Movie Review:

The Grudge

by Lynn B

What could be more fun and fresh than a “Buffy” turned “normal” who hooks up with a really cute alien with no powers? Old friends Sarah Michelle Gellar and “Roswell’s” Max Evans, Jason Behr got to tour Japan and oh, yeah, act together as an average American couple faced with some really ticked off ghosts who hold The Grudge of all time.

In Tokyo, we first see a mysterious businessman (Bill Pullman) very suddenly commit suicide [no blood] and then, in shock, we move on to social worker/exchange student Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who has gone to Japan to work, study and join her boyfriend (Jason Behr). When caregiver Yoko (Yoko Maki) who is watching over an ailing woman (Grace Zabriskie) goes missing, Karen is asked to take over the assignment. Once inside the house, she hears things, sees things and becomes the latest victim of a curse launched by some really angry ghosts.

The story moves back in time and we discover the dark history of the house and the origin of the curse. We meet the original family, dad, mom and son and the American couple Jennifer (Clea DuVall) and Matthew (William Mapother) who moved in with his mom, the ailing woman Yoko was caring for. Susan,(Kadee Strickland) the sick woman’s daughter, a businesswoman in Tokyo, gets concerned when she doesn’t hear from her brother, visits the house and, you guessed it.. picks up the grudge curse as well. Other players fall victim to the ghosts, including a concerned cop (Ryo Ishibashi) who has been investigating the disappearances and deaths.

Will Karen and her guy escape from these weird specters or become the next victims of The Grudge?

Like The Ring before it, The Grudge is based upon a popular Japanese horror series, in this case, Ju-On: The Grudge and the studio allowed the director of the original scarefilm (Takashi Shimizu) to remake his movie with a few added cast members and twists but the flavor and style are still there. In the usual American haunted house films, the ghosts just stay in the house. In this one, once you’ve entered their cursed domicile, you are on their supernatural “hit list” and by gawsh they’re gonna getcha no matter where you go. Ooooooo scary. The theory is: when a person dies at the hands of a powerful rage, an unstoppable curse is put into motion that goes after anyone who comes into contact with it.

Nightmare imagery that only Japanese horror seems able to accomplish fills the screen. That ghostly, drowned little girl in The Ring scared the bee-jeez out of us. So do the ghosts of a murdered female and little boy in this one. And, the non-linear style of telling the story just makes it richer as we learn the history of the house and ghosts; the real stars of the film.

On the negative side, Jason and Sarah are believable “strangers in a strange land”.. and we can immediately identify with them, but there isn’t much development on their characters or their relationship and Jason’s character is barely in the film. He just pops up to comfort his girlfriend and make some pretty stupid, stock frightfilm mistakes. Although the Japanese-style horror is front and center and works great, there are still a lot of scenes that are the stock hallmarks of American horror in which characters creep slowly down halls looking for somebody or some “thing”.

Despite the drawbacks, you’ll have great fun talking to the screen and telling Sarah and other characters not to “go in there” or “open that”. You’ll be creeped out by the specters and even the nervous laughter you’ll hear in the theater is entertaining. If scary stuff really upsets you, don’t go to this one. It’s not a slasher film but there are a couple of grisly moments so be warned.

This movie is rated PG-13

Official Movie Web Site - http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegrudge/site/flash/

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Sony Pictures