The Grudge Year: 2004 Director: Takashi Shimizu Written by: Stephen Susco Threat: Ghosts Weapon of Choice: Fear Based upon: film "Ju-On: The Grudge" written by Takashi Shimizu IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
The Grudge 2

Rish's Reviews
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as an American girl living in Japan sent to be caretaker for a near-catatonic woman in a cursed house. When the curse falls upon her, she investigates the history of the house, at the same time suffering from terrifying visitations of ghostly presences bent on killing anyone who enters the house. And that's pretty much it, kids.
The Grudge is a remake of a Japanese horror hit called Ju-On: The Grudge (by the same director), itself the third film in a fairly successful series in Japan. It felt non-American too, and I think that helped.
I've never really been a fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar. But because tyranist liked her, I didn't say nothing. I also like Bill Pullman, poor guy. This was the second movie with KaDee Strickland in it I've seen this month. She didn't look NEARLY as weird in this one as Anacondas, though.
The Ring scared me. This scared me more. A PG-13 rating used to mean that a horror film was too tame to get an R rating. Nowadays, it means the film will be way scarier than if it were R, just not as gory. I was a bit hesitant to go see it, mostly because the TV campaign really scared me, but I'm glad I did. It had nice scares and a very simple story. It wasn't necessarily fun, but it was quite a good date movie. It prompted quite a conversation, and quite a lot of fear that I would have nightmares, or worse, an actual visitation from one of the hellish Grudge beings. After I saw it, I heard one person say that this flick could only scare you if you weren't a fan of horror movies. I wonder what film he saw, and also, how opinions can differ that much. I watched a good deal of this movie holding my breath, making little fists of my hands. Yeah, I'm a big softie, but I'd rather be a Horror fan who gets scared than a Horror fan that sits there, unimpressed.
Unlike the slasher flicks that tyranist and I so love, instead of characters dying in fun and creative ways, characters died here in ways I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy . . . indeed, ways so horrible I kind of don't want to think about it.
But hey, I'm impressionable.
I think it was the concept of the Grudge (or the Curse, or ghosts, or whatever you want to call it) that most disturbed me. What kind of a sick culture is Japan, anyway? I mean, hey, in Western culture we believe in Heaven and Hell and the boogeyman and living dolls and undead retards and child murdering ghosts that get you in your dreams and such, but this goes so beyond that.
The thought that, like Samara in The Ring (or the equivelent in Ringu), an innocent who is murdered would exist as a hate-filled spiritual being that would live to murder other innocents is so heinous and illogical that it beggars understanding. Indeed, the villains of this film are more horrible than ANY I can think of, making the Texas Chainsaw brood look like the cast of "Mama's Family."
Good luck sleeping, kids.
Best Scare: I could fill a page with shocks, jumps, and freak outs alone. The whole damn movie was scary, but probably the best scare for me was a moment during a conversation, when the audience finally feels they can let their guard down, only to see the fishlike white face of the spirit/demon/creature lurking nearby. Yeah, my screams are still bouncing off the walls of that theatre.
I'd Recommend It To: Look, you gotta be tough. But if you are, go for it.
Posted: November 9, 2004

The tyranist's thoughts
I wish I'd seen this movie with Rish. It's exactly the kind of movie that we could have loved together. As it was, I did manage to see it with someone and sharing the experience, the fear, made it much sweeter.
I love Sarah Michelle Gellar. Have for years. Bill Pullman is a fine actor. I'm fond of Clea Duvall. Put all of them in front of a Japanese background, with spectacular writing, and you get a movie so different and very effective. I'm a student of Japanese culture much the same way the bully at the back of the classroom perks up whenever the bits about torture during the Salem Witch Trials are discussed. Seeing a movie like this or Ringu is a lot like looking at the dark underbelly of something I already love. My only regret is that I couldn't see the Japanese version first. I've discovered on multiple occasions that seeing a movie like this and then seeing the original often renders them indistinguishable for me.
See this movie. Take someone you love. Hold them tight. They won't even care if you are crushing on Sarah Michelle Gellar in the few moments when you aren't attempting to unwind your sphincter.
Posted: November 9, 2004

Total Skulls: 21

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?