

Sadako vs. Kayako (貞子 vs. 伽椰子) is a 2016 Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Kōji Shiraishi. It is a crossover of the Ju-on and the Ring series of horror films in which it is the 12th film in both franchises. The film was first teased as an April Fools' joke on April 1, 2015, but was later confirmed on December 10, 2015 to be a real production.^[2] It was released on June 18, 2016 in Japan, with a North American release in late 2016 on streaming site Shudder.^[3]

Plot

A social worker visits the residence of a woman only to find her dead in front of her television set, clutching a TV cord covered in long black hair. As a tape in the video player starts, Sadako Yamamura manifests in the room and marks the social worker watching the footage.

The video player is later bought by university students Yuri Kurahashi (Mizuki Yamamoto) and Natsumi Ueno (Aimi Satsukawa), who want to use it to burn a copy of another tape onto a DVD. When handling the device, Yuri's hand briefly became entangled in black hair though she dismissed the incident and ominous sign. When they find the cursed video tape in the video player, a curious Yuri plays it despite Natsumi’s protests. Yuri is then distracted by her phone so Natsumi ends up watching the footage and receives a phone call, hearing nothing but high pitch ringing. She then witnesses an apparition of Sadako, thus marking her. The girls return to the shop where they bought the video player, only to learn that a part time worker there had just died after watching the same video tape two days prior. The shop owners also reveal that the video player had come from a social worker, who after watching the video two days before, was found with a knife skewed through her throat.

The girls go to Morishige (Masahiro Komoto), their professor and an author on urban legends, for help. Yuri gives him the tape which he watches to test its authenticity. After receiving the phone call, Morishige immediately makes a DVD copy of the tape and grows ecstatic that he has found the real video, thus confirming the girls’ fears that Natsumi will be killed by the curse in less than a day. Yuri brings up a passage in Morishige’s book stating that the curse can skip a person if they show the tape to someone else. Morishige however, says it will not work in Natsumi’s case because Yuri handed the tape to him. He later takes the girls to a temple in hopes the priestess can tell them more about Sadako and perform an exorcism. Sadako later possesses Natsumi and proceeds to kill Morishige and the priestess for interfering, thus making the ritual fail. In her dying breath, the priestess tells the girls that a man with psychic powers named Keizo Tokiwa was on his way to help them.

When a despondent Natsumi blames Yuri for everything, Yuri has her friend hand her the tape and watches it, hoping Natsumi will be spared. Keizo (Masanobu Ando) appears, accompanied by a blind psychic girl Tamao (Mai Kikuchi) and tells Yuri the only way to permanently expunge the curse is to pit Sadako against another vengeful spirit so both obliterate the other. Yuri later learns that Natsumi, in her anguish and desperation, had taken Morishige’s DVD and uploaded it online, causing thousands to be afflicted and spreading the curse even more. Natsumi then locks Yuri out and tries to commit suicide in a separate room to escape a violent death. Before she can finish, Sadako appears and takes her life anyway. With the curse having rapidly spread, Keizo and Tamao target Kayako Saeki to be their other spirit, intending to use a well nearby as a last resort should things go awry.

Meanwhile, high school student Suzuka Takagi (Tina Tamashiro) starts having dreams of being in the Saeki residence after moving in nearby. She later sees four boys standing outside the building while walking home, who force one of the boys to enter. All of them were later killed by Kayako and Toshio once they entered the house. When news of their disappearances reaches Suzuka, she grows worried and experiences another vision and this time sees one of the boys. She meets Keizo, who warns her not to enter the house or she will be killed by the Saeki family curse. That night, she thinks she sees the same little boy from earlier through a window on the second floor and goes into the Saeki house to find him, but it turns out to be Toshio who meows and screeches at her. She screams hysterically, prompting her parents to rush into the house only for Toshio and Kayako to manifest and viciously kill them. Keizo appears and distracts Kayako, allowing him and Suzuka to escape. The group prepares for Keizo’s plan. Both girls enter the Saeki house to set up a television so Suzuka can watch the cursed videotape, thus afflicting both girls with both curses. Toshio emerges to claim his victims only to be dragged through the television by Sadako's long hair, apparently defeating him. Kayako then appears croaking and contorting down the stairs while Sadako emerges from the television set and the two immediately attack one another. Though both inflict vicious attacks on each other, neither entity seems to gain any real advantage.

