 THE GRUDGEMPAA Rating:
 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensualityReviewed by: Douglas Downs Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:
Adults, Teens
Genre:
Drama, Horror, Thriller
Length:
1 hr. 36 min.
Year of Release:
2004
USA Release:
2004
“It never forgives. It never forgets.” Producer’s Synopsis: “The Grudge is the curse of one who dies in the grip of a powerful rage. Those who encounter this murderous supernatural curse die and a new one is born — passed like a virus from victim to victim in an endless, growing chain of horror.” It is NO secret that the actress Sarah Michelle Gellar has a strong fan following. She was the fabled “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” for seven seasons. She also was in the first two “Scooby Doo” films. Ms. Gellar is now going to take audiences into a haunted house. “The Grudge” is another brilliant translation of a Japanese movie. Takashi Shimizu, originally directed “Ju-On” (the grudge). Shimizu is now given the reigns and a bigger budget to bring his craft to American audiences. Don’t let the title fool you. “The Grudge” may sound like the name of a new club band, but it has nearly the same intensity as “The Ring.” No, I do not believe in ghosts and spirit-power beyond the grave. Hebrews 9:27 “Man is destined to die once and after that to face the judgment.” I do believe that Satan can appear as a malicious and deceptive spirit. I John 4:1 “Dear Friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” Having said that, I do like a good creepy haunted house flic. This one is both unsettling and disturbing. This time our residence of restless spirits is in Tokyo. I am glad the studios let Shimizu keep the story in his native country. The biggest change from the original is an American cast and the language is of course.English. “The Grudge,” like “The Ring” does come with its own spooky videotape. The good news is that this tape does not have a death guarantee. It is also a much smaller plot point. There is a great build up during the story, but the ending is like the feeling you get when a friend spoils the plot. Director Shimizu wrote the original script in a traditional nonlinear fashion. Steven Susco was added to the writing team. He helped to expand the story with a series of well-placed flashbacks. Just when you think that you may have a handle on what is going on, Steve will pull you into another world. I loved that sense of imbalance. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a character named Karen Davis. She is a nurse/caregiver for a woman who is incapacitated. Karen leaves her residence to return years later. Ms. Davis soon finds herself in the middle of a series of unfolding events that happened years ago (you could say “she’s the nurse hunting the curse”). It is difficult to believe that so many horrible things took place in such a nice house in the middle of Tokyo. Those past events begin to haunt and touch the lives of everyone who enters (of course). The ghosts in this film are NOT bound to the house. They can travel all over town. That means there is NO such thing a safe place. There are plenty of creepy sounds, ghosts appearing when you least expect it and LOTS of jumps. Eventually Shimizu does let us piece together the clues and we begin to figure out what happened in this quiet unassuming house. If you are looking for a decent scary movie, I do recommend this one. Composer, Christopher Young (Spiderman 2, Runaway Jury and The Core) did a wonderful job to set the mood. Kudos also should be given to Hideo Yamamoto (Ring 2) for excellence in cinematography. I also enjoyed again the work of Jon Block (I, Robot) in the cutting edge world of visual effects. Finally, my thanks to Sony pictures for letting Shimizu expand his creative vision. The language is easy on the ears. The violence is intense, but well within the PG-13 rating. There is a ghost of a boy that appears to be unclothed through out the film. If you enjoy people vanishing, scary elevators, frightening shadows, a black cat and a lot of terrified people.then “The Grudge” is your ticket. Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Moderate  Comments below:
Positive
Positive - My goal was exceeded in seeing this film. I haven’t watched a suspense/horror movie in quite a while. I decided to see this while my wife and daughter saw, “Raise Your Voice.” Obviously, I wouldn’t want my young daughter to see the movie. I’m not sure I would want my wife to see it either. She is quite jumpy and would probably scream many times. I intended to experience an opportunity to have that eerie, unsettling, don’t blink (but don’t close your eyes) feeling. Although I was in a theater, I had chills. I’m not a big fan of gore. This movie is better described as a suspense, although there are some gory images. This is only a movie. If you want a thrill, like you may enjoy on a roller coaster, go, enjoy, and try to sleep good. It’s fun. Another suspense movie I’m looking forward to seeing is “White Noise.” Although that movie is about contacting the dead, I have no intention on taking further action. I am totally against mediums. I believe the entire Bible. I am a practicing Christian. Just remember, these are movies. If a movie was made depicting images from the Book of Revelation, it would be quite frightening. Remember the eerie character of Satan in “The Passion?” We know the final outcome. The Grudge wasn’t out to destroy Christianity. If a movie seems to have that theme, I would feel otherwise. Positive - I absolutely loved this movie. It scared me a great deal, but then
again, I was scared when I watched “The Ring” for the fact that the dead
woman in the closet, her face just…wow. It was horribly good.
