The Rage and Fury Omnibus, Part V: "The Grudge" (2004)

When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury.

It took 3.5 films, but writer-director Takashi Shimizu believed that he had accomplished everything he had set out to do with the Japanese “Ju-On” films. Thus, the only logical next step was to come to the U.S., remake his own series, and repeat the task in a bold new market. Either that or Sony Pictures offered him a ton of money, one of those two.

Well, however it happened (Brian Doyle-Murray in “Caddyshack,” thank you), in the year 2004, God himself manifested his holy powers in Columbia studios, and in human form with producer Sam Raimi, and the denizens of believers and non-believers began to see TV ads and trailers for this new nifty horror flick from those horror masters in Japan called “The Grudge.” Of course, since this was 2004, America hadn’t quite yet been bombarded with Japanified horror films quite yet; this was actually the FIRST in the wave of remakes of J-horror modern classics in the wake of the success of “The Ring,” and it’s still the best out of all the slightly dumbed-down long-haired ghost girl movies that the majority of the U.S. film fandom got sick of. Shimizu was brought back as director by Raimi, along with Taka Ichise (the producer of the “Ju-On” films). The movie itself is definitely one of the more faithful remakes you’ll ever see; a lot of the most memorable moments that I’ve described in the previous reviews are here, and in this regard, “The Grudge” won’t give you anything new.

That DOESN’T, however, lessen its impact or effectiveness. If anything, “The Grudge” is a kind of “best of” reel, incorporating tons of elements from “Ju-On: The Curse” and “Ju-On: The Grudge.” All of the back story stuff is redone pretty much scene-by-scene, as we get a pensive-looking Bill Pullman wandering around in place of teacher Kobayashi, and the horror-tastic elements are repeated from both films. All you really need to know, however, is that this is “Ju-On” in English, with a slightly higher budget (a modest $10 million; the film would gross more than $100 million, making it a huge success in ROI regards) and with Takako Fuji decidedly NOT going anywhere when her good friend Shimizu scored this cozy remake deal. That’s really the deal breaker, right there – take Fuji out of the equation, and this is just another ghost-girl film. With her, it’s electric stuff.

THE MOVIE!!

While not quite as Tarantino-esque as the “Ju-On” series, this is one of the rare remakes that doesn’t dumb itself down too much for U.S. audiences. It still tells its long story of woe (but not of Juliet and Romeo – God, I hate myself for writing that) in nonlinear fashion, shifting between three very distinct plots and somehow making it all come together in a non-confusing fashion (unlike this review).

Peter Kirk and the Saeki murders: Well, this is the one that introduces the film, so we might as well get on with it. Peter (Bill Pullman, aces in this role) is quintessential nice guy teacher that Kobayashi filled the role of in “Ju-On: The Curse.” Of course, if you’ve seen that film or read my review, you know that this is the character that Kayako falls in love with, leading to her untimely death at the hands of Takeo. The “Toshio” and “Kayako” chapters from that film are repeated pretty much verbatim here, but for the uninitiated, here’s a loose summary.

Peter becomes worried when he finds out that Toshio Saeki hasn’t been in class for several days. He makes a trip to Toshio’s house, finding the boy a shocked wreck and unresponsive. Eventually, he makes his way upstairs and finds the journal of Kayako, revealing that Toshio’s mother stalked – and was in love – with the married teacher. After finding the murdered body of Kayako, he attempts to carry Toshio out of the house, but is summarily consumed by the angry ghost of Kayako, beginning the grudge – the powerful curse of those who die with revenge and anger in their hearts.

One interesting thing to note is that in this version, it is explicitly spelled out that Takeo drowned Toshio in the bathtub, whereas in the Japanese films it is said – more than once – that the body of Toshio was never found, the implication being that Kayako actually claimed Toshio as her first victim. Another difference in regards to the original murder is that Takeo commits suicide after killing his wife and son; this is actually a change I don’t like, as it robs us of the emotional revenge on Takeo by Kayako that we get in “Ju-On: The Curse.”


The Williams Family: After the original murders and the Bill Pullman Incident, as it shall come to be known, a new family moves in to the Saeki abode – your American equivalents of Katsuya’s family from “Ju-On: The Grudge.” There’s husband Matthew (William Mapother), wife Jennifer (Clea DuVall) and mother Emma (Grace Zabriskie). The mother is immediately mortified of the house and clams up faster than *insert punchline here*, so it’s up to the rest of the family to carry this plot thread.

This is where a good deal of this movie’s jump scares take place, and in short, they’re excellent. The calling card of the “Ju-On” series was that these were movies that were master classes in how to executive jump scares without relying on cymbal crash-style sound effects; they drew out their “danger scenes” to the point of delirium before FINALLY giving us release. Of course, this whole familial unit is doomed; we know that from the start, but we’re given no less than three classic scenes in this segment of the plot. First is the wife’s death by Toshio. Second is the husband’s meeting with the ghosts. And the third is a FANTASTIC recreation of the “Hitomi” sequence in “Ju-On: The Grudge,” with KaDee Strickland doing an amazing job as Matthew’s incredibly bad luck-cursed sister who wanders into the house and spends the better part of five minutes of screen time attempting to escape from the onslaught of Saekis.

The social workers: I suppose one could say that this is your “main” story arc of the film. After all, it’s from here that we get the name above the marquee. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Karen Daniels, your Rika Nishina character for “The Grudge.” She’s very likable, very kind, and a very good social worker who just so happens to get sent to the devil demon house from hell in the first fifteen minutes of this movie. After witnessing the final moments of Mama Williams, it’s up to Karen to get to the bottom of just what the frig is going on in abode Saeki. Much of it has been spelled out already – jealous husband murders wife and son in a rage and kills himself, causing a “curse” or “grudge” to develop and, in effect, damning everyone who crosses the threshold into the house. Including Karen.

This segment includes another instance of actually IMPROVING on a sequence from the original films. This movie recreates the infamous “torn-off Jaw” jump scare of doom from “Ju-On: The Curse”; now that scene is difficult to top, but nonetheless, they took it on. Due to a bunch of make-up and a higher budget, the scene is still laid out incredibly well, and still gets under your skin just as much as the original moment that made its way into your permanent memory.

What the movie leads to, of course, is a final showdown in the house between Karen (hoping to burn down the cursed house with gasoline) and Kayako. We’re given a slightly different ending than the one we got in “Ju-On: The Grudge,” and for what it’s worth, I think it really worked. Doing the exact same thing that we got in that monumental classic would have been a tall order to accomplish, and while I usually HATE the tactic, this is definitely a movie (and a series of movies, mind you) where doom-and-gloom “the villain is still out there” endings seem very appropriate.

Overall, this is definitely a remake that works. It takes the best parts of the previous movies in the series, and while some tweaks are slightly different (mostly in regards to the original murders), almost nothing is changed for the worse. It also creates enough of an identity for itself so as to allow for maximum impact (and sequels), and the acting…this might be one of the best-acted horror films of all time, bar none. Everyone in this cast was on top of their game, from Buffy to Captain Lone Star, and, of course, Fuji and Yuya Ozeki, who makes his third appearance as Toshio in this film. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned Ozeki yet in this series of reviews, but suffice to say, he does as amazing of a job as a cat-loving demon boy that could have possibly been done. Very impressive. This isn’t my favorite movie in the series, but it probably ranks a very respectable second, and in this series that’s a HUGE compliment.