Review of The Grudge (2004) by Ricardo C — 12 Nov 2011

This Takashi motherfucker has remade his "Grudge" film twice with the emergence of this US version (Although this is a direct remake more related to Ju-On: The Grudge instead of the unpopular Ju-On: The Curse) so I suppose he thinks his story is worth telling and that a non-linear plot makes horror movies sophisticated.

I prefer this one to Ju-On: The Grudge but that doesn't say much since that one suffers the same major flaws in storytelling, such as cliché A-and-B conversations. I like how Shimizu retains the Japanese backdrop to stay within authentic boundaries, something which any other J-horror remake would probably cut down on to save a few buckaroos, but the major point of interest, the main character and her boyfriend, are ditzy newbs and it's difficult to truly care about their fates in effect.

It does include a couple of memorable creepy sequences that automatically tower above the ones in the original Ju-On: The Grudge due to budget assistance, however. Not really the worst in the franchise either.

Each individual film has select scenes that you might pick as interesting for the sole reason of seeing a character uniquely attempt to survive through their Kyoko dooms, and so it's worth seeing The Grudge just to see the ways in which Kyoko manifests herself this time 'round, but there's nothing else that really distinguishes it from other J-horror remakes or horror movies in general.