The Grudge kept me from sleeping some nights because I was afraid of
opening my eyes and seeing Kayoko (The girl missing the lower jaw), or the
actual dead woman crawling on my bed to stare at me with her huge eyes.
I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t go into the woods at night alone or into
my attic for that matter, any longer. Neutral
Neutral - This movie has nothing to do with improving your relationship with Christ. Why did I see this movie? That’s what I asked myself. Though it was good for scare quality, why does someone want to see a dead girls with her jaw ripped off? I feel like a sicko now that I have seen this movie. It was like watching “The Ring.” The interesting part was the preview for “The Ring 2” before the movie. Neutral - Plot wise it is your standard occult spiritualism with the restless, and murderous, spirit. The strength of the movie is in its directing which makes it effective. Some people in the audience were laughing at themselves for jumping out of their seats. After all, it is predictable, but it is also effective as a horror movie. Positive - As a fan of the “Horror” genre I thought “The Grudge” was
absolutely fantastic indeed. Takashi Shimizus brilliant re-make of his own very good horror classic “Ju-oh"is packed full of chills and thrills.The screenplay by Stephen Susco
was excellent and the cast was terrific( Sarah Michelle Gellar being the
standout). In short…I love this film Comments from young people
Positive - This is the scariest movie I have ever seen in my life! My dad got
scared! If you’re looking for something to freak you out, don't go to this
movie, it will terrify you. Usually I’m not to afraid of movies, but this
one was pretty good. I thought that the plot was good and the acting was
too. I do not recommend this movie to anyone under the age of 14 though. Negative - This movie was the worst! I went into this movie thinking it would
be very scary. It’s whole concept and plot was pointless. They used false
advertisement making it seem to be very scary. I will say there was no bad
words, but it does state if you die your spirit lingers around and can
kill other people which is false and an abomination to God and go’s
against what His Word says. I do not encourage you to see this movie! It
is a waste of time and a waste of God's time. Neutral - I saw this movie with my father and it was VERY scary. There were
lots of jumps and barely any profanity and only one scene of brief
sensuality (no touching or clothes off). If you like scary elevators,
hairy white eyed ghosts, and LOTS of jumps then this is your kind of
movie! Neutral - While I liked this movie, it still wasn’t as good as The Ring.
