(dir. Takashi Shimizu)
 |
| Columbia Pictures |
*First time viewing
A spirit entity goes from victim to victim in a series
of interconnecting plots.
I missed The
Grudge when it first came out, but I remember people telling me how freaky
it was. To those same people I now ask: have you watched it recently? The
Grudge is a bad horror movie. It’s a victim of bland filmmaking, lackluster
acting, and scares that are more comical than anything (I literally laughed out
loud during the scene where Kayako emerges from the sheets). The concept itself
is interesting, if a little convoluted, which is par for the course for
J-Horror and their American remakes. But The
Grudge is devoid of suspense and Sarah Michelle Gellar seems more than a
little lost during the entire proceeding which drains any of the power the
narrative could have possibly achieved. It’s strange that Shimizu, who directed
the original and genuinely frightening Ju-On:
The Grudge, is unable to replicate the same clever tension achieved by the
imagery, and non-linear storytelling. Other than a particularly great moment
involving a missing jaw-bone, The Grudge
is a waste of time and a reminder of a terrible time in mainstream American
horror where everything was a sub-par Asian remake.
Scare Factor: 0.5/5 Half a mark for half a jaw. If
you want to watch a Grudge film, just
watch Ju-On, it’s superior in every
way and almost guaranteed to give you nightmares.
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