Der Fluch - The Grudge

I saw this movie on satellite. I originally started to watch it because I was curious to see what Buffy the Vampire Slayer was up to now.

Thirty minutes...or maybe less...into the movie, I was hooked. For sheer skin-crawling creepiness, this film is near the top of my list. Unfortunately, it was on so late that I had to go to bed right after it was over. I didn't sleep well that night. One of my sons had seen it before, in a theater, and now I could understand his reluctance to go up into the attic of our house. More is implied than is explicitly shown in this movie, which makes the few explicit moments all the more scary. But the implied stuff will work its way into the darker recesses of your imagination and last longer, so that for a while afterward you'll have an aversion to stairwells, elevators, small children, train rides...and dark attics. If you like a good horror film, I can heartily recommend this one. The only complaint I had about it was the ending, which seemed a little too Western for a remake of a Japanese film.

This review is really a word of warning, if you've seen any of the earlier Japanese versions of this story you've seen this movie before. If you've seen all four of the earlier films, you've really seen everything (except the frightening opening with Bill Pullman) and you'd best wait for home video.

I understand that the film makers wanted to make sure that this film worked and made them money, so they repeated what worked, even casting the same Japanese actors for the kid and other roles; but it would have been nice if they had done more that was new beyond the opening sequence.

This isn't to say that the film is bad, its not, rather, its just that unless you're walking in to the film fresh odds are you're going to be like me and know what each five or ten minutes is going to bring because of the set up of the sequence.

For me it was a 6 out of 10, for fresh eyes probably higher.

This movie definitely loses something in the translation. Unlike "The Ring" which equaled and even improved on the original story in some ways, this one just meanders along in an uninspired fashion.

The original Japanese film, "Ju-on", was pretty incoherent, mostly just a series of set pieces and great chills. The American version, directed by the same filmmaker, has done nothing towards clarifying the muddled story and, aside from the great opening sequences, is just a straight-forward recreation of the same suspenseful sequences that somehow don't play as well. I'd suggest renting the original instead.

5 out of 10.

"The Grudge" is quite possibly the most scariest ghost/horror movie I have ever seen. Sarah Michelle Gellar takes on the main role as nurse Karen living and working in Tokyo. While working she is exposed to a supernatural curse involving a vengeful spirit which locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming his/her life and spreading its curse to another person.

This movie starts out with Karen moving to Tokyo with boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr), where we get a taste of drama as they adjust to their new lives in Japan. The suspense builds when they encounter mysterious events in the house Karen is a caretaker in and, what follows, are one creepy moment one after the other as main ghosts Kayako (Takako Fuji) and Toshiro (Yuya Ozeki) take center stage, wreaking havoc with those unfortunate enough to cross its path.

Takashi Shimizu did a great job directing the movie that grabs the audience attention with scenes that send chills down your spine, has moments that make you jump, and has disturbing images that will stick in your mind after the movie is over. The mysterious yet dramatic atmosphere of the movie created an eerie feeling of the ongoing horror and the built-up suspense, which are contributed by the cast members' realistic and dramatic acting. Some of the plot lines dangled and are unexplained, but that is a minor flaw.

Overall, this is a movie with the right balance of horror and drama - no over-the-top stuff. If you are a fan of horror movies, "The Grudge" is highly-recommended.

Grade B+

With the new release of The Grudge, I went back and rewatched this original to see if it was as good as I had remembered.

Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives in Japan and works as a caretaker for the elderly people. Getting assigned a job, Karen visits the elder lady and begins to discover some unusual and mysterious behaviour coming from the house. After leaving the house, things become haunting for Karen with everywhere she goes and discovers a dark history of the house.

Honestly, for a film that came out in 2004, it's pretty good. I mean watching it now, the graphics aren't amazing, but again the film is 16 years old. I remember when the film came out that a lot of people said the original Japanese version was terrifying, but I still think this one is scary.

SMG was such an A Lister when this came out, after staring in Buffy and many other iconic movies, everyone knew who she was. She's not bad in the film, except when she runs like she's still in Buffy lol

Still would recommend this film to fans of horror. It's a great watch