Customer Reviews

The Grudge

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(78)
3 star:		(60)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(75)

 

 

Despite the $39 million that "The Grudge" earned in its opening weekend to make it the #1 film in the nation, I had low expectations when I popped this DVD in to watch. This was because my youngest daughter had rushed out to see the film (because it had Sarah Michelle Gellar a.k.a. "Buffy the Vampire" in it) and she was bitterly disappointed. While I would not trust her opinion as to what is a great movie (she loves "Gone With the Wind" but does not get "The Godfather"), I thought she would know what was a bad horror movie. Consequently, I think my expectations for "The Grudge" were so low that there was nowhere to go but up once I actually watched it.

I knew this 2004 horror film was a remake of the Japanese movie "Ju-on," in the tradition of "Ringu"/"The Ring," but I did not know that it was filmed in Japan by the same director, Takashi Shimizu (I tend to avoid finding out a lot about films until I actually see them so that I be pure of mind when I first watch them). This makes a big difference because the idea behind this production is behind both the strengths and the weaknesses of "The Grudge" as a film. However, since I lived in Japan for a couple of years, have enjoyed Japanese films in general and "Spirited Away" in particular, and have an ability to understand non-linear narrative forms, I have to admit that I have a peculiar position from which to view the film (so take what follows with a grain of salt).

As the opening of the film explains, "When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury." When you listen to the DVD extras you learn that there is another key ingredient: the source of that rage is that the victim does not know why they were murdered. This is important because this is not your typical American horror movie where the guilty die grizzly deaths. The innocent are the only items on the menu this time around. If you want other clear indications that this is a Japanese horror movie then notice that Shimizu goes for the creeps over suspense (guessing who is next to die is never difficult), the camera never lingers on the film's grossest images, and seeing the ghost happens early and often. The last one presents the most problems in terms of cultural translation because the Japanese conception of demons is so foreign to American audiences (I know, duh, but it is true) as is the idea of a Japanese monster house ("Obakeyashiki").

Executive producer Sam Raimi had seen "Ju-on" and came up with the idea of remaking the movie in Japan with the same director but with American actors for an English speaking audience. So this is not the same thing as splicing in scenes of Raymond Burr to turn "Gojira" into "Godzilla," but it is somewhat pointed in that same direction. Stephen Susco's screenplay has to come up with reasons why the American actors are working (and dying) in Japan and while he certainly comes up with plausible means of employment, there is an elephant in the living room in that the body count consists mostly of gaijin but that is never a part of the equation. Granted, Detective Nakagawa (Ryo Ishibashi) is suspicious of the house given what had happened three years earlier, but this film really needed to deal with the gaijin issue better (I was going to say that having more Japanese killed off in the movie would help, but then we have the problem a gaijin being the heroine in a story set in Japan).

However, at some point a decision was made for Jeff Betancourt to edit "The Grudge" in a non-linear fashion. Now, what they came up with is an interesting approach, but clearly most viewers are not picking up on what is happening right away. Beginning with the opening deaths before the title credits are over, "The Grudge" follows the first death backwards to the beginning of the tale and the second forward to the ending. These two plotlines alternate to the climax in which they actually come together. Unfortunately, this is just way too convenient as the only way that our heroine can understand what is going on. At a point where the puzzle is coming together we are wondering how this is happening when the focus should be on understanding why everything is happening.

Another way in which the production is more interesting than the movie is the limited use of CGI. Throughout the commentary track, Gellar talks about the lengths to which Japanese filmmakers keep things real. The shot of the hand coming out of the back of her character's head in the shower is not a CGI shot. The ghost creepily crawling down the stairs is all the performance of actress Takako Fuji and not a puppet on wires or anything else. When characters listen to messages on an answering machine, there are actually messages on the answering machine. But, again, unless you check out the DVD extras you have no way of appreciating the realism of this particular movie. The more you check out the more you will rethink what is going on in the movie.

"The Grudge" is a creepy movie where the ghost is a lot more interesting than Karen the heroine. But then most of the characters are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time so that bad things can happen to them. Still, my wife screamed twice and jumped three times while watching this, so it can have the desired effect (at least on those unaccustomed to the way modern horror films work). More importantly, the attempt to make a Japanese horror movie for Americans, versus an American version of a Japanese horror movie, is worth paying attention to. Ultimately, I am trying to convince you to watch this movie twice, after checking out all of the DVD features in between.

