Friday 12 April 2013

A-Z Blogging Challenge: K is for Kayako


Kayako Saeki is the main antagonist in the Japanese horror film series, Ju-on, as well as the US remake The Grudge. She was played by Takako Fuji six times in feature-length and short films, and once by Aiko Horiuchi in The Grudge 3.

Backstory:
Kayako was killed by her insanely jealous husband, Takeo Saeki, after he finds a journal detailing her (unrequited) love for another man, Shunsuke Kobayashi. Takeo murders Kayako by breaking her neck and stabbing her multiple times, before then hiding her body in the attic of their house, in a trash bag. He then also kills their son Toshio, the boy's cat and the pregnant wife of Kobayashi. 


Filled with rage over her violent death, Kayako returns as a vengeful ghost (onryou in Japanese) who kills Takeo and also anyone else who ventures into the house in which she was killed. Even those who leave the house are sometimes followed and killed by Kayako. Her presence is often forewarned by the appearance of Toshio's ghost, his cat's ghost / meowing, or a distinctive croaking sound, which is the only sound Kayako can make after having her windpipe crushed.



This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge, 2013.

6 comments:

  1. Eeeeep! Creeeee-py! Haven't seen this (nor the American version). Not sure I can, as I've got a very low tolerance for seeing violence visited upon children.
    Some Dark Romantic

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    1. Well, there isn't much shown in the way of violence against children. In the clip where Toshio looks injured, that is all you see; there's not really anything else shown. Mostly, it's Kayako, with Toshio and his cat showing up for extra scariness; especially in the first Ju-on :)

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  2. I love a happy ending. One way and another across several blogs in the A to Z folk are sort of meeting untimely ends...... I can see it all ending in Zombies.

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    1. Oh yes, it's all fun and games here!
      I'm getting a little zombied-out lately because of the huge number of zombie-related things out these days (plus P and W will have zombies here...oops). Maybe I'll follow your example and write about a Zombie Zebra called Zachary though ;D

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  3. Japanese filmshave a different way of looking at things than English or American ones. Sheesh! What a plot.
    Francene.
    A - Z Challenge
    http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. You're right, I think they do! Films like Ju-on are pretty much modern takes on tales from folklore though, which I find interesting :)

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