December 05, 2004
The Grudge
I love scary movies. Love them. Love them love them love them.
And I like the type that get into your head and mess about with the stringy bits in your psyche and make you all paranoid.
If this is your cup of tea, then The Grudge is definately for you.
However, this movie spends so much time scaring that it doesn't take the time to develop any of the characters.
Poor Sarah Michelle Gellar. She has nothing to do in this film but look pretty.
Great horror movies start off with one scene that grabs your heart, rips it out of your chest and stomps on it. While you're left gasping for air, it continues on, in a 'Oh I'm a nice movie, really' charade and lulls you back into that false sense of security.
If you've seen The Others, then you know what I'm talking about.
The Grudge also starts off this way. One minute you're riding along on your bicycle with the citizens of Tokyo, enjoying the view, the hustle and bustle of every day life, singing 'Oh what a beautiful moooooorrrrrniiiiiiiing!' and then
BAM!
...you get the wake up call, with the prim and proper young man on the other end of the phone who says, 'Good morning. This is your wake up call. You are watching a scary movie. Thank you. Good bye.'
Love it love it love it.
I had a bit of a hard time getting into this movie, simply becuase there were some very rude, obnoxious pre-pre-adolescents giggling and laughing in one of the front rows.
I must say that overall, I liked the movie. Moreso becuase I liked what it did to my head (in that psychological, 'Someone's after me!' sort of way).
So, the movie accomplished goal #1: Scare.
The movie could have been a bit better, I think, if the characters had been developed a bit more. It's a rather short film (or at least I thought so at the time), so I would tend to think that a bit more character development could have been squeezed in here and there.
Mainly, you get Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar, she's so pretty) and her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr, he's so cute) having just moved (I think) to Tokyo. I must say that for not having been in Tokyo for very long (3 months, was it?) SMG sure does know a lot of Japanese.
This is exactly what I'm talking about, as far as development goes: I have no idea why they're there (presumeably to attend uni) and for how long they've been there (I think 3 months).
If we had had a bit more background on these two, I might have felt a little more sympathy for Doug (he's so cute).
But mainly, what you get is a ghost story...traditional Japanese style, and lemme tell ya, I haven't seen The Ring yet, but the Japanese ghost story really knocks your socks off. They take it to that other level....in American movies, you kick some ass (yeah!), but in the Japanese, well...you're stuck with whatever it is.
Congratulations: You're doomed.
Love it love it love it.
But without characters, it's a bit flat. Good story, good plotline, helluva way to scare the shit out of some folks, but where, oh where did Buffy go?
Oh. There she is. Looking:
- pretty scared
- pretty happy
- pretty cool
- pretty pissed off
- pretty upset
- just damn pretty
Now, I thought: 'Oooo...SMG (she's so pretty), she'll come in and kick some ass and save the day. She's battled before. That women knows kung fu and karate and God knows what else. Those ghosties don't stand a chance!'
Hm.
They might have saved a few pennies and just gotten a life-sized cardboard cutout of SMG (she's so pretty) and attached it to a small person and walked it around the set.
Ok, yeah, that's harsh. But I was really expecting a lot here.
At any rate, the ghosties did a good job with The Scare Factor. Bill Pullman makes an appearance (and made me go 'awww....Lone Star...what are you doing in Japan? *kissy kissy noises*). SMG (she's so pretty) does as best she can with very little in the way of lines.
If you want scare, then see it.
But I will warn you...when it says 'Scary!' on the box, it means, 'Jam packed full of scary!'.
Sleeping with the lights on won't help.
That chain lock on your door? Nope.
Even getting into bed and snuggling under you duvet won't save you.
Oh! And don't get on the phone either.
Congratulations: You're doomed.
