Step into the Magical Pizzeria Express: Where Pizza and Magic Intertwine

Once upon a time, in a small village tucked away in the mountains, there was a magical pizzeria called Pizzeria Express. It was a place like no other, where pizzas were made with a touch of magic. The pizzeria was famous not only for its delicious pizzas but also for the incredible experiences it offered to its customers. When you entered Pizzeria Express, you would immediately be transported into a whimsical world with colorful decor and sparkling lights. The aroma of freshly baked pizzas would fill the air, making your mouth water in anticipation. The main attraction of the pizzeria was its magical pizza oven, which had the power to grant wishes.

NOROI follows a documentary filmmaker, Masafumi Kobayashi, as he slowly uncovers something mysterious and evil that's leaving a trail of dead bodies in its wake. After interviewing a woman who claims to hear loud baby's cries coming from the house next door (where there is no baby), Kobayashi heads over to talk to the neighbor. He's greeted with hostility by the unhinged, disheveled woman (Maria Takagi) who answers the door (and promptly slams it in his face) and gets a peek at her 6-year-old son through a window. Strangely, both the woman and her son disappear just days after his visit (leaving behind a pile of dead pigeons on their back porch), and the woman who first complained about the noises, as well as her daughter, are both killed in a mysterious accident not long after that. This piques Kobayashi's interest and he sets out on a quest to find out what's going on. He soon uncovers that those with psychic abilities and extra-sensory perception seem to be tuning into something sinister, unexplainable and possibly even apocalyptic. Well-known 10-year-old clairvoyant, and TV celebrity, Kana (Rio Kanno) seems to think we may all be doomed, but she mysteriously disappears before she can be of much help. Another female psychic/actress (Marika Matsumoto) becomes involved, as does Mr. Nori, a mentally unstable kook/psychic who wears a hat and jacket made of aluminum foil and thinks people are being eaten by what he refers to "ectoplasmic worms." Clues eventually lead back to the site of a small village that's now covered by a lake, and the legend of an ancient demon known as Kagutaba.

For the better part of 15 years, Noroi was the subject of only occasional international screenings, and it never got a physical release in the United States. You have to pay attention to those unrelated details given throughout the film and the payoff is great when, in course of the film, these things start to intertwine one another.

The main attraction of the pizzeria was its magical pizza oven, which had the power to grant wishes. As you sat down at the cozy tables, the friendly staff would hand you the menu, which was no ordinary menu. It was a book filled with different types of pizzas, each with a unique magical twist.

Noroi: The Curse Is a Genuinely Terrifying Hidden Gem

The Japanese horror film from 2005 defies convention and has developed a cult-like following—and for good reason.

Noroi: The Curse opens with a warning: "This video documentary is deemed too disturbing for public viewing.” It spends the subsequent two hours living up to that warning.

I don’t want to say too much about Noroi’s plot, because one key to its success is throwing so many different things at the audience before revealing how they all come together. But broadly: Noroi is a 2005 horror movie presented as a polished but incomplete documentary by an independent journalist named Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki). Kobayashi specializes in the supernatural, and his latest project tackles a series of seemingly disconnected mysteries: a creepy house where neighbors always hear the sound of crying babies, a string of sudden and bizarre deaths, an adolescent girl with apparent psychic powers, and a ghost-hunting reality TV show that goes very, very wrong. Chasing these threads ultimately leads Kobayashi to an old ritual tied to a demon named Kagutaba. What follows is a strange mishmash of surreal imagery presented in a disarmingly straightforward way—dead pigeons, braided ropes, barking dogs—and a dread-inducing downward spiral.

It is not a spoiler to say that things don’t end well for Kobayashi; Noroi literally opens by explaining that Kobayashi’s house has burned down with his wife inside, and that Kobayashi himself has vanished. So ultimately, the question isn’t what happens to these characters. It’s why and how it happens, and what it means.

Found-footage movies have a bad reputation among horror fans—which is fair, since most of them are terrible. So what makes Noroi stand out from the dozens of bad, cheap imitators that cropped up in the wake of The Blair Witch Project, which came out five years earlier? Director Kōji Shiraishi makes one brilliant choice upfront: Unlike most found-footage movies—which are usually presented as raw footage shot by a doomed amateur—Noroi is introduced as a mostly-completed "documentary" crafted by a seasoned journalist. This immediately fixes several problems that typically plague found-footage movies. Because the character holding the camera is supposed to be a professional cameraman, Noroi largely avoids the headache-inducing shaky-cam popularized by legions of Blair Witch Project imitators. And because Kobayashi is experienced, the "found footage" is edited more like a conventional documentary meant to entertain and inform a mass audience, which means that Noroi—even at nearly two hours—is paced more like a real film than some weirdo’s old home movie.

Noroi’s commitment to documentary conventions is so absolute that it can be jarring if you’re not prepared for it. One early scene shows a ghostly figure briefly appearing in the woods. In a normal horror movie, this would be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment designed to make you go, Did I really just see that? But just as you’re turning that moment over in your head, Noroi rewinds and freeze-frames the image of the figure in the woods and analyzes it closely—as, of course, any responsible documentarian would.

This is the unconventional but successful trick at the heart of Noroi: By refusing to follow the beats and tropes of a normal horror movie, it ends up feeling real. In theory, this is what most found-footage horror movies attempt to do—but Noroi’s purity is rarer than you might think. Most found-footage movies at least try to sneak in a few traditional cinematic building blocks, like character arcs. The Blair Witch Project’s Heather begins the story as an overconfident amateur filmmaker, and ends by admitting she’s in way over her head. Cloverfield’s Rob and Beth begin the story by pretending they’re not in love, and confess they love each other just before the bombs start to drop.