Keizo and the girls run to the well where Keizo reveals that both ghosts will have to be lured in by one of the girls while the other seals them inside. Yuri sacrifices herself, jumping into the well as Sadako and Kayako appear and rush toward her, colliding to cause a violent blast as they are turned into a huge contorting mass of flesh, hair and eyes. The mass falls into the well and possesses Yuri while Suzuka quickly pulls a seal over the well. Tamao finds and laments over Keizo, who has been torn in two and killed after shielding her from the blast. Just when the horror finally seems to be over, the seal is suddenly ripped off and Yuri, who has Sadako's appearance, crawls out emitting Kayako’s death rattle; both Sadako's and Kayako's curses have combined and are now physically and spiritually reincarnated into Yuri. Because of that, the result of Sadako and Kayako's fusion has formed into a single entity – Sayako. With Keizo's plans having failed, a Sayako-possessed Yuri rushes at a screaming Suzuka while Toshio, who has escaped the television, manifests behind Tamao. Their fates are left unknown.

In a post-credits scene, Yuri/Sayako is shown in the videotape footage, now croaking and body contorting as she unnervingly moves toward the screen. A person can now be probably affected by Sayako's "only" curse either by watching the cursed videotape, entering the haunted Saeki family house, or by doing both at the same time.

Cast

• Mizuki Yamamoto as Yūri Kurahashi/Sayako
• Tina Tamashiro as Suzuka Takagi
• Aimi Satsukawa as Natsumi Ueno
• Masahiro Komoto as Shinichi Morishige
• Masanobu Ando as Keizō Tokiwa
• Mai Kikuchi as Tamao
• Misato Tanaka as Fumiko Takagi
• Ichiruko Domen as Hōyagi
• Runa Endo as Kayako Saeki
• Elly Nanami as Sadako Yamamura
• Rintaro Shibamoto as Toshio Saeki

About the movie

Despite a rumour about Takako Fuji reprising her role as Kayako in this crossover, the actress stated several times on Twitter that she was not playing this representation of the character.^[4] Masaki Saisho, who played Kayako in Ju-on : Beginning of the End and Ju-on : The Final Curse, is not appearing in the film either,^[5] making Runa Endo the fourth actress to play Kayako (counting Aiko Horiuchi who starred in The Grudge 3).

As for Sadako, Elly Nanami is the seventh actress to play the role, after Rie Inō (Ring, Ring 2), Hinako Saeki (Rasen), Ayane Miura (Ring: Kanzenban), Tae Kimura (Ring: The Final Chapter, Rasen), Yukie Nakama (Ring 0: Birthday) and Ai Hashimoto (Sadako 3D) (without counting the Samara Morgan and Park Eun-Suh incarnations).

Promotion and marketing

A certain number of events were held for the promotion of the movie. On Twitter, users can vote for either Sadako or Kayako as their favorite horror icon. The end of the vote were scheduled for the 17th of June.^[6] Two videos, one for Sadako and one for Kayako and Toshio, were uploaded on Youtube to appeal on the voters. Sadako won. In the end of May, a press conference was held to promote the movie. As it happened before for previous Ju-on movies, Sadako, Kayako and Toshio were present, in costumes, and stayed true to their roles.^[7] In the beginning of June, a baseball match featuring the Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yakult Swallows was interrupted by Sadako, Kayako and Toshio who staged the first pit ceremony.^[8] A couple of other videos were released at the same time, featuring the ghosts of the movie teaching theater etiquette, such as not bringing recording devices or avoiding to take minors to see the movie.^[9] Social media was also heavily used to promote the movie. A Twitter account created for Sadako (as a promotion for the Sadako 3D movie) was reused.^[10] An Instagram account was created for Kayako and Toshio, depicting humorous, everyday life situation with the two ghosts.^[11] As for the marketing part, some goodies playing on the cute aspect regularly used in Japan were released, such as cup hangers,^[12] beauty masks^[13] and even a collaboration with the Hello Kitty brand.^[14] Other goodies were more traditional, such as T-shirts, key rings and doorknob hangers.^[15]

References

External links

• Official website
• IMDB page
• Sadako Vs Kayako at Rotten Tomatoes