THE GRUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Director: Takashi Shimizu. Screenplay: Stephen Susco. Based on “Ju-On: The Grudge” written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Clea DuVall, William Mapother, Grace Zabriskie, Takako Fuji, Ted Raimi and Bill Pullman. Running time: 110 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG-13, for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality. A Columbia Pictures release.
Thanks to director Takashi Shimizu, I’ll have a harder time sleeping for a while. That’s because “The Grudge” is filled with enough pants-wetting scares and creepy atmosphere to make anyone an insomniac. However, its faults prevent the film from being the horror classic it strives to be.
Set in Japan, the concept of the ghosts here is simple: when someone dies in a great rage or sorrow, a curse is born and it consumes all who encounter it. This occurs in a house occupied by an American family, who has all disappeared except for the catatonic elderly mother (Grace Zabriskie). Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a social-work student who lives in Japan as part of an exchange program, takes over watching the whacked-out mother when the original caregiver vanishes.
Karen soon experiences moments in the house that are just plain frightening. There’s some weird Japanese boy who’s extremely pale and sometimes meows like a cat. Then, like “The Ring,” there’s a creepy looking girl who walks funny, occasionally appears out of nowhere and seems to have a problem with keeping her hair out of her face. Even when the film’s scariest moments become predictable, the perfect execution is still going to make you jump out of your seat.
This is yet another popular Asian horror movie that has been Americanized. However, Shimizu was the original director of last year’s “Ju-On: The Grudge” (good luck trying to find it at your local video store) and keeps things interesting here. While it’s hard to compare/contrast with the original version (haven’t seen it), the creep factor is set really high and he gets the mood just perfectly. But he also scraps chronological storytelling by shuffling scenes all over the place which kept my attention although it may confuse others. Logic gaps also become distractions in the middle of the frights.
The addition of American actors seems like a gimmick and it is. Besides decent performances by Gellar and Bill Pullman, everyone else’s is one-dimensional. Ted Raimi, brother of “The Grudge” producer Sam “Evil Dead” Raimi, keeps nepotism alive by bumbling around as Karen’s boss. Jason Behr, best known for the cult TV show “Roswell,” plays Karen’s boyfriend which means he gets to do nothing except act supportive and bland. KaDee Strickland (don’t know why her first name is spelled like that, but whatever) has such a short role I don’t know why the filmmakers bothered to include her name in the credits. And Grace Zabriskie just stares off into space, which kind of resembles my experience when watching “You Got Served.”
If all director Shimizu intended to do is make “The Grudge” nothing but a non-stop scare fest, then he’s succeeded. There’s enough here to make sure you don’t want to be alone once you leave the theatre. Those looking for fleshed-out characters and a coherent plot will probably want to look elsewhere.
Overall score: Three (out of five)