HC Reviews

The Grudge

Sarah Michelle Gellar .... Karen Davis
Jason Behr .... Doug
William Mapother .... Matthew Williams
Clea DuVall .... Jennifer Williams
KaDee Strickland .... Susan Williams
Grace Zabriskie .... Emma Williams
Bill Pullman .... Peter Kirk
Rosa Blasi .... Maria Kirk
Ted Raimi .... Alex
Ryo Ishibashi .... Detective Nakagawa
Yoko Maki .... Yoko
Yuya Ozeki .... Toshio Saeki
Takako Fuji .... Kayako Saeki
Takashi Matsuyama .... Takeo Saeki

I'll keep a short review above the cut for those who don't want to be spoiled and I'll do a more detailed review below the cut with spoilers.

According to the title cards in the beginning of the movie, Japanese culture states that a curse is born whenever anyone dies in the midst of a powerful rage or sadness. This curse touches anyone who comes in contact with it and usually ends in death for those involved.

Plot wise, this movie was pretty lame, hence the 3 halo rating. There were some big gaps. The dialogue and acting, at times, was laughable. The character development was fairly non-existent.

The music was suspenseful and added to the mood, but you always knew when a scary part was coming (which, in my case, worked for me, so I'm not really going to complain about that).

The visuals, however, were what made the movie. The way certain scenes were filmed were just creepy even when something freaky didn't happen.

I watched a good portion of this movie between my fingers (because it's supposed to be less scary that way). Except that it didn't really work.

Acting, Character Development, Dialogue, and Plot:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who has shown some great acting chops on Buffy, doesn't really shine here. She does manage to look scared and freaked out at times, but most of the time, she just looks bored.

None of the other actors are really given a chance to develop their characters.
SMG's boyfriend is barely seen in the movie, yet we're supposed to buy that she loves him so much that she agreed to follow him to Japan. The main thing that bugged me is that they specifically had a scene of him smoking, but they only did it once. Basically, they only did it to set up something in the end. I hate that. Everytime we saw him, he should've been smoking. Don't break out the smoking plot device for one scene and then drop it.

The family that buys the house is pretty much there to provide a reason for the bad things to happen. You never really find out much about them. Not that you really need to because the point is really to show how EEEEVILLL the house is.

I'm wondering if the dialogue isn't so great because something got lost in the translation from Japanese to American.

The whole idea that the house is cursed and that great tradgedy (i.e., death) befalls anyone who comes into contact with it is fine, but wouldn't there be a whole lot more unexplained deaths that make people go "hmmm..."? I mean, there were cops all over the place. Wouldn't all those cops mysteriously dying or disappearing have made people figure out the connection right away?

Music and Visuals:

The music was too loud in places and pretty much told you when bad things were going to happen. Again, like I said, I'm not complaining about that because it helped me to know when to cover my eyes.

Visually, though, the film was stunning. I mean, the scenes with the little kid were just ultimately the creepiest. Because a kid who opens his mouth and yowls like a cat is freaky. Especially when his jaw unhinges. And of course, the scene where the murdered woman is crawling down the stairs is very much like the scene in The Ring when the girl crawls out of the tv.

Overall, I'd say watch this movie without the sound. But then again, that might be even creepier. You might need the music queues and the lack of plot to help keep you grounded in a bit of reality so that you're not completely freaked out.

And for those of you who don't care about a scary spoiler and how it applies to my life last night, feel free to leave a comment and I'll email you with the details.

Posted by xinh at November 9, 2004 02:06 AM