The Grudge Collection

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

Takashi Shimizu

Robert Tapert

Sam Raimi

Stephen Susco

Veronica Lorenz

Nancy Nayor

Kelly Wagner

Miyuki Taniguchi

Jeff Betancourt

Kyōko Yauchi

Tatsuo Ozeki

Iwao Saitô

Kathleen Thomas

Shawn-Holly Cookson

Michael Kirk

Takashige Ichise

Doug Davison

Aubrey Henderson

Shintaro Shimosawa

Carsten H.W. Lorenz

Satoshi Fukushima

Christopher Young

Joseph Drake

Ray Quinlan

Nathan Kahane

Roy Lee

Hideo Yamamoto

Jun Igarashi

Lorita Shepherd

Yoshiko Yasuoka

Maureen Mottram

Paul N.J. Ottosson

Kory Jones

Chiho Asada

Yoshie Ishiguro

Katsuhiro Ogawa

Darian Pollard

Kazuya Watahiki

Tomoko Asai

Cid Swank

Thomas Milano

Tadashi Yokoyama

Jack Schuster

Hideo Saito

Tobin Adams

Sean McMahon

Kiyoshi Kakizawa

Anthony Motta

Jennifer M. Barr

Satoshi Kanda

Toyokazu Hashimoto

Shûichi Kishiura

Sachie Munemura

Ed Licht

Richard C. Franklin

Katsumi Kaneda

Danny Yoon

Izumi Evers

Kiyoshi Itô

Takashi Seida

Shannon Gaulding

Eric Earl Aycock

Mato

Danny Martinez

Carin Rogers

Kelly Vandever

Joan Rowe

Gloria D'Alessandro

Ai-Ling Lee

Ryan Juggler

Marti D. Humphrey

Michael J. Fox

Sean Rowe

Darrin Mann

Masanori Adachi

Robert Fernandez

Shunsuke Gondo

Shingo Gima

Jennifer Y. Craig

Aaron Kaminar

Hidenori nagata

Chikara Higami

Makoto Meguro

Peter Kleinsasser

Sean Muramatsu

Yoshitaka Makigi

Daisuke Akazawa

Dianne Ensor

James Payfer

Masao Kanazawa

Toshitaka Akaike

Andrew Drapkin

David Bernad

Yûichi Matsui

David Pollison

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

The Grudge

Ghost House Pictures

United States of America

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...

English

日本語

The Grudge 2004 Trailer | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Jason Behr