The Grudge (2004) by Takashi Shimizu

Director: Takashi Shimizu

Year: 2004

Country: USA/Japan

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Ghosts

Plot:

While working in Japan, an American health-care worker discovers the home of her latest charge is the site of a terrible, ghostly curse involving everyone who sets foot inside the house being stalked by a vengeful, furious being and tries to stop it before it consumes her friends and co-workers.

Review:

There's a lot to really like with this one, as it gets a lot right throughout here. One of the biggest issues, though, is the fact that as a remake, it really doesn't do anything to help the story told from the original, so that can hold this one down somewhat. By keeping the familiar story and the jump scenes along the way, this can make for a trying time here by being too similar for its own good and not really having a whole lot really changed in terms of fixing the storyline or the different plot points within this. Still, this familiarity does manage to bring about many positives, including a far better pace than the original.

There's far more life to the non-attack scenes, and the burgeoning mystery about the ghosts within the house keeps this one moving, so it doesn't feel as though it takes a long time to get going or even between scenes. When the attacks really start coming in earnest throughout here, this becomes all the more enjoyable by building off such a solid foundation with those intriguing non-attacks keeping the film going. Likewise, those attack are quite enjoyable on their own merits as incredibly entertaining and chilling encounters, most notably the numerous encounters inside the house from the first encounter with the ghost inside the bedroom, the encounter in the bathtub as well as the flashback to the previous owner and the utterly fun finale that has a lot going for it by mixing action with the chills so well.

That the other attacks outside the house are rather well done is another plus, from the office building ambush to the hotel encounter, and to the spectacular encounter at the office with the deformed ghost, making for a rather solid series of encounters here to make this quite fun. The only place this stumbles is the final half-hour by detailing an affair that really drags this to a halt instead of charging through into a furious finale, not to mention lowering the impact of the curse by putting too much background into it. That does manage to lower this one somewhat, but it's still got enough here to really make a big impact.

Overview: ***.5/5

A little flawed, but an acceptable enough remake, this one comes off well enough for what it is that there's enough going on here to overcome some of the drawbacks on display that hold it down. Those with an interest in this era of genre fare, who appreciate the original series, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.