Ju-On: The Grudge
Year: 2003
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Written by: Takashi Shimizu
Threat: Ghost
Weapon of Choice: Fear
Based upon: none
IMDb page: 
Ju-On: The GrudgeYear: 2003 Director: Takashi Shimizu Written by: Takashi Shimizu Threat: Ghost Weapon of Choice: Fear Based upon: none IMDb page: |
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Other movies in this series:
Ju-On
Ju-On 2
Ju-On: The Grudge 2
The tyranist's thoughts
It's really a shame that it takes an American remake of a movie to make any non-animated
Japanese movies available over here. When they do do it, however, I try to take advantage.
Especially in a case like this one, where the director of the American film is also the director
and writer of the Japanese version.
A horrible thing happened in a house and now all of the people that visit or live there are
being haunted by the worst kind of ghost.
Sorry. It feels sort of redundant posting another plot summary for what is basically the same
movie. Actually, it isn't just basically. The only major differences between the Japanese and
American films are the Bill Pullman subplot and the role of the cops. Other than that there are
a lot of things that are shot for shot.
This is the part where I'd normally tell you that the Japanese version was far superior to
the American version. But I can't. It wouldn't be true. The American film obviously benefitted
from both a bigger budget and the advantage of hindsight. The plot is laid out in a different
order to better effect in the American version. The addition of the Pullman subplot is useful
and provides some closure that isn't there in the Japanese version.
Oh, and the Japanese version doesn't feature Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Still, this is worth a look and is still creepy in its own right. At the very least, I hope that it
does well and we see the rest of the Japanese series released domestically so that I can see
them all. You could rent it to support that effort if for no other reason.
Posted: December 20, 2004
Total Skulls: 9
| 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? |