In our previous article, we reviewed Noroi: The Curse, a Japanese found footage film by Kōji Shiraishi. Serving as a good companion piece or counterpart to The Blair Witch Project, Noroi revolves around the last documentary of a missing filmmaker conducting a paranormal investigation. What makes the film stand out is how it is presented as an actual documentary, complete with vox pop interviews, footage from other sources, and a use of editing and cinematography to tell the storytelling. A lot of events happen off-screen or are revealed in dialogue, but it makes sense within the limited context of the documentary.
The story itself is ambiguous in its endgame and greater mystery. A series of unrelated investigations lead Masafumi Kobayashi to discover Kagutaba, an evil entity sealed long ago, whose influence connects his cases together. In this article, we’ll be breaking down the story and explaining how everything connects to greater conspiracy.
Please note this article contains spoilers for the film, but also describes its often disturbing content in details. Read on at your own discretion.
What is Kobayashi Investigating?
Our protagonist Kobayashi is an aversion of an atypical horror character, actually believing in the paranormal. He is a respected documentarian, author, and investigator, happily married to his wife Keiko, and runs his own business. But, like every other found footage character, he has an urge to record everything and learn the truth “no matter how scary it is”, as Kobayashi puts it. Not the best philosophy to have in a horror film.
The film has numerous subplots that will later connect together, but Kobayashi investigates three separates cases. One involves the disturbing behaviour of woman named Junko Ishi. The second is the disappearance of Kana Yano, a 10-year psychic who appeared on a TV variety show. The third is the haunting or possession of actress Marika Matsumoto after she visited a haunted shrine. Another character who becomes involved in Mitsuo Hori, a disturbed psychic who dressed in tin foil, claiming that “ectoplasmic worms” have taken and eaten Kana. These investigations and other events in the film all lead back to the influence and death cult of Kagutaba.
What is Kagutaba?
Kagutaba is the main antagonist of Noroi, described as a demon summoned forth by sorcerers in a village called Shimokage. Kagutaba’s name is translated using the kanji for “tool,” “spirit”, and “evil”. When it disobeyed the sorcerers, they crafted a second ritual to imprison Kagutaba underground. Shimokage began an annual ritual to pacify the demon, re-enacting its original summoning and imprisonment. However, when the village faces demolition in 1978 to make way for a dam, the ritual had to be stopped. Kagutaba is represented by a blood red mask depicting a deformed demonic face. Such imagery appears throughout the film, including in digital distortion in the footage when Kagutaba’s name is first mentioned.
In the final ceremony, preserved on film reel, the priest’s daughter Junko is attacked and possessed by Kagutaba, presumably in revenge for ending the ritual. Junko is influenced by Kagutaba for the rest of her life in order to free itself from imprisonment by performing the original summoning ritual. Kagutaba is shown to be a powerful entity, able to control and brainwash others, whilst its mere influence can push people to commit murder and suicide.
Junko Ishi
Kobayashi first meets Junko in November 2002, when her neighbour asks him to investigate strange noises coming from Junko’s house. Junko is shown to be a disturbed, hostile woman, slamming the door in Kobayashi’s face. She also has a young son, who only appears sporadically throughout the film. The boy is never named, nor is he Junko’s biological son, suggesting she raised him to become the host for Kagutaba. A week later, Kobayashi learns from the neighbour that Junko has moved out. He finds dead pigeons scattered outside her house. Shortly thereafter, Junko’s neighbour and her daughter die in a car crash when they drove into oncoming traffic. This implies either Junko cut the brakes, or they were influenced by Kagutaba into dying.
Later, Kobayashi and his cameraman Miyajima meet Junko again after learning her father was Kagutaba’s priest. They investigate Junko’s past, learning she worked at a hospital, where she aided in illegal abortions and smuggled away the foetuses. Kagutaba’s summoning ritual involved a female priest serving as a conduit by murdering animals and eating dead monkeys. This is one of the most disturbing parts of the movie. Junko steals the foetuses to supplant the use of monkeys, but still requires a conduit to complete the ritual.
Kana Yano
Kobayashi’s second case involves Kana Yano, a 10-year old girl who displays psychic powers on a TV show. The supernatural and spiritual is commonplace in Japanese culture, compared to the west where it is more associated with witchcraft and demonic activity. So, the panellists on the television shown critique Kana’s powers as if it were an everyday occurrence. During the show, Kana draws an interpretation of Kagutaba’s face and then summons lake water that contains a baby’s hair in it. Kana likely connected with Kagutaba, summoning water from the Shimokage reservoir and presumably a hair from one of Junko’s foetuses or even her son.
Afterward, Kana begins to speak to an unseen presence, whilst her powers begin to go out of control. She is likely speaking to Kagutaba, but senses its true evil nature or plans for her. Kana is kidnapped by Junko, who likely saw her on television. Junko feeds Kana the foetuses, successfully summoning Kagutaba, who occupies her son’s body. Kana is killed in the process, but her ghost is later shown to be bound by Kagutaba’s evil. In a subplot, Kana’s father murders his wife in a sporadic act of violence.
When Kana disappears, Kobayashi visits Hori for help. Hori claims that ectoplasmic worms ate Kana, but he cannot find her. This suggests that Kana is already dead, and the aforementioned worms are either Kagutaba or the spirits of the foetuses. Hori’s backstory is not explored, but he has been disturbed by the worms for a long time. In a deleted scene, we meet a housewife who developed electromagnetic hypersensitivity, forced to wear tin foil and began drawing shapes that were “squirming” in her head. Sound familiar?
