Kayako is reimagined as a cruel, mean-spirited woman in the 2014 reboot "", where she appears in ghost form only at the end. In the film, Kayako, who was unable to conceive a child with Takeo, had a mysterious boy, revealed to be Toshio Yamaga, "enter" her womb, to be reborn as Toshio Saeki. Thus, her son was hers only, never wanting to spend time with Takeo, until Takeo found out the truth nine years later. Kayako was killed by Takeo, but unlike the previous films, she openly gloated Takeo's questionable fatherhood and even laughed maniacally as her head was snapped. Kayako becomes part of the curse afterward, but she never kills anyone in the film, being used as a sort of haunting by Toshio, who is true originator of the curse. Also, unlike the previous continuities, Kayako actually talks to other characters onscreen, as opposed to the brief offscreen conversation with Toshio in the first "Ju-on".