Review of The Grudge (2004) by Jay K — 18 Oct 2011

"When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage... a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encouter it will be consumed by its fury.".

So here we have the American remake of Japanese horror film Ju-on. Simialar aesthetically and in tone to Hideo Nakata's U.S. versions of The Ring and Dark Water, but this time instead of Naomi Watts or Jennifer Connolly, we have Sarah Michelle Gellar. Somehow this film may be the one role SMG is most known for since Buffy, and she's extremely competent here. She plays unsettled and on edge well and I'm a big fan. The second quarter of the film certainly suffers during the expositionary flashback when we're stuck with the deadly dull threesome of William Mapother, Clea DuVall and a zombified Grace Zabriskie. Sadly, Gellar isn't given much to work with here.

There is a decent sense of tension and unease, although the film seems to suffer from trying to prolong that tension for too long, right from the beginning. At one point I had a strong reminder of the disney animation of Peter Pan. You know, the scene where the Lost Boys leave their underground hideout one by one only for each of them to be captured by the Indians. By the final 20 minutes you're almost overexposed to the cause of all the character's fear and the remaining explanation isn't quite strong enough to see it through. After all the opening credits have already told you what's happening. Another weakness is the jeopardy of the protagonists seems so easily avoided. In Dark Water they live in the house, in The Ring they're going to die in seven days, but here you feel like the characters could just walk away and go home and things would be fine.

Not the worst horror remake of all time. It's high production values, attractive female lead and mysterious Japanese spirit-horror - that doesn't quite translate - tick all the right boxes. It's hard to see what exactly necessitated the sequels, however. In other news, the mystery of why Gellar isn't a bigger star continues.