Yes, it had its scary moments, but a lot of it was really predictable. Like
when the bathtub fills up with water and the guy is going to unplug it,
it’s way to obvious Kayako is going to grab him. Sarah Michelle Gellars
acting isn’t all that like it was in Buffy, but every actor has periods in
their careers like that. Yes, the end is a cliff-hanger like The Ring, but
at least The Ring actually ended. This ending just leaves you hanging
there, saying “That’s it?” or “They better make a sequel!” Don’t get me
wrong, I LOVE scary movies, that’s why I wanted to see this one. But it
just wasn't my beef lol. Anyway, if any parents are wondering if their kids
should see this one, I’d say maybe no one under 9 because it is rated
PG13, after all. About the language, I myself didn’t hear any except
“Crap” which if you think about it isn’t as bad as what they could have
said. Anyway, there wasn’t any actual 'sex' in it, just Karen and her
boyfriend making out on the bed, and it’s not for that long, (maybe 30
seconds). All in all, it WAS scary, just not like “The Ring.” But I still
give it 3/5. Negative - I went to see this movie knowing little about the plot or
director. I saw the film with a group of friends who came out of the
theatre loving it. The girls I went with enjoyed it with shrieks of
terror and the guys thought it was great; I on the other hand felt
somewhat different. The film began with a man falling over the side of
his balcony, seemingly on his own accord. From there the movie attempts
to frighten and terrorize the viewer every five minutes. Some may say
that because of the lack in profanity this film should be given an average
rating, but from my experiences there was enough cursing in the theatre to
give the movie an R. This movie gives no glory to our Lord and Savior and
serves no purpose other than to fill the minds of believers with scenes of
graphic violence which will be there for a very long time. The entire
story is based around a pagan belief and while trying to sleep, images of
decaying bodies and missing body parts danced around in my head. I do not
recommend this movie to any Christian wishing to further his relationship
with Christ or any person in general. Positive - If they had a slightly offensive I would have put that rather than
average. however, this movie is something that I haven’t seen in a long
time. its scary. Not gory or even all that suspenseful, its just good old
fashioned scary. however, along with scary comes some images that won’t
leave your head for a while. keep in mind that this is a ghost story, so
if your looking for redeeming value, you aren’t going to find to much. If
you enjoy a good scare, and don’t mind waiting through a few slow parts,
see this one. Positive - I loved this movie. Very exciting. I went to go see it with my
friends on halloween. I am not really a scary movie person because I get
scared very easily, so I was freaked out by this movie. I haven’t seen The
Ring, but my friends said The Grudge was much scarier. This movie also was
good because it didn't have much language. Overall this movie was very
good. Positive - A well made horror movie. There wasn’t that much language or sexual content, but the images displayed in this film are very disturbing. I cowered in my seat several times. It was almost as good as “The Ring.” If
you’re looking for a good scare, check out “The Grudge.” Negative - This movie was awful! It was based on that if you died in a state of terror, your spirit would linger there and consume all that you see. I do not believe in ghosts. As I watched the movie, I was somewhat confused on the point. Do not waste your time seeing a movie that has nothing to glorify God with. Positive - This is an awesome horror film that doesn’t rely on blood and gore
to scare you. It is thin on substance and plot, but if you’re in for a few
good scares without a lot of offensive content, then this is a great
movie. Positive - Awesome movie. period. I fell in love with scary movies from the
start, this is on the top of my list. The feeling you get while watching
the movie is like being stuck in a nightmare you cant get out of, its very
intense, but well worth it if your into this kinda thing. No sex, very
little language, the only thing I would say it was missing was storyline.
There was none to say the least, just scares throughout the film. Well
worth the money, I recommend this film. Positive - WOW! this movie scared me out of my skin! What a thrill! I went
with my friend and we were hugging each other like little kids because we
were so scared. I would not recommend this movie for people who are
easily scared. It has a very thin plot that makes no sense at all, but
the graphics blew me away!!! If you like horror movies, this one is for
you! Positive - This movie was awesome. It scared me out of my pants. I don’t
understand that some people think this is bad. It’s a horror movie! What
do you expect, pink bunnies? Positive - This movie was a brilliantly planned and well-thought out
masterpiece! I loved it. There were a few scenes, however, that a family
should be cautious of. Near the beginning of the movie, a man commits
suicide. Your younger children may not understand this fully, so you may
want to steer them away from this movie. There are several scenes of
murder and one scene of implied sex. Overall, younger children should
stray away from this film. I recommend 13+. Positive - This movie was good. There were a few things that I didn’t approve of, but I enjoyed it as a whole. A great scare! Movie Critics
“…very simply, a ghost story, but it is meted out delicately…” “…superb pacing…” “…not as involving as “The Ring” …but it has just as many freaky and jump-out-of-your-seat moments…” “…a lot scarier than the North America-set “Ring'…” “…an unsatisfying hybrid of two very different film cultures…” “…a series of spooky images…designed to guide the audience into tight places and then have the boogeyman jump from the shadows… short on internal logic and…suspense…” |
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