With Hollywood seemingly intent on remaking every single Asian horror movie, there's something refreshing about The Grudge. Filmed in Japan, employing a Japanese crew, and with the original film's director in the big chair, this remake stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as an American care worker in Tokyo who finds herself chased by evil spirits after a visit to a haunted house. It's impressively faithful to the Japanese original - if you've not seen that version, prepare yourself for one of the scariest mainstream films in years.
Having already turned Ju-On: The Grudge into a short film, a two-part Japanese TV movie, and a standalone feature (and sequels), writer-director Shimizu Takashi has made something of a career out of remaking the same story. Here, he hones the scares to near perfection as Gellar becomes the latest in a long line of victims to fall foul of a supernatural "grudge" - a curse that strikes anyone who enters the spooky suburban house the film is based around. Where's Scooby and Shaggy when you need them?
"QUIVER, COWER AND LEAP WITH FRIGHT"
Delivering two ghosts for the price of one - a wide-eyed little boy called Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) and his spooky mother, Kayako (Takako Fuji, clearly suffering the effects of typecasting) - The Grudge delivers some impressive jumps as the ghosts flout the laws of physics to chase Gellar and her (mainly American) co-stars by emerging from overflowing bathtubs, CCTV camera footage, and closets that contain more than just a few skeletons.
Like its Asian predecessors, The Grudge suffers from an overly fragmented storyline (Gellar may be the film's heroine, but she's barely in it) that's little more than a series of 'Best Of' horror moments. It's mechanical moviemaking, but when it works you're likely to quiver, cower and leap with fright.
The Grudge (2004)
