Editorials
Does Shudder’s ‘Noroi: The Curse’ Earn Its Reputation as the Scariest Found Footage Horror Film?
The chances are that if you’re a frequenter of message boards, social media, or any other horror-centric corner of the internet, you’ve heard of Noroi: The Curse, a Japanese found-footage style faux-documentary that’s developed a strong cult following despite it being a not-so-easy to come by title for many years. Touted as one of the must-see scariest films in horror that eschews found footage horror’s typical bad rap, Noroi boasts stellar audience scores on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Though released in Japan in 2005, it’s still not had a proper physical release stateside. As a result, diehard fans have repeatedly uploaded it to YouTube only to have it pulled for copyright issues shortly after.
Now that it’s widely available as an exclusive streaming title on Shudder, it’s much easier for genre fans to access the film. But does Noroi live up to the underground hype?
Noroi plays out as a found-footage documentary by paranormal investigator Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki). Naturally, he went missing shortly after the completion of the documentary. The subject of Kobayashi’s work takes a while to present itself, initially appearing as a series of unrelated paranormal topics by way of various interviews, fieldwork, and TV clips. Emphasis on the slow unfurling; this film clocks in at nearly two-hours long. That languidly slow start plays a significant factor for the film’s detractors.
Eventually, Kobayashi discovers a connection between these random clips; death seems to follow eccentric recluse Junko Ishii (Tomono Kuga) and her young son everywhere they go. Pulling on that thread, Kobayashi starts unraveling the core mystery of a demonic entity named Kagutaba. This mystery and the elaborate mythology drive the film; much of the horror is implied until the final act. Director Kôji Shiraishi (Grotesque, Sadako vs. Kayako) employs barely any actual scares at all, forcing viewers to pay close attention to even the most seemingly innocuous of details presented. Shiraishi also skips out on employing many of the trademarks of found footage horror. All of which to say, the film’s power to scare rests solely on the shoulders of its storytelling. The more the dangling threads tie together, the more unsettling it becomes.
The methodical storytelling that ignores traditional atmosphere and scare-crafting combined with the lo-fi VHS quality is the wedge that divides those that love the movie and those that don’t. Admittedly, I fell into the latter upon the first watch. Nearly two hours is far too long for many horror movies, and the first hour does tend to crawl. The ultimate payoff may not feel worth it and certainly didn’t for me at first. But a second watch on Shudder deepened my appreciation for the film, which allowed for better absorption of the nuances and details. Details are crucial to unlocking this film, but patience is just as vital. Of all the found footage/faux documentary-style horror movies out there, Noroi sets itself apart from the pack with its unconventional approach.
Fear is always subjective, of course. Noroi spins a compelling mystery steeped in realism, though the mythology isn’t. Many of the actors play themselves, further blurring the line between reality and fiction. For many, it works. For others, it’ll drag without a satisfying payoff to merit the pacing. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of enjoyment, Noroi’s place in horror remains fascinating. When it released in Japan in 2005, the J-horror craze in the U.S. had already started to wane. It remained in relative obscurity for years, at least overseas, leaving it up to fans to spread the word and keep it at the forefront of discussion. Over ten years later, the only DVD or Blu-ray offerings are imports, leaving Shudder as the only legal means of viewing.
And that just fuels the hype and mystery surrounding a unique anomaly such as this.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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