Marika Matsumoto
Marika Matsumoto, an actress, gets involved in the story purely by coincidence. Possessing a sixth sense, Marika joins the UnGirls comedian duo on a ghost hunt to a shrine. Things go wrong when they find a peculiar dying tree covered in black goop. Marika sees something off-screen and collapses into screaming hysterics. The show’s director reveals to Kobayashi that a figure appeared in the footage, baring Kagutaba’s face. This causes Marika to be possessed or at least influenced by Kagutaba. Why Kagutaba is at this shrine is unknown, as it is unrelated to the Shimokage shrine, or the ancient one Kobayashi uncovers in the third act.
At home, Marika begins to sleepwalk and fashions yarn and wires interconnecting loops. Kobayashi sets up a night vision camera, capturing Marika mentioning Kagutaba by name. Loud noises upstairs draws Kobayashi to Marika’s neighbour Midori, a fellow actress, who denies making any sound. The strange loops Marika makes appear elsewhere in the film, related to Kagutaba, until their true purpose is revealed. Several people including Midori hang themselves in play area, using the loops as nooses. Marika moves in with Kobayashi and Keiko, but she soon shows signs of possession, causing pigeons to crash into the house. In a previous scene, Hori warned Marika to watch out for pigeons.
Osawa and the Pigeons
One character who feels like an afterthought in the film is a man named Osawa. When Kobayashi first visits Hori, the psychic scribbles a vague map directing to a blue-coloured building. Kobayashi finds the building, observing a 24-year old Osawa, who we are to assume is Kana’s abductor. Instead of contacting the police, Kobayashi spies on Osawa, who takes several pigeons into his flat. He then is mentioned to have disappeared. Osawa later is amongst those who hung themselves.
Kobayashi talks to Osawa’s neighbour, learning that Junko was once living next door. She spent a lot of time with Osawa, until they had an argument and she moved out. Junko probably indoctrinated Osawa into Kagutaba’s cult, explaining his pigeon fancying and eventual suicide. As he disappeared and had a link to Midori, it can be hypothesised he hid out at her apartment when Kobayashi began observing him. Osawa is ultimately a red herring, but his connection to Junko shows just how far Kagutaba’s influenced reached. The recurring threat of pigeons stems from animal sacrifices in Kagutaba’s summoning, the pigeons likely drawn to those influenced by the demon.
The Ritual and Crossing Boundaries
With Kana still missing and Marika under threat, Kobayashi decides to travel to Shimokage to perform the pacifying ritual. He is accompanied by Miyajima, Marika, and a reluctant Hori. Instead of a dramatic Hollywood exorcism, the pacifying ritual is very straightforward and calm. That is until Hori claims he can see Kana, running off into the forest with Kobayashi in pursuit. Miyajima and Marika drive off, only for Marika to still exhibit demonic possession. She leaps out of the car, disappearing into the woods where Miyajima has to restrain her as she screams.
Kobayashi and Hori search the woods for Kana, coming across an ancient shrine where they find dead dogs and pigeons. The shrine is surrounded by a barrier made of strings and animal body parts, suggesting beyond is Kagutaba’s domain. Kobayashi switches his camera to night vision, revealing Kana’s ghost being swarmed by the foetuses. At the same time, Marika recovers without a clue of what happened. It is never explained what happened here, but it is likely Junko performed the summoning ritual in the shrine and killed Kana. Marika’s possession alternatively could be a psychic projection of Kana’s suffering.
Hori and Marika are hospitalised. Kobayashi breaks into Junko’s house, discovering she has hung herself, Kana is dead, but the unnamed son is still alive. Kobayashi makes the questionable decision to adopt Junko’s son, Marika recovers, but Hori is institutionalised. In April 2004, Kobayashi’s house burns down, he goes missing, and Keiko is found dead in the ruins.
Kagutaba Reborn
The movie ends with Kobayashi’s office receiving a videotape sent by the missing filmmaker himself. It reveals what happened before the fire. Hori appears at Kobayashi’s house where he attacks Junko’s son with a rock, identifying him as a reborn Kagutaba. Through Kobayashi’s camera, the boy’s bloodied face resembles Kagutaba, whilst Kana’s ghost cries in a corner. Kobayashi is incapacitated by Hori during the attack. Kagutaba possesses Keiko and Hori. Keiko self-immolates herself and starts the fire, whilst Kagutaba leaves with Hori. Hori is later reported dead, found strangely within a ventilation shaft at the institute. Kobayashi’s fate is unknown.
This brings up the question why were Kobayashi and Hori killed or disappear, but Marika and Miyajima were spared. Marika had the pacifying ritual performed on her, so Kagutaba’s influence dwindled. As both Kobayashi and Hori tried to stop Kagutaba’s summoning and entered his domain at the shrine, the demon may be punishing them. Alternatively, the two were punished when Kagutaba’s identity is exposed in the house, as the boy lived with Kobayashi for a short time, displaying no hostility towards his adoptive parents beforehand. Where Kagutaba goes afterward is up to the imagination. Kobayashi’s fate is left unknown. Did he sent the footage, or is Kagutaba responsible?
As for the titular curse, it references Kagutaba’s influence and evil. The demon’s motivations beyond resurrection are never divulged, but spreading its need for death and destruction is guaranteed.
What are your theories about Noroi: The Curse? What other horror films do you love? Leave a comment below, or on our Twitter feed.
English (US) · 