WOW. That's the only thing I can say after reading all sorts of negative reviews. I admit, the very first time I watched the Grudge with my father NEITHER of us thought the movie was scary at all and couldn't understand its success, but after watching the movie a second time two months later by myself late at night I REALLY began to see how frightening the movie is. Probably contains the same amount of fear as the original Exorcist, another movie that's really effectively well done. You HAVE to watch the Exorcist and the Grudge at night to get the proper effect.

The Grudge benefits greatly when it comes to maintaining a moody atmosphere and a pretty interesting story. I say "pretty interesting" because the storyline isn't the best, or the easiest to understand. Just interesting enough to get the job done. The Grudge also benefits when it comes to not giving away too much or too little. In fact, this is probably its strongest point.

Every time something scary happens, you see just a "little bit" of that scary monster boy or some kind of strange shadow effect, which is *very* important if you want to effectively scare someone. If the scary boy had appeared on screen for longer than a few seconds it wouldn't have scared me nearly as much because I would have gotten used to seeing it. The boy appears, and then he's gone. Not giving away too much REALLY works with this movie. You see, to really scare me you simply CAN'T put a scary monster on screen for long periods of time and you HAVE to create a moody atmosphere to make the film believable. The Grudge works *extremely* well it this area.

The fact that something scary happens almost always unexpectedly in the Grudge allows me to give the film another compliment. I'm telling you, the scene with the woman inside that building by herself (well, except for a security guard) and having to travel home to an apartment building all by herself is about 10 minutes of total bone-chilling excitement. I *loved* this scene.

I was totally on the edge of my seat wondering when the woman was finally going to have something bad happen to her. The scene where the woman saw darkness coming before walking down the stairs and having to hurry up to get out of there was *awesome*, and the scene a few moments after this happened where she DID see something in the shadow was ANOTHER awesome display of bone-chilling brilliance. There's a bunch of scenes like this throughout the movie. Freakin' AWESOME!

Excellent pacing and suspense makes the Grudge a true horror classic, in my opinion. I've seen a thousand horror movies in my time and I'd easily put the Grudge right up there as one of the best.

People today have drastically different opinions when it comes to what makes a movie scary. Remember the good old days when everyone could agree that the Exorcist was the scariest movie of all-time? I wish everyone agreed that the Grudge is a total classic, and that the Ring is another excellent one.

Japan has a long, ghostly tradition with beings from beyond the grave. Nemerous stories and legends in Japan of these otherworldly visitors abound. Ghosts often play key roles in Kabuki theater and were a favorite though perhaps somewhat overly-used character by Kabuki playwrights. Many of the ghosts that appear in plays and stories are females seeking revenge for wrongs done to them during their lifetime typically by cruel, heartless husbands.

In the old ghost stories, vengeful Japanese ghosts would continue haunt their victims until they went insane, died, or at least made some form of restitution to appease the angry spirits. Some Japanese ghosts were born out of tragedy or sorrow and would haunt any person who came near. These spirits were particularly feared because they represented a danger to all unless they were somehow put to rest.

Although I knew about the horrific nature of old Japanese ghosts, I had thought modern Japanese ghosts would be more polite and demur. I had imagined a modern Japanese ghost timidly coming up to someone and saying "Suimasen (Excuse me)! BOO! Gomen naisai (I'm sorry)!" before whisking away. "The Grudge" (2004) showed me how wrong I was about modern Japanese phantoms.

"The Grudge," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame, depicts a haunting by very impolite spirits. Gellar plays an American student nurse in Tokyo who accidentally gets involved with a haunted house that has the nasty habit of killing visitors. The ghosts of the house were victims of a tragedy and now they rudely kill anyone who comes in contact with them.

The spirits' motivation for killing is explained at the beginning of the film in a brief written prologue which states: "when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is left behind."

For Western audiences it may seem unusual that the two main ghostly antagonists who having been innocent victims of a violent death themselves would seek to cause the death of another innocent person. This flies in the face of a Western audience's sense of justice and fairness.

In many Western ghost stories, ghosts despite their spookiness are often motivated by the same things as living people namely the pursuit of justice for wrongdoings. The ghost of a murdered person will seek vengeance on the person or persons responsible for their death.

If a ghost is malevolent, it often turns out they were a bad person in life - as in the back-story to the main ghost character in the "Poltergeist" (1982-1986) movies.

To understand the nature of the supernatural entity of "The Grudge," one has to understand Japanese belief in spirits and the supernatural.

In the book "Ghosts and the Japanese: Cultural Experience in Japanese Death Legends" by Michiko Iwasaka, there is a passage which is a direct echo of the opening lines of the movie:

"Anyone who dies under great emotional stress creates an energy which is not easily dissipated; these yurei [ghosts], thus, have an impact on the local environment..."

