The Grudge

The Grudge is a remake of another Japanese horror story, Ju-on: The Grudge, akin to the hit American-remake-of-a-Japanese-film The Ring. Anyone who has seen The Ring is familiar with the genre, creepy disheveled Japanese girls with long hair pop up to startle and scare. And for anyone who has already seen the previews for The Grudge, there are no new surprises. The Grudge keeps you on the edge of your seat in anxious anticipation of the next surprise, but beyond that is a film with little or no story and nothing for its characters to do.

The Grudge, very simply, tells the story of a house where something horrible happened and how the house takes gruesome vengeance on anyone who crosses its path. With the tag, ‘when someone dies in a rage a grudge is formed’ the house has a grudge and everyone who enters it is cursed with an extremely short life. Of course what exactly a grudge is and what you do about it is never mentioned in the film. Apparently you just have to hope that you never enter a house with one because there doesn’t seem to be any very good way of dealing with it. Thus all of the characters are completely innocent of any wrongdoing beyond entering the unfortunate house where something took place by less than innocent people.

This lack of story line is common for Japanese horror films but is somewhat disconcerting for the American viewer who expects a little more narrative in their films. Sarah Michelle Geller plays the heroine in this film, Karen Davis, a student who is working as a volunteer for the homebound. She goes to the ill-fated house when the regular volunteer fails to show up and is then wrapped up in the evils of the house. From her stint as Buffy the Vampire Slayer Geller has a large and devoted science fiction following who will be drawn to this film. The problem is that the story doesn’t give her that much to do. Geller simply moves through one scary scene to another in near zombie like fear waiting for the next evil to befall her. Without any clear definition of what the evil is or how to confront it, she delves into the history of the house almost unwittingly, she is unable to affect any change upon the inevitable outcome. Thus her character has no real motivation except to avoid anything nasty, which seems to be everything.

In this way The Grudge reminded me a lot of the Final Destination movies. Though The Grudge is better acted and a more taut thriller, there is that same feeling that all of the heroes’ actions are in vain as they try to avoid an inevitable fate. How does one overcome death if it is out to get you? You don’t. You just get more and more paranoid as death stalks you in more and more intricate ways. The final outcome is known then the ride there is all that matters. And in that case The Grudge delivers gory effects, creepy lighting, and shocks and scares around every turn.

The Grudge is filled with creepy water imagery, gore, and more bluish scenes and people than in any film I can remember. The creepy vibe starts early and doesn’t let up. For those seeking a satisfying edge of your seat thriller with none of that thought provoking baggage of creepy films like The Sixth Sense or The Others then The Grudge is for you.