The Grudge (2004)

Director: Takashi Shimizu

Writer: Stephen Susco, Takashi Shimizu

Tagline: The whole time I was in that house, I knew something was wrong.

Actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea DuVall, Bill Pullman, Ted Raimi

Category: Curse, Ghost, Revenge, Supernatural

Synopsis: Inside a house in Tokyo, Japan, where a family was brutally murdered, a terrifying Japanese curse has been set in place. They say that when a person dies in the midst of extreme sorrow or rage, that that person’s soul stays there and brings death to all they come into contact with. Three years after the murders, a couple and the husband’s invalid mother Emma, move into the house. A local Care Center has contracted Yoko, a nurse, to take care of Emma during the day. But one day Yoko goes missing. So the center sends an American exchange nurse, Karen, to the house to substitute for Yoko. Only, that night, she and Emma are attacked by some dark, floating figure. Now on the run from this evil curse, Karen must find out what really happened in that house three years ago, and who those ghosts are that keep attacking her.

Review: I had heard many mixed reviews about this movie; from scary as hell to the worst movie ever. I think this my have actually helped me be more objective. Honestly…I thought it wasn’t that bad. I understand why people say that the movie was dumb; there was too much story. Movies that tend to have a “heavy story” it seems to take up all of the runtime. The problem is this; when there’s too much story, you must compensate with graphics…and I don’t think this movie did. I think they had just enough graphics to suffice for a normal movie, but not one with a heavy story. There wasn’t enough ghost interaction and visuals. I really wanted to see more of the effects used at the end of the movie…that would have been sweet. Just a bit more blood and terror and they would have been all set. The make-up for the ghosts was just ok and the acting was the same. From what I understand, the original Japanese version Ju-on: The Grudge (2003) was better. I haven’t seen it yet so I couldn’t tell you. But overall I thought it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t great. Wouldn’t own it.

Rating: 13. Even though the story was too big for this movie…I liked it. The story was original and gutsy. Unfortunately it just wasn’t scary. It had me the entire way through…but not scary. The graphics used for the ghost were pretty good though (thank you William Malone). One other thing I liked, before I let you go, was the time jumps. I loved how they would go back and explain things that had already happened. I thought that was really cool, and original. Overall this movie was just alright, with some nice plot points and an original story, it is a movie to rent if you have all the time in the world and money to burn (if you have money to burn…could I have like…fifty bucks?). (13of25).

Buy this DVD at HKFlix.com