Daydreamer's Film Talk

There is beauty and a semblance of liberation, but there is sadness, so much sadness. Belladonna of Sadness is a 1973 Japanese animated film that had been previously unreleased in the United States, much like Hausu, another Japanese film from 1977. The main focus is that of the female Jeanne (usually referred to as the title Belladonna) and unfortunate life she leads. Despite marrying Jean, the love of her life, she is promptly raped by the local baron and his subjects. Jean unfortunately is thrown out before he can help her and can only advise her later to forget the ordeal so they can start their lives fresh. She is immediately visited by a spirit who promises to help her and her husband become successful in the local village. When the baron's lady becomes jealous of her popularity, she accuses her of being a witch and has her thrown out of the village. In the wilderness, the spirit from before reveals itself as the Devil, who will grant Jeanne powers for her soul so that...

J-Horror's always been an entertaining subgenre for me, but I will admit it's not without its faults. The most prominent fault that comes to mind is pacing, as majority of the films I end up watching always take their time when getting to the horrific elements. The only time I felt a J-Horror film went straight to the point would be Tetsuo: The Iron Man. I bring this up because this will be mentioned more times during this particular film, Sadako vs. Kayako. Sadako vs. Kayako is a 2016 J-Horror film that brings together two of the genre's most iconic characters, Sadako from Ringu and Kayako from Ju-on. In the U.S., they're primarily known as the ghosts from The Ring and The Grudge franchises. The main plot concerns the dilemma of three girls, Yuri, Natsumi and Suzuka. Yuri and Natsumi are close friends who unfortunately come across Sadako's cursed videotape, which is even more unfortunate considering tapes are now a rarity in the modern age of DVDs, Blu-R...