THE GRUDGE with Sarah Michelle Gellar
as Karen Davis
Takashi Shimizu directed this remake of the Japanese horror film Ju-on. With Jason Behr, Ted Raimi, and William
Mapother. An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a supernatural curse that seems to induce
suicide. For some reason this film is shot largely in hallways and stairwells.
Jason Behr (Doug) was Billy Fordham in BTVS. Clea DuVall (Jennifer) was Marcie Ross in BTVS. Yuya Ozeki, Takako
Fuji, and Takashi Matsuyama, who play the Saeki family in this film, all appeared in Ju-on as well (in the same
roles). The Director's Cut is really much better than the theatrical release and has some 15 extended scenes
that contribute greatly to character development and suspense.
On the top below is a clip from THE GRUDGE. On the bottom is an interview with Jonathon Ross promoting it.
INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN (2004)
(after returning from Japan)
The film played in 3,348 theatres in the US before being released on DVD. It grossed $110,359,362.
Warnerbros.com celebrated the 50th anniversary of PSYCHO by listing what they thought were
the top ten horror remakes. THE GRUDGE
was #5. DAWN OF THE DEAD was #1.
REVIEW: JU-ON
Directed by:Takashi Shimizu
Written by:Takashi Shimizu
Starring:
Megumi Okina as Rika Nishina
Misaki Itô as Hitomi Tokunaga
Misa Uehara as Izumi Tôyama
Yui Ichikawa as Chiharu
Kanji Tsuda as Katsuya Tokunaga
Kayoko Shibata as Mariko
Yukako Kukuri as Miyuki
Shuri Matsuda as Kazumi Tokunaga
Release date: 25 January 2003
Ju-On began life in 2000 as a two-part TV movie in Japan. It was originally called The Curse. It
quickly became popular enough to be made into a feature film. I have not seen the original TV movie, but I
can't help but think it may have been better than the film.
Ju-on is quite different from the Westernized version with Gellar. In Ju-On, one is not simply dealing with
ghosts. One is dealing with ghost-zombie hybrids. These beasties show up on security cameras (in fact they seem
to be conscious of being recorded on them). They leave tiny toys lying around. And they manifest in several
different ways. The contortionist is there, same as in the Gellar movie, but there is also a kind of vaguely
humanoid smoke creature, and zombie-like full-on humanoid manifestations that are solid enough to break down
doors.
Another difference with the Japanese film is that there is almost no character development. People in this film
exist for the purpose of being eaten by the zombie-ghosts. Or, in the case of the police, to stop the
zombie-ghosts. And they are strange people. If you looked up the stairs, saw a black cat that wasn't supposed
to be there, and saw it snatched away by rather pale looking hands that also weren't supposed to be there,
would you go upstairs to investigate further? Or would you phone the authorities? In the Gellar film, her
inquisitiveness was based on the notion that someone might have been imprisoned in a closet. In this one,
people are just weirdly curious and without caution.
Watching this also cleared up some confusion about THE GRUDGE 2. See, when they made THE GRUDGE, they left out
a bunch of stuff so that they could develop the characters a bit and not have the film run for four hours. When
THE GRUDGE was a big hit, they had a whole lot of screenplay remaining to make a sequel. (In this film, though,
they never leave Tokyo.)
Karen Davis in THE GRUDGE is an amalgam of several characters from JU-ON.
Look to the left for the bloodshot eyes of the smoke creature. I was planning to include stills from Ju-On, but
I could not find any good ones. For some reason, all of the shots that looked promising seemed in need of
cropping. The camera angle was too wide, as though we needed to see the whole room for no particular reason.
And the colours all seem washed-out and faded and I'm sure the director had a good reason for this but it is
very rare in JU-ON to see any bright, vivid colours.
Ju-On began life in 2000 as a two-part TV movie in Japan. It was originally called The Curse. It
quickly became popular enough to be made into a feature film. I have not seen the original TV movie, but I
can't help but think it may have been better than the film.
