The Grudge Collection

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

The Grudge

Ghost House Pictures

United States of America

English

日本語

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Jason Behr

Takako Fuji

Yuya Ozeki

William Mapother

Clea DuVall

KaDee Strickland

Grace Zabriskie

Bill Pullman

Rosa Blasi

Ted Raimi

Ryo Ishibashi

Yoko Maki

Takashi Matsuyama

Hiroshi Matsunaga

Hajime Okayama

Yoshiyuki Morishita

Kazuyuki Tsumura

Taigi Kobayashi

Junko Koizumi

Nana Koizumi

Yôichi Okamura

Eiji Ôki

Katsuhiro Oyama

Sam Raimi

Stephen Susco

Robert Tapert

Takashi Shimizu

Veronica Lorenz

Kelly Wagner

Nancy Nayor

Jeff Betancourt

Shawn-Holly Cookson

Kathleen Thomas

Kyouko Yauchi

Iwao Saitô

Tatsuo Ozeki

Miyuki Taniguchi

Carsten H.W. Lorenz

Nathan Kahane

Christopher Young

Joseph Drake

Ray Quinlan

Shintaro Shimosawa

Aubrey Henderson

Satoshi Fukushima

Roy Lee

Takashige Ichise

Michael Kirk

Doug Davison

Hideo Yamamoto

Mato

Thomas Milano

Sean McMahon

Satoshi Kanda

Sachie Munemura

Cid Swank

Ed Licht

Richard C. Franklin

Tomoko Asai

Jennifer M. Barr

Chiho Asada

Yoshie Ishiguro

Shûichi Kishiura

Kazuya Watahiki

Katsuhiro Ogawa

Darian Pollard

Katsumi Kaneda

Tadashi Yokoyama

Danny Yoon

Eric Earl Aycock

Paul N.J. Ottosson

Jun Igarashi

Kiyoshi Itô

Takashi Seida

Shannon Gaulding

Anthony Motta

Izumi Evers

Maureen Mottram

Yoshiko Yasuoka

Kiyoshi Kakizawa

Jack Schuster

Lorita Shepherd

Hideo Saito

Tobin Adams

Toyokazu Hashimoto

Kory Jones

Danny Martinez

Carin Rogers

Kelly Vandever

Darrin Mann

Ai-Ling Lee

Marti D. Humphrey

Joan Rowe

Ryan Juggler

Masanori Adachi

Michael J. Fox

Sean Rowe

Gloria D'Alessandro

Robert Fernandez

James Payfer

Peter Kleinsasser

Andrew Drapkin

Dianne Ensor

Chikara Higami

Shunsuke Gondo

Makoto Meguro

Toshitaka Akaike

Aaron Kaminar

Jennifer Y. Craig

Sean Muramatsu

Shingo Gima

Hidenori Nagata

Yoshitaka Makigi

Masao Kanazawa

Daisuke Akazawa

David Bernad

Yûichi Matsui

David Pollison

The Movie Diorama

The Grudge begrudgingly latches onto croaky jump scares without logical cohesion. This, is an unusual horror to review. It’s rather uncommon for the same director, in this case Takashi Shimizu, to remake his own original film for an entirely different audience. Most would push their original creation onto the masses and convince them, with glorified persuasion, to withstand subtitles and invest the time into the chilling ghost story.

Yet Shimizu thought it would be apt to direct his own film again. Admirable? Yes, it ensured he received total creative control over the studio and producers. Necessary? No. Somehow, by remaking the exact story with essentially the same spine-tingling sequences, Shimizu downgraded the atmospheric aura of ‘Ju-On’, resulting in nothing more than a Japanese ghost boy releasing his inner cat and his ethereal mother croaking the life out of anyone who visits the cursed house. That’s the plot synopsis, right there.

Well, there’s a tad bit more to the mystery, however Shimizu’s insistence on haphazardly fracturing the narrative between present day and the past week consequently confused audiences rather than enthral. There’s no logic behind the structure. No foundational development. And certainly no characterisation. So the abrupt switching back and forth held no purpose, other than to illustrate a host of jumpy death sequences. Some effective apparitional imagery heightened the tension, particularly the surveillance footage sequence and bedroom scene that made me frightened of my own bloody duvet when I was an innocent boy, yet negated by the bland acting from every single actor.

Buffy has no more vampires to slay or Daphne has solved all remaining mysteries (take your pick...), and so she’s left wandering aimlessly around Tokyo with just one facial expression. Confusion. Pullman contributed nothing. And even Kayako herself, Fuji, was grossly misused during moments of tension-raising buildup. The final expositional flashback sequence, revealing to us why the house is now essentially cursed, was rushed and overwrought. Then concluding the entire feature on a frickin’ jump scare that looked cheaper than Kayako’s mascara. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be thinking to yourself “...why are these Americans in Tokyo anyway?”.

I just...don’t understand how Shimizu can make his remake so unprogressive in terms of quality. He had another shot at bettering his original, overcoming previous criticisms, yet failed miserably. I’m open to the idea that The Grudge is a product of its time, comprising of several horror traits that the previous decade had commonly exploited. And I appreciate it stuck to its J-horror roots. But damn, this has not aged well in the slightest. The core is there. I can visibly see the contents. Yet, either due to Shimizu’s inability to improve in directorial control or studio interference, The Grudge growled like a ghoulish kitten instead of exhuming a ghostly lion’s roar. Y’know, because Toshio opens his CGI mouth and a cat noise comes out? Urgh, whatever. Couldn’t think of anything...

The Grudge 2004 Trailer | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Jason Behr

Best Movies

The Grudge

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Jason Behr

Takako Fuji

Yuya Ozeki

William Mapother

Clea DuVall

KaDee Strickland

Grace Zabriskie

Bill Pullman

Rosa Blasi

Box office

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