Whatever Happened To The Cursed Boy Actor Yuya Ozeki From The Grudge
Horror is iterative, but it just as regularly moves through the same cycles decade after decade, ostensibly breaking new ground, when in reality, the genre is simply doing what is has always done. Today's horror landscape, for as remarkable and diverse as it is, is principally a landscape of legacy sequels. The horror of yesterday is new again, and commonly, old faces and names are dredged up to headline the latest nostalgic bloodbath. Reasonably, the present iteration could be decried as Hollywood's lack of originality, though seasoned horror veterans have seen this cycle before.
The early aughts were replete with imported horrors. Hollywood studios regularly borrowed transnational scares, repackaged them, and presented them as the next big thing. They were successful, too. Gore Verbinski's "The Ring," a remake of Hideo Nakata's "Ring," grossed nearly $250 million when released in 2002. Hollywood studios also remade the likes of "A Tale of Two Sisters," "Pulse," and "Dark Water." Asian horror was big, but there was a distinct predilection for Japanese horror, or J-horror for short. Some of your favorites might be remakes, and you wouldn't even know it.
Standing proudly among them is "The Grudge," an American remake of a longstanding Japanese horror series. With $187 million raked n worldwide, "The Grudge" was big business. Though as the film turns 20 years old, audiences might be wondering what happened to one of its scariest characters: Yuya Ozeki as Toshio Saeki, the meowing, spectral menace.
A grudge is born
In the United States, "The Grudge" started in 2004. The remake released, no doubt, to capitalize on the success of Verbinski's "The Ring," and the filmmakers were savvy enough to cast Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, in the lead. But the series extends farther back than even what many consider to be the first Japanese release in the series, Takashi Shimizu's "Ju-On: The Grudge." Like Nakata's "Ring," which was adapted from a 1991 novel, and even has an oft-forgotten sequel film called "Spiral," "The Grudge" mythology is dense and confounding.
The series first started with Shimizu's 1998 short films "Katasumi" and "4444444444." Chief series antagonist Kayako Saeki was first introduced here. Shimizu would then release two distinct direct-to-video "Ju-On" films, both "Ju-On: The Curse" and "Ju-On: The Curse 2" in 2000. Notably, while "The Curse 2" includes original material, nearly half of it encompasses footage from the first. "Ju-On" fans likely aren't talking about either of those, however, when they talk about the original. Most likely, they mean 2002's "Ju-On: The Grudge," the first theatrical release in series, one that proudly displays Toshio Saeki on the poster art.
The cursed boy
Toshio Saeki features in three of the four subsequent "Ju-On" offerings before "Ju-On: The Grudge." In "4444444444," his first appearance, he's played by actor Daiki Sawada. Ryota Koyama would take over the role in both "Ju-On: The Curse" and "Ju-On: The Curse 2." After his mother Kayako's death, most timelines canonically feature Toshio being consigned to the attic, where he discovered his mother's corpse before being spirited away by her ghost. His death enacts the longstanding curse (or grudge, hence the title) that has framed the series since its inception.
Actor Yuya Ozeki's would make his first appearance (and first credited role) in the series with "Ju-On: The Grudge," reprising his role as Toshio in its sequel. While the subsequent direct-to-video releases have their fans, "Ju-On: The Grudge" is where the series started in earnest, skyrocketing it to one of the most famous horror releases of this century. Even horror-averse audiences likely recognize Kayako's stringy black hair or Toshio's guttural cat cry. In "Ju-On," Yuya Ozeki gave birth to a horror icon.
An American remake
American remakes! You've got to love them. That isn't even sarcastic. While "Ring" is one of the scariest movies of all time, "The Ring" is just a touch better, a more evocative foray into cursed videocassettes and analog horror. Even the likes of "Dark Water," also a remake, managed to find something new to say. Then, of course, there's "The Grudge," a bonafide phenomenon when released in 2004. Not unconventionally for J-horror remakes (Hideo Nakata would direct the American version of "The Ring 2"), director Takashi Shimizu helmed the U.S. adaptation of "The Grudge," imbuing it with the same kind of existential dread the original is heralded for.
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in a truncated though no less visceral take on haunted abodes, longstanding curses, and scary dead children. Alongside Shimizu, actor Yuya Ozeki returned to the role of Toshio, arguably the most enduring iteration of the character yet. When audiences think of the ashen, frightening visage of the deceased young boy, they're no doubt thinking of Ozeki in this remake. To better appeal to Western audiences, both he and Kayako feature more prominently. While that might have eroded some of the series' more nihilistic edges, it did help in augmenting the chilling ghost story at its core.