This type of spirit is called a "goryo" - vengeful ghost. A goryo, however, is less like a consciously aware ghost that plots revenge like those featured in Kabuki plays and which would be more familiar to Western audiences. A goryo is more like the energy of the emotion created at the time of death. And to some degree it represents the unconscious mind free of the limitations and morals of the conscious analytic side.

Formal belief of goryo can be traced to the Heien Period (794-1185) when goryo were believed to be the angry spirits of political enemies that had died in exile or had been executed. The noted scholar Sugawara-no-Michizane became one such goryo. Through guileful manipulations, his enemies at the Imperial Court engineered his banishment from Kyoto. Sugawara died in extreme sorrow while in exile. Shortly after his death, a number of natural disasters occurred from droughts and epidemics to lightening strikes. It was believed to be caused by the angry spirit of Sugawara. To appease his goryo, Sugawara was given ceremonial promotion at the Imperial Court and eventually he was made into a god-spirit whom modern-day students pray to for success on their exams.

Goryo were vengeful spirits from the aristocracy who like Sugiwara have the power to affect the very seasons. Another more commonly experienced type was onryo. While less powerful than the goryo, the onryo were the ghosts that kept Japanese of then and now frightened out of their wits. Onryo are typically depicted with wild unkempt hair in a white burial kimono.

Although onryo could be either male or female, the most popular onryo were women. Often powerless while in life, these female onryo wielded great power in death. They would wreak vengeance on husbands and lovers who spurned or hurt them in life usually by driving them mad with fear.

Director Takashi Shimizu has built on this old concept to create a deadly onryo of a very frightening ghostly Mother and Son duo. "The Grudge" is an American remake of the original Japanese thriller "Ju-on" (2003). "Ju-on" is Shimizu's horror franchise. "Ju-on" grew out of a short TV story to become a successful and scary theater-release movie which was followed by a sequel. Famed Spiderman director, Sam Ramie, who helped produce the American remake thought "Ju-on" to be one of the scariest movies he had ever seen.

"The Grudge" opened in America during the Halloween season last fall but it has only recently opened in Japan. One notable difference is the inclusion of a few extra violent moments that were left out in the American version in order for the movie to keep a PG-13 rating in the States.

Overall there's not much of story. Some people die, then some other people die. Most of the film is just one scare after another with little character development or plot. "The Grudge" is more like a series of creepy vignettes strung together to make a film. However, these vignettes are quite scary. Its the cultural nuance of the goryo/onryo-type spirit that "The Grudge" represents and the genuinely frightening moments that makes the film an interesting experience for Japan-o-philes and horror fans alike.

On the Scare-O-Meter, "The Grudge" rates about 4 out 5 Screams.

On Plot, it rates about 2 stars out of 5; however the concept behind the movie rates about a 4.

After seeing the horrible "reworking" done on Nakata Hideo's scare-fest "RING" by director Gore Verbinski and DreamWorks-- and seeing how director Walter Salles intends to 'one-up' Verbinski with his complete mangling of another Nakata masterpiece, "HONOGURAI MIZU NO SOKO KARA" (currently in production as "DARK WATER" with Disney/Touchstone as joint culprit) --I had some hesitation about wanting to see the Hollywood remake of "JUON." But four specific things fueled my interest in this Occidental revision entitled "The Grudge":

(1) It would keep the story set in Japan, using many of the same sets and actors of the original series;

(2) Sam Raimi ("The Evil Dead") not only put up the money to have this movie remade, but he was so appreciative of the original Japanese theatrical production (and so confident of the success of the remake) that he was instrumental in getting "JUON" a wide US distribution even before the remake was completed and released to theatres;

(3) Raimi insisted that Shimizu Takashi, the director of the original productions, be retained as the director of the US remake as well;

(4) The pre-release trailers of the film made it unambiguously obvious that, unlike the distorted crud given to us by the teams of DreamWorks/Verbinski & Disney/Salles, "The Grudge" was going to be a true "remake" that remained VERY faithful to the original material.

