The Curse, 2026.
Directed by Kenichi Ugana.
Starring Yukino Kaizu, Yu Teng Yang, Mimi Shao, Shiho, and Ray Fan.
SYNOPSIS:
Riko, a young receptionist at a hair salon, lives a fairly quiet life until she notices that her Taiwanese friend’s social media posts have become downright terrifying. After trying to contact her friend, she learns that the girl died six months prior, leading her to question who is still posting on the account. It isn’t long before Riko, her roommate Airi, and her ex-boyfriend, Jiahao, are plagued by supernatural occurrences that seem to be the result of a curse. But who or what has cursed them?
Japanese horror has long understood the dangers of too much technology. 2001’s Pulse saw a ghost invasion via the Internet, with living people disappearing en masse into the void rather than staying in an overcrowded, over-connected world that still felt too lonely. Sion Sono, director of 2001’s Suicide Club, referred to online communication as “suicidal.” 2026’s The Curse follows that pattern, but this time with a focus on the evils of social media.
Riko may have a job and friends, but she spends the majority of her time scrolling Instagram. Any time she isn’t actively working or in conversation with her roommate, her phone is in her hand, the app open. That obsession with viewing others’ lives through a screen is both how she discovers that something is wrong with her Taiwanese friend, Shufen, and how she manages to get herself cursed.
It makes sense that any sort of curse these days would be carried out via an online video rather than in secret. After all, nothing is ever truly real unless it’s online, which leads to one of the biggest questions about this movie — if Riko had never watched the video of someone cursing her, would she have still been cursed in the first place? The film isn’t entirely clear on that front, but supernatural occurrences don’t really start until she has watched the video of an unknown figure casting a curse on her. So, maybe it’s actually that nothing in the world is real unless it racks up views.
The movie also explores the evils of social media in other ways, particularly how people form parasocial relationships with influencers and celebrities. Additionally, The Curse delves into how the lines blur when people post only the best moments of their lives online, and how those images can make others feel worse about their own existences.
This film starts out incredibly strong with a scene of a girl frantically running down the road in the middle of the night. Things don’t end well for her, and the whole thing is fairly gory (and just a bit disgusting). However, from there, things kind of go downhill, as the action slows down significantly.
A little downtime in a horror movie is nice, especially if it relies on jumpscares as much as this one does. But The Curse has a tendency to spend a little too much time on the minutiae of Riko’s life. Do we really need to watch her slowly walk around her bedroom to check behind curtains and beneath the bed in more than one scene? Is it truly necessary to have several different shots of her boss staring at her creepily? Some of the slowed-down quality makes sense, such as the multiple scenes of Riko walking past a neighbor’s dog and drinking coffee on the way to work, but some of the scenes in the film don’t have much of a point and just make the whole plot lag.
Whenever things do pick up, though, it’s excellent. In true Japanese style, things get incredibly bloody, gross, and occasionally hilarious. One of the best scenes in the film involves Riko telling her roommate that her eyes are bleeding before offering to get her a towel, instead of, you know, offering to get her to the hospital. Meanwhile, other people are dealing with everything from black vomit to the urge to bash their own brains in. Overall, the gore factor is only mid, but there’s enough to put off some viewers.
The acting in The Curse has a few issues, as well. Yukino Kaizu as Riko is lovely, but also terribly reserved, which means the character rarely shows much emotion. Yu Teng Yang, as Jiahao, has a similar problem, though he shows more emotion than Yukino Kaizu. However, Mimi Shao and Ray Fan (as Airi and The Woman) are absolutely fantastic. They nail it, especially when things take a turn into chaos.
The Curse may leave viewers with a few questions unanswered — was Riko’s father ever even really there? What was the deal with Riko’s boss? — but it’s a fairly enjoyable watch. However, while the parts where things get chaotic and wild are a lot of fun, the long chunks of time where not much happens are less so. Overall, this movie is pretty standard J-horror fare that doesn’t have much to set it apart, other than its commentary on social media addiction.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Misty Layne
