Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

We were told in advance that THE GRUDGE was a slightly Americanized remake of a Japanese horror movie. That should have been sufficient warning. Such Americanized versions - THE RING comes to mind - like their Japanese originals - take THE SUICIDE CLUB for example - never seem to resolve the plot. We see scary or horrible events, one after the other, and then the movie ends, sort of abruptly, with the last victim but nothing to indicate that the horror stops there. I find such films very unsatisfying, no matter how well done technically.

THE GRUDGE falls into this category. This is a remake of a Japanese feature (evidently very successful with Japanese audiences, who seem to like those very qualities that I don't), still set in Japan, with a lot of Japanese actors (some appeared in the original), and a sprinkling of a few American stars for recognition and as an excuse for explaining some of the details for us barbarians.

The movie is also told disjointed, rather like MEMENTO, with flashbacks scattered throughout to provide some context and explanation. These are not immediately identifiable as flashbacks and sometimes we are confused for the first minute until we realize what we are watching. Piecing out the story in chronological fashion would undermine some of the spookiness.

At the risk of giving too much away, we are in a Japanese city (I think Tokyo, but it doesn't matter). The film begins with an American teacher there (Bill Pullman) killing himself without a word of explanation in full view of his wife. Then across town, a few years later, another American couple, Sarah Michell Gellar and Jason Behr, get ready for their day; Sarah (who does this as a serious role and not cutesy-poo) does good deeds as a visitor/helper to shut-ins (particularly those who speak English) and Jason is an architect. Sarah gets assigned to the home of a senile American woman (Grace Zabriskie) who had been brought over to Japan by her son and his wife (William Mapother and Clea DuVall); she gets this job because the Japanese teenager who had that assignment has vanished since yesterday morning.

Skipping some details, the old lady's house is haunted by a very vengeful ghost - maybe two ghosts, as one seems to be a little boy and the other a young woman. At the slightest contact, they'll follow you home and something terrible will happen. And it does, over and over again.

As the film progresses we pick up bits and pieces of the reason for this haunting. It involves the Japanese family that lived in that house only shortly before Pullman's suicide. Enough said.

The photography is good, the acting - with this fairly simple script - is good and some of it very good, the special effects are pretty good although not cutting edge (the ghosts tend to appear in a sort of bluish black and white even though the movie is in color). Some of the suspense sequences are very good and others consist only of jumping out and yelling Boo. My complaint is about the storyline. If they had used the same cast and crew to do a classic occidental ghost story (say, one by M.R. James) I think we'd have a very satisfying hit.



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age

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