Noroi doesn’t bother with anything like that. Masafumi Kobayashi and his ally Marika Matsumoto—an actress, like The Blair Witch Project’s Heather, playing a fictionalized version of herself under her real name—are perfectly credible protagonists. But we don’t really learn anything about them, and they don’t change or grow from their encounters with the demon Kagutaba. They just (WARNING: possible spoiler, but also not really a spoiler) get devoured by it. Even if the movie didn’t tell you about its closing tragedy in its opening text, it’s obvious that Kobayashi and Matsumoto have walked into a trap they can’t recognize until they’re already caught, and that everyone around them will be dragged in as well.

So if it’s so great, why haven’t you already seen Noroi? Because until earlier this year, it was very, very difficult for anyone who wasn’t in Japan to track it down. For the better part of 15 years, Noroi was the subject of only occasional international screenings, and it never got a physical release in the United States. But the absence of an official release had an unintentional but potent side effect: It allowed Noroi to spread across the internet like an urban legend. Many people encountered Noroi for the first time in bootleg subtitled copies that were uploaded in full to torrent sites or YouTube by devoted fans.

I would, uh, never endorse watching a movie this way (and for the record: Now that it’s on Shudder, or for purchase on iTunes, that’s how you should watch it). But you can also see how obscurity only fanned the flames of Noroi’s cult appeal. When viewed through a YouTube window, some of Noroi’s more off-putting qualities—like the incredibly grainy VHS-style picture quality, which stands out even more in the HD era—are sneaky assets, helping the movie camouflage the fact that it’s a movie at all. And it’s hard to imagine a better way to enhance this movie’s already disturbing sense of realism than dropping it on YouTube devoid of any context, where curious, brave viewers could swap the link on message boards and debate just how much of it was real.

If I have one complaint, it’s that—as great as Noroi: The Curse is—putting it on Shudder alongside horror classics like Night of the Living Dead and Halloween also gives the game away. In an ideal world, this movie would still be hiding among all the amateur documentaries you can find on YouTube, ready to make anyone who stumbles onto it spend some sleepless nights wondering just how much of it was real.

Another difference between Noroi and Blair Witch is that Noroi provides not one, but two very long finales, the second of which is placed a minute after the credits start to roll and is the single greatest scare scene in the history of horror cinema. I do not say such things lightly. It totally wrecked me in a wonderous way.

There were pizzas that could make you invisible, pizzas that could make you fly, and even pizzas that could bring your fantasies to life. The most popular pizza on the menu was the "Dreamer's Delight." This pizza had a special topping that would allow you to enter your dreams and control them. It was like having your own personal dream world, where you could be anything you wanted to be. This pizza was so popular that people from far and wide would travel just to have a taste of it. But it wasn't just the pizzas that made Pizzeria Express magical; it was the whole experience. As you enjoyed your pizza, you would be entertained by talented magicians who performed mind-boggling tricks right at your table. The staff was always cheerful and ready to create memorable moments for their customers. The magical ambiance of Pizzeria Express didn't end with the food and entertainment. The walls of the pizzeria were adorned with enchanted paintings that would come to life as you looked at them, telling stories and taking you on imaginary journeys. It was like stepping into a fairytale world where anything was possible. Pizzeria Express was not just a place to eat; it was a place to escape reality and indulge in the wonders of magic. It was a place where dreams came true and fantasies became a reality, if only for a short while. The magical pizzeria left a lasting impression on anyone who visited, creating fond memories that they would cherish forever. In a world filled with mundane pizzerias, Pizzeria Express stood out with its enchanting atmosphere and extraordinary experiences. It was a place that brought joy and wonder to all who entered. So, if you ever find yourself in that small village in the mountains, make sure to visit Pizzeria Express and let its magic sweep you off your feet. You won't be disappointed by the extraordinary journey that awaits you..

Reviews for "A Magical Dining Experience: Indulging in Pizza Perfection at the Pizzeria Express"

1. Susan - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with my experience at Magical Pizzeria Express. The pizza was overpriced and the quality was subpar. The crust was soggy, the toppings were sparse, and the cheese didn't even taste fresh. The service was also lacking, as it took forever for our order to arrive and the staff seemed disinterested in providing a pleasant dining experience. Overall, I would not recommend this place if you're looking for a delicious and satisfying pizza.

2. Mike - 1 star - I had heard good things about Magical Pizzeria Express, but my visit was a complete disappointment. The pizza I ordered was incredibly bland, lacking any flavor or seasoning. The dough was undercooked, and the toppings were unimpressive. Even the presentation was lackluster. On top of that, the service was slow and the staff seemed unorganized. I definitely won't be coming back and wouldn't recommend this place to anyone looking for a tasty pizza.

3. Emily - 2 stars - I had high expectations for Magical Pizzeria Express, given the rave reviews I had read online. However, my experience fell short of those expectations. The pizza crust was too thin and lacked any crunch, and the sauce was far too sweet for my liking. The cheese also seemed cheap and didn't have much flavor. The service was average, but the overall quality of the pizza left me dissatisfied. I would suggest trying another pizzeria in town if you're looking for a memorable pizza experience.

The Power of Pizza: How the Magical Pizzeria Express Casts a Spell on Its Customers