Of course, none of that could guarantee that I'd be 100% satisfied with the result because, sadly, I wasn't. But that doesn't mean it was a bad movie or a failed experiment -- there is still much to like about this movie even for hardened "Juon Junkies" like myself. It's just that this film, as faithful a remake as it was, just didn't have the right kind of "texture": Gone was the gloominess & ambiance of the original productions, gone was the slow-paced and the tension build-up, gone was the "REAL" reason Saeki Takeo murdered his family (but, of course, reusing the original Japanese cast as the Saeki family, that really could not have been helped short of casting Jason Scott Lee or Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in the "Kobayashi-sensei/Peter" role), and gone was the "REAL" reason Kayako makes that unsettling croaking noise (and it's not the reason they try to make you believe it is in the remake). There was never a moment in the film where I was not aware that I was watching a "Hollywood" production -- all of the "Asian qualities" I liked so much about the original series just weren't in this movie, and it's not because of the presence of Caucasian actors and English dialogue. My difficulty in relating to this remake stems from the fact that the presentation was too bright, too loud, too fast, too sanitized, too refined, too perfect -- lacking all the "rawness" and the pure emotion of the original series.

For those not all that familiar with what I'm talking about, "The Grudge" is based on a series of movies called "JUON" or "JU-ON" (literal translation: "curse grudge"). It began as a two-part 'V-Cinema' (Japan's version of 'made-for-television/video') series called, appropriately, "JUON" and "JUON 2" -- which were marketed (but not "officially" titled) with the English companion title, "THE CURSE." Because of the immediate success of these two V-Cinema productions, writer/director Shimizu Takashi was given a bigger budget to work with along with a green light to begin work on a theatrical version, that was released under the name, "JUON" -- which, after a successful run in theatres throughout Asia, was followed by a theatrical sequel called, you guessed it, "JUON 2." In order to alleviate some of the confusion that was certain to arise, "JUON" and "JUON 2," the theatrical versions, were distinguished from their V-Cinema counterparts by being given the marketed (yet still "unofficial") English title, "THE GRUDGE."

Contrary to popular misinformation spreading about, "Juon" (theatrical) is not a remake of "Juon" (v-cinema), but is, along with the theatrical sequel, a "continuation" of the same story; much like "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is a 'continuation' of the original Star Trek television series' "Space Seed" episode. So, in actuality, the theatrical release of "Juon" and its sequel are best described as "Juon, part 3" and "Juon, part 4" respectively.

Because most of the people who learn of the original story generally become familiarized only with the first theatrical production ("Part 3"), they naturally assume that "The Grudge" is a remake of that film, when in reality the Western remake incorporates important story elements from both the first 'theatrical' production ("Part 3") and the first 'video' production ("Part 1"), thereby providing much of the "back story" one would normally not have if they were only familiar with the theatrical releases of the original story. So, in this sense, "The Grudge" provides some important (but really not all that necessary) background details for those who have seen "Juon" (the movie) but were unable to gain access to the original V-Cinema productions.

Anyway, as the opening screen text explains (in all five films), "Juon" refers to [paraphrasing] a curse that is born when someone dies violently in the grip of a powerful rage where there is great resentment, etc., etc. Because of having died such an undignified death, the resentment (or 'grudge') lingers & festers in the place(s) where the horrific murders occurred, which then indiscriminately lashes out at ANYONE (male, female, adult, child, rich, poor, married, single, Asian, Caucasian, Terran, Martian, whatever) who trespasses upon the cursed site -- in this case, the central location where the curse resides & emanates from is a typical Japanese "middle-class" house (in the V-Cinema, it is the same house plus another apartment in a different part of town). The curse does not always manifest itself right away; in fact, it might take years before the cursed spirits enact their rage against their victims -- and the victims are not always dispatched the same way: some get strangled, some get literally ripped to pieces, others just "disappear," and so on. The spectres are also not bound by the time/space continuum as we know it, often creating temporal shifts and so-forth. Also, in the "Juon" series, each attack has the potential for creating a new "juon" (i.e., the victim could then be 'reborn,' as it were, as another vengeful spirit), but "The Grudge" plays down this aspect of the curse and pretty much just sticks with building up the body count. And unlike "RING," there is no way to break the curse or to keep it from spreading other than to just stay out of that damned house.

And though Mr. Raimi chose to keep the story set in its native Japan and limited the use of Caucasian actors, I am convinced that the film could have just as easily been set in NYC, L.A., or here in Honolulu, where heavy Asian populations reside and speak English as their native language, assuming that it was his intent was to cater to Japanese or other Asian cultural themes. Such a move could have been just as effective and would have given him better rationale for using Caucasian-American actors. But because of using a new cast of white American characters in Japan while having key members of the Japanese cast reprise their original roles, the story as it plays out in the remake loses some of its effectiveness and justifications, due to the inability to duplicate certain situations which account for some of the specific behaviors associated with certain characters, thus resulting in slightly different interpretations of the two films.

