The Grudge (2004)

Ju-On: The Grudge was a hit horror film for writer and director Takashi Shimizu in 2002.  It was the third in a series of movies about a house in a Tokyo suburb haunted by the spirits of a wife, child, father and cat, all of whom had died on one murder-filled night.  The third film was the first to receive wide cinematic release and it came to the attention of a number of horror fans worldwide, including producer and director Sam Raimi.

What Raimi did was something unique for Asian horror remakes.  He set Takashi Shimizu up to direct, a chance he took since there were improvements and changes he wanted to make to Ju-On.  Stephen Susco rewrote some parts of the story that included elements from the earlier two films, but it was still based in Japan although the main actors were Americans.  The remake ended up being a big enough hit to spawn two sequels despite not getting the best reviews.

Karen (Sarah Michelle Geller) is a nursing student taking classes in Japan and volunteering at a care center run by Alex (Ted Raimi).  When Yoko (Yoko Maki), one of the other volunteers, fails to show up he sends Karen to check on an older lady named Emma (Grace Zabriskie).  Emma is the mother of Matthew Williams (William Mapother), a businessman working for the Japanese branch of his company, and lives with him and his wife Jennifer (Clea DuVall), whose sister Susan (KaDee Strickland) is also working in Tokyo.  While Karen is caring for Emma she finds another inhabitant of the house, a Japanese boy named Toshio (Yuya Ozeki). 

It turns out the house was where Toshio and his mother, Kayako, were murdered by Takeo Saeki (Takashi Matsuyama) when he found out that his wife loved another man.  Their ghosts haunt the house, manifesting and killing anyone who lives there as well as attaching themselves to and killing anyone who enters.  This includes Karen, Susan and the detectives investigating the strange goings on. 

This pretty much follows the plot of the original, omitting the story about the schoolgirls that are attacked by Kayako and later haunt their friend who happens to be the daughter of the detective that investigated the original murders.  Instead, we are introduced at the beginning to an American professor named Peter Kirk (Bill Pullman), who commits suicide shortly after the killings, and the story circles back to him toward the end.  There is an attempt this time around to tell a story rather than just showing episodes of what happens to everyone involved, although Shimuzu still plays around with time jumps. 

What The Grudge doesn't do, despite having the same director, is bring the same atmosphere of the original.  Having the lower budget, and having to do everything with practical effects, added a certain otherworldliness to Ju-On that is missing in the remake.  There also isn't as much reliance on sound, which was a major element in the original, although Kayako's death rattle and Toshio's cat-like screeching is maintained.  It feels like a concerted effort to Americanize the story while trying to keep its Japanese roots, and the two sides often clash, especially since this was at the height of creatively neutering horror films with a PG-13 rating. 

It's still watchable though Sarah Michelle Geller, in the main role, is not too impressive.  Jason Behr plays her boyfriend and neither of the two have much chemistry on screen despite the attempt to sex things up at the beginning.  Bill Pullman is reliable despite not having a big part until the end.  As usual, the big draw is Takako Fuji as Kayako, since as a trained gymnast and contortionist she still does all her own movements in this movie as well.  It's nowhere near as bad as many of the other American remakes of Asian films, but it is also nowhere near the quality of the original, which is something that can be expected. 

 The Grudge (2004)

Time: 91 minutes

Starring: Sarah Michelle Geller, Bill Pullman, Takako Fuji, Yuya Ozeki

Director: Takashi Shimizu