REVIEW: ‘Grudge’ features Sarah Michelle Gellar in Tokyo-based horror film
The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, is an American remake of Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On: The Grudge. The original director is back for the remake, but after watching this slight horror film, one wonders why such a reboot was necessary. Although there are some clever filmmaking techniques, thanks to Shimizu’s unique directing style, the movie never connects and feels somewhat long, even at 90 minutes.
Gellar plays Karen, a nurse living in Tokyo who needs to outrun and outsmart a strange curse that causes destruction and death in its victims. When the “grudge” has an unsuspecting person, he or she should be prepared to rage.
The setup for the film is paper thin, but the director and cast are able to get a lot of mileage out of the premise. When the curse infests new people, there’s a definite sense of dread and edge-of-one’s-seat entertainment.
The problem — and this is a problem that often plagues modern-day horror films — is that the characters are not that interesting, and the result is never worth the effort. Except for a few scares, there doesn’t appear to be anything (anything!) profound about the narrative. What does The Grudge say about society? About the future? About these characters? Not much. They’re stuck in a plot that needs to go through the same tired routine: splashy opening scene, exposition, one-by-one deaths, final reckoning between hero/heroine and villain/supernatural force.
Still, the movie is able to pull a few genuine scares. No doubt this eeriness, including a creepy poster, led to The Grudge’s success and sequels. In some ways, the movie defined the horror genre in the first decade of the 21st century (this plus The Ring and Saw, with The Ring being the only quality film).
Gellar is a good actress, someone both at home on film and a television show. She’s known for her many forays in the horror genre, and with each new movie, she adds some nice skills to her characters. It’s not her fault the movie largely doesn’t work. Other actors include the talented Clea DuVall, the always reliable Bill Pullman, Ted Raimi, William Mapother, Jason Behr and Grace Zabriskie.
For a few scares (everyone knows the child with the cat meow, the crab walk and the scary security footage), the movie isn’t bad. Seeing the director’s unique handling of a sub-par plot could be worth the time as well. Shimizu is obviously skilled, but the resulting movie is a middling affair.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
- The Grudge
- 2004
- Directed by Takashi Shimizu
- Written by Stephen Susco; based on Shimizu’s film
- Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, William Mapother, Ted Raimi, Jason Behr, Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall, KaDee Strickland and Grace Zabriskie
- Running time: 90 minutes
- Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence and some sensuality
- Rating:
With a few notable exceptions (“Let Me In,” the remake of “Let the Right One In”), American remakes of foreign horror flicks are disappointing, especially when they have to be dumbed down to a PG-13 for the sake of the kiddie market.