As far as recommending this movie on its own merits, I'd have no problem encouraging the 'uninitiated' to give it a fair look.

To those who are familiar with any of the "Juon" presentations (esp. those privileged enough to have viewed all four original entries), my recommendation comes a bit harder. Again, as I've already expressed, my specific prejudices have already influenced my decision to not include this remake in my personal collection, but if you're stoked to see a remake that is "truly" a remake, which remains very faithful to the original and refuses to take "dumbed-down" Hollywood-style 'liberties' with the source material, then you just might appreciate this movie on that level. On the other hand, if you, like myself, appreciated the ethereal qualities and slow-pace of the originals, I'm not so enthusiastic about recommending it outright, and I would suggest renting it out first before jumping in head-first.

In any event, it's really not a terrible movie; and for newbies, it could open a whole new window into Asian cinema. ~ Aloha!

I caught the theatrical release of this film on HBO and loved it! Definitely a must-see for any fan of Asian-style horror, creepy atmospherics, and nightmare imagery.

What really surprised me, though, was how much BETTER the Director's Cut is. The ending in this version is absolutely terrifying and macabre, much more so than the PG-13 release, and easily on par with the chilling climax of "The Ring". (It's not surprising they had to tone it down for the MPAA.) If you saw this in the theater and liked it, you have to check out this version.

I saw the original in the theater, and the dvd edition several times. I do like the Japanese horror movie genre. Long black hair will never look quite the same again after seeing this picture. As expected, the Blu-ray version is crisper and more detailed than the standard dvd, and quite enjoyable.

Many have given "The Grudge" a very unjust rating, most likely because it isn't the typical American mindless gore that we have seen in so many horror films of both the past (Friday the 13th?) and present (Seed of Chucky?). While those films cirtainly have appeal to many fans of the genre, they hardly require your strict attention to follow the plot. "The Grudge" is different in that it doesn't use gore, or even violence (for the most part) to accomplish the scare. Instead it uses long approaches into scenes in which the audience can anticipate the outcome but is still startled and surprised when it actually happens.

The ending to the movie has been one of its most criticized points, but it is very much in sticking to Japanese tradition where man is not the stronger than the spirit world surrounding him, and with many of the other modern horror flicks.

Overall I am not a fan of the horror genre - usually finding them more funny in their rediculousness than scary, but I can say that this is one of the very few movies that have actually scared me. To me that is all it takes to be a good horror movie.

I enthusiastically recomend it and agree with one of the other reviewers here - it is better to watch it once, then watch all of the special features - including the cast & crew commentary - and then watch it again to pick up on all the things you missed the first time.

The only bad comment I might have is that noone ever really fought for their life, and I doubt many of the characters would have been so ,literally, scared stiff.

Listen just ignore what everybody else has to say. If you read something about a confusing plot, it is because they arent the sharpest. It really isnt that hard to follow. Just know that whatever you see is in backwards order except what you see with Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was done this way for the effect of it. No it may not be extremely scary, but parts of it can be. I would reccomend seeing it twice and also viewing the deleted scenes on the extended version to help clear up the plot. Almost all questions are answered in the movie, but the ones that arent will be answered in the second (they are trying to keep Sarah Michelle Gellar). Just remember, I am only trying to help you, not discourage you. Also, you should make your oun decision, not use somebody elses.

Hello my name is Sarah and this is a very scary and interesting movie. I loved this movie it had a great meaning to it. Then it made me scared to be alone in my own house. Buy this movie and you won't be sorry.

Though this movie was not a major hit with critics,and some people were only luke warm to its delivery,i was intrigued from the first preview i saw.Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a defying leap from her usual Buffy Slayer roles,and plays the scared victiom of this film.Movies like The Ring,Mothman Prophecies etc.base the horror on the human mind,what you believe even though you can't see it and are any of these things real.Well even though this movie is very similar to the formentioned you do see a lot more than what you would expect from this type of film.There is no extreme gore,killers or even huge creatures with razor sharp teeth,just people who definately look like they have something to be ticked off about,and there color is somewhat off,pale or even blue,with black eyes,which make for some really scary images.The one floating person(demon,ghost)what have you is about the scariest looking thing i have ever witnessed on film(only in my dreams).The eerie sounds they make is even worse,and often makes you want to hide and close your ears,me being 29 doesnt matter,i still felt that way.The story line may be cliche even though i won't reveal that information,this does make for one of the scariest movies i've ever seen,it definately answers the question of,what was that sound,what is under the bed?Whats in the closest?Whats in the Attic?among many others.So watch this film bravely in the dark,and see how much you sleep tonight.