Enduring ghosts
Fans not well-versed in "Ju-On" lore, however, might be wondering just who Kayako and Toshio are. While Yuya Ozeki would portray Toshio in the first two Japanese theatrical releases and the American remake, several other actors would portray the character through different entries, and expectedly, different timelines. Consistent among them all is the death of Kayako and the subsequent death of her son, Toshio.
In the original Japanese timeline, Toshio is spirited away by his mother's ghost, after his father Takeo (another ghost haunting the property) kills her, suspecting her of infidelity. In the American remake, the infidelity thread remains, though rather than locking Toshio away, Takeo (played here by Takashi Matsuyama) drowns him (and his cat) in the bathtub. In every iteration, mother Kayako is the chief antagonist, and in some capacity, both she and Toshio are killed and resigned to haunting their home from generation to generation. The characters endure, though in the case of Toshio especially, it's Ozeki's portrayal that remains the most potent. While a relatively small role, Ozeki manages to cull the innate tragedy and sympathy from Toshio's circumstances. In other words, his Toshio is a ghost that breaks hearts.
An American sequel
Yuya Ozeki is credited in "The Grudge 2," the American sequel also directed by Takashi Shimizu, though that credit extends to just archival footage and nothing more. Otherwise, Ohga Tanaka plays Toshio in this outing, which is more akin to its Japanese counterparts than even the first remake. There are several dovetailing timelines, heaps of new characters, and scores more lore for the haunted property and those unfortunate souls who stumble into it. If you turned it off after the death of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Karen Davis from the first, I don't blame you.
Here, Toshio exists more on the periphery, with both Kayako (Takako Fuji) and Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) getting more screen time to curse and menace the other bit players. Interestingly, Fuji played Kayako in most every other entry in the series, including four Japanese releases, both the theatrical outings and direct-to-video films. It's unclear why Yuya Ozeki didn't return for the role, though with child actors especially, it's not terribly uncommon. With the release of "The Grudge 2," Ozeki was firmly out, and he wouldn't return to the role at any point in the future.
Yuya Ozeki since The Grudge
Since the use of archival footage in "The Grudge 2," Yuya Ozeki has not appeared in any additional projects. While credited with an adult, 2014 appearance in the drama series "Hotel Concierge," Ozeki doesn't seem to actually appear in the project. Ozeki is also credited with one episode of "Fathers," an omnibus drama that also stars familiar faces like Ken Watanabe, Machiko Ono, and Jun Kunimura among others.
Ozeki's last earnest credit, however, seems to be "The Grudge," archival footage in the sequel notwithstanding. While it might seem strange, it's not unusual for child actors to leave the business after a role like this. Fans of Sam Raimi's (a producer on "The Grudge") "The Gift," for instance, should know one of Cate Blanchett's children from the film, actor Hunter McGilvray, never acted again. Brad Renfro of Joel Schumacher's "The Client" had a career slowdown following his appearance in the Oscar-nominated hit, and he sadly died just a few years late in 1998. With child actors, it is regularly one-and-done. Ozeki came, scared the entire world, and that was all he needed to do.
The series today
In the years since "The Grudge," the series has continued to churn out entry after entry. There have been books, television series (check out "Ju-On Origins" on Netflix), and several other feature-length entries, both in Japan and stateside. In fact, a quasi-reboot of "The Grudge" released in the United States in 2020. Despite less than stellar reviews, the movie managed a healthy showing at the international box office, even if, by this point, the central curse neared two decades old.
Japan has continued to iterate and reboot the series, including two releases in 2014 and 2015, "Ju-On: The Beginning of the End" and "Ju-On: The Final Curse," though creator Takashi Shimizu had little to do with either entry. Additionally, because why not, both Kayako and Sadako of "The Ring" franchise squared off "Freddy vs. Jason" style in 2016's "Sadako vs. Kayako." It's incredibly fun. In 2023, there was even a live stage play.
However, despite the series' continuing popularity, Yuya Ozeki is nothing but an ostensible footnote in the franchise's legacy. Reducing him to a mere bit player, however, undermines the efficacy of his performance and the endurance of the scares he cultivated. Yuya Ozeki might be gone from the franchise, but the nightmares he cultivated will endure forever.