The Grudge
by Takashi Shimizu
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DVD details
Actor: Clea DuVall, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Sarah Michelle Gellar, William MapotherDirector: Takashi Shimizu
Brand: Sony
Writer: Takashi Shimizu
Producer: Aubrey Henderson
Producer: Carsten H.W. Lorenz
Producer: Doug Davison
Producer: Joseph Drake
Producer: Michael Kirk
Writer: Stephen Susco
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
Published: 2005-02-01
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-01
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Grudge
DVD Review: "beGrudgingly" Recommended!
Summary: 3 Stars
After seeing the horrible "reworking" done on Nakata Hideo's scare-fest "RING" by director Gore Verbinski and DreamWorks-- and seeing how director Walter Salles intends to 'one-up' Verbinski with his complete mangling of another Nakata masterpiece, "HONOGURAI MIZU NO SOKO KARA" (currently in production as "DARK WATER" with Disney/Touchstone as joint culprit) --I had some hesitation about wanting to see the Hollywood remake of "JUON." But four specific things fueled my interest in this Occidental revision entitled "The Grudge":
(1) It would keep the story set in Japan, using many of the same sets and actors of the original series;
(2) Sam Raimi ("The Evil Dead") not only put up the money to have this movie remade, but he was so appreciative of the original Japanese theatrical production (and so confident of the success of the remake) that he was instrumental in getting "JUON" a wide US distribution even before the remake was completed and released to theatres;
(3) Raimi insisted that Shimizu Takashi, the director of the original productions, be retained as the director of the US remake as well;
(4) The pre-release trailers of the film made it unambiguously obvious that, unlike the distorted crud given to us by the teams of DreamWorks/Verbinski & Disney/Salles, "The Grudge" was going to be a true "remake" that remained VERY faithful to the original material.
Of course, none of that could guarantee that I'd be 100% satisfied with the result because, sadly, I wasn't. But that doesn't mean it was a bad movie or a failed experiment -- there is still much to like about this movie even for hardened "Juon Junkies" like myself. It's just that this film, as faithful a remake as it was, just didn't have the right kind of "texture": Gone was the gloominess & ambiance of the original productions, gone was the slow-paced and the tension build-up, gone was the "REAL" reason Saeki Takeo murdered his family (but, of course, reusing the original Japanese cast as the Saeki family, that really could not have been helped short of casting Jason Scott Lee or Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in the "Kobayashi-sensei/Peter" role), and gone was the "REAL" reason Kayako makes that unsettling croaking noise (and it's not the reason they try to make you believe it is in the remake). There was never a moment in the film where I was not aware that I was watching a "Hollywood" production -- all of the "Asian qualities" I liked so much about the original series just weren't in this movie, and it's not because of the presence of Caucasian actors and English dialogue. My difficulty in relating to this remake stems from the fact that the presentation was too bright, too loud, too fast, too sanitized, too refined, too perfect -- lacking all the "rawness" and the pure emotion of the original series.
For those not all that familiar with what I'm talking about, "The Grudge" is based on a series of movies called "JUON" or "JU-ON" (literal translation: "curse grudge"). It began as a two-part 'V-Cinema' (Japan's version of 'made-for-television/video') series called, appropriately, "JUON" and "JUON 2" -- which were marketed (but not "officially" titled) with the English companion title, "THE CURSE." Because of the immediate success of these two V-Cinema productions, writer/director Shimizu Takashi was given a bigger budget to work with along with a green light to begin work on a theatrical version, that was released under the name, "JUON" -- which, after a successful run in theatres throughout Asia, was followed by a theatrical sequel called, you guessed it, "JUON 2." In order to alleviate some of the confusion that was certain to arise, "JUON" and "JUON 2," the theatrical versions, were distinguished from their V-Cinema counterparts by being given the marketed (yet still "unofficial") English title, "THE GRUDGE."
Contrary to popular misinformation spreading about, "Juon" (theatrical) is not a remake of "Juon" (v-cinema), but is, along with the theatrical sequel, a "continuation" of the same story; much like "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is a 'continuation' of the original Star Trek television series' "Space Seed" episode. So, in actuality, the theatrical release of "Juon" and its sequel are best described as "Juon, part 3" and "Juon, part 4" respectively.
