The Grudge

User Comments:

Mr Parker
NYC, NY


Date: 20 October 2004
Summary: The Grudge Report

I know I'm going to p*** a couple of people off with my review but hey, these are the breaks. I consider myself a fan and supporter of Asian horror movies. Ringu, The Eye, Ju-On, I love them all. I am also one of those people that has gotten a little annoyed with the remake happy system that Hollywood has adopted as of late but at the same time, I'd be lying if I told you that I hated the American remake of the Ring. In fact, I consider the Ring to be one of the best horror movies to come out of the system in a while and I also think it's just as good,if not better, than the original. Which brings me to the remake of Ju-On: The Grudge. I saw it last night at a midnight sneak preview and I'm writing this review on three and a half hours of sleep so cut me some slack. I saw the original a few months ago on DVD and I was pretty unnerved while watching it but at the same time I felt that it became a little confusing, especially near the end.

Right off the bat, I'd say that the remake is much better than the original. In fact, I would stand up and yell it out right now if I didn't mind getting fired afterwards. I found the movie to be well made with better production values, better special effects and really just downright scarier. I love the idea of getting the original director to do his own remake. That, to me, shows respect for the source of the film. I've seen remakes and adaptations of movies where the only similarity to the original source was in the name and that's it. I think this strategy of hiring the original director is a step in the right direction. I also dig the fact that they filmed it in Japan as well. While there were slight changes made from the original in terms of story, they weren't anything for the purists to freak out about. In all honesty, I found that the changes to the story made it easier to follow.

The plot is basically the same with some details added and some of the subplots left out. The storyline is still told in a nonlinear fashion and keeps you guessing until the very end but everything ties together pretty nicely. The acting was better than I expected and I was especially happy to see Bill Pullman in the movie, though his role is small. Sarah Michelle Gellar looked just as freaked out here as she did in Scream 2 but I thought she gave a decent performance. In terms of scares, I have to say that this movie kept me feeling uncomfortable the entire time I was watching it. Even though there were some scenes where I knew exactly what to expect, they changed it around enough to make it fresh. Even the scenes that were a direct lift off of the original were done much better, with some of the practical effects enhanced by CGI. I didn't really have any issues with the movie, although I was disappointed that one or two of the scenes from the original didn't make it into the remake in some form. I really enjoyed watching this movie and I think anyone with even the slightest appreciation for Asian horror films and horror films in general will like this movie. The crowd I was with loved it also. As far as remakes go, I would say this comes in just behind the Ring. Even though the Ring had far less shock scares, I just found that particular movie to be more frightening for some reason.

RATING: ***1/2 out of *****
Click to expand...

taken from IMDB.com
 
eh.

My opinion is that the ring had a better story line and was much more structured (that the word i'm looking for) where as the grudge had more scares but the film jumped around in time way to much
 
london-boy said:
YAY!!! SMG in this one, i'll just have to buy it...
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What is so ? about SMG? Anyway she is no match for Japanese chicks in Original movie. They were hot. :devilish:

Now I want Dark Water remake. DW was scarier than Ring/Ju-On.
 
Deepak said:
london-boy said:
YAY!!! SMG in this one, i'll just have to buy it...
Click to expand...

What is so ? about SMG? Anyway she is no match for Japanese chicks in Original movie. They were hot. :devilish:

Now I want Dark Water remake. DW was scarier than Ring/Ju-On.
Click to expand...

SMG is SMG. Period.

I've just rented Dark Water, probably gonna see it tonight...
 
Seriously, i really think SMG is very underrated. Her sense of humour is very dry and absolutely lovely.
I can't wait to see what many of the Buffy cast will end up doing, especially Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield (no comment on that horror flick she did), and i freaking loved the actress playing Glory in season 5... But maybe Joss Whedon had a huge influence on the way i think of them....
 
Half the universe adores her, or her TV show, sure she's good at what she does, but I'd rather shack up with kirsten dunst. Ever since "crazy beautiful" I've had a major thing for her.
 
sytaylor said:
Half the universe adores her, or her TV show, sure she's good at what she does, but I'd rather shack up with kirsten dunst. Ever since "crazy beautiful" I've had a major thing for her.
Click to expand...

We're talking about the person, not the shaggability... ;)
 
A gay friend tried getting me to watch one episode of Buffy. Gayest_show_ever! I hated it, though I hate 99% of what's produced for TV.
 
SMG = Dull, dull, dull.

At least Dunst looks like she'd be a bit mucky! ;)

Oh. And, of course, I admire her acting abilities. :p
 
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