Because most of the people who learn of the original story generally become familiarized only with the first theatrical production ("Part 3"), they naturally assume that "The Grudge" is a remake of that film, when in reality the Western remake incorporates important story elements from both the first 'theatrical' production ("Part 3") and the first 'video' production ("Part 1"), thereby providing much of the "back story" one would normally not have if they were only familiar with the theatrical releases of the original story. So, in this sense, "The Grudge" provides some important (but really not all that necessary) background details for those who have seen "Juon" (the movie) but were unable to gain access to the original V-Cinema productions.
Anyway, as the opening screen text explains (in all five films), "Juon" refers to [paraphrasing] a curse that is born when someone dies violently in the grip of a powerful rage where there is great resentment, etc., etc. Because of having died such an undignified death, the resentment (or 'grudge') lingers & festers in the place(s) where the horrific murders occurred, which then indiscriminately lashes out at ANYONE (male, female, adult, child, rich, poor, married, single, Asian, Caucasian, Terran, Martian, whatever) who trespasses upon the cursed site -- in this case, the central location where the curse resides & emanates from is a typical Japanese "middle-class" house (in the V-Cinema, it is the same house plus another apartment in a different part of town). The curse does not always manifest itself right away; in fact, it might take years before the cursed spirits enact their rage against their victims -- and the victims are not always dispatched the same way: some get strangled, some get literally ripped to pieces, others just "disappear," and so on. The spectres are also not bound by the time/space continuum as we know it, often creating temporal shifts and so-forth. Also, in the "Juon" series, each attack has the potential for creating a new "juon" (i.e., the victim could then be 'reborn,' as it were, as another vengeful spirit), but "The Grudge" plays down this aspect of the curse and pretty much just sticks with building up the body count. And unlike "RING," there is no way to break the curse or to keep it from spreading other than to just stay out of that damned house.
And though Mr. Raimi chose to keep the story set in its native Japan and limited the use of Caucasian actors, I am convinced that the film could have just as easily been set in NYC, L.A., or here in Honolulu, where heavy Asian populations reside and speak English as their native language, assuming that it was his intent was to cater to Japanese or other Asian cultural themes. Such a move could have been just as effective and would have given him better rationale for using Caucasian-American actors. But because of using a new cast of white American characters in Japan while having key members of the Japanese cast reprise their original roles, the story as it plays out in the remake loses some of its effectiveness and justifications, due to the inability to duplicate certain situations which account for some of the specific behaviors associated with certain characters, thus resulting in slightly different interpretations of the two films.
As far as recommending this movie on its own merits, I'd have no problem encouraging the 'uninitiated' to give it a fair look.
To those who are familiar with any of the "Juon" presentations (esp. those privileged enough to have viewed all four original entries), my recommendation comes a bit harder. Again, as I've already expressed, my specific prejudices have already influenced my decision to not include this remake in my personal collection, but if you're stoked to see a remake that is "truly" a remake, which remains very faithful to the original and refuses to take "dumbed-down" Hollywood-style 'liberties' with the source material, then you just might appreciate this movie on that level. On the other hand, if you, like myself, appreciated the ethereal qualities and slow-pace of the originals, I'm not so enthusiastic about recommending it outright, and I would suggest renting it out first before jumping in head-first.
In any event, it's really not a terrible movie; and for newbies, it could open a whole new window into Asian cinema. ~ Aloha!
Description of The Grudge
The GrudgeIt's not the scary hit that The Ring was in 2002, but The Grudge makes a similarly convincing case for American remakes of popular Japanese horror films. Barely a year passed between the release of Takashi Shimizu's creepy ghost story Ju-On: The Grudge and the production of this American remake, set in Tokyo and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in her first post-Buffy horror film. About the only significant difference between the two films is the importing of a mostly-American cast (including Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall and Grace Zabriskie), but The Grudge was reconfigured (by screenwriter Stephen Susco) to allow Shimizu to refine and improve the spookiest highlights of his earlier version, which enjoyed previous incarnations as a short film and two made-for-Japanese-video features. Surprising box-office analysts with a $40 million opening weekend, The Grudge may disappoint hard-core horror fans because it lacks gore and graphic violence, but as a creepy tale about a very haunted house, it's guaranteed to send a few chills up your spine. --Jeff Shannon
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