The Grudge
reviewed by Brian "the Naked Gun" Felts & Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
The story is about an American exchange student nurse, Karen Davis, played by my favorite yummy actress
Sarah Michele Geller (Buffy, Scooby Doo,) who has to take care of an invalid American woman. She is
replacing a nurse who ended up missing on the first day of the job, or so they thought. The woman lives
with her son and daughter-in-law, the son works and the daughter-in-law stays home. Both the son and
daughter end up missing on the second day. Karen is sent as a temporary replacement and discovers the
old women comatose and the house a mess. There Karen discovers that the house has an evil presence
and a dark past.
While the story is the run of the mill ghost story, the key to the whole movie is the sound that the
main ghost makes as it approaches its victim. Quite possibly one of the single most frightening human
sounds I have heard in a movie. I can't describe it but its there and used brilliantly. The sounds
made by all of the ghosts are quite chilling.
These great special effects make up for the fact that all of the humans, both Japanese and American,
are stupid, even my beloved S.M.G., and deserve to die. If you know the house has evil in it, and
people have died in it, mysteriously, THEN YOU DON'T GO INTO THE HOUSE. You find a bulldozer and
destroy it, of fire, as long as you don't go inside. Dumb, dumb humans.
The director, Takashi Shimizu, who wrote and directed the Japanese original Ju-on, did a nice job
on a movie that he probably ran through the numbers. I don't know why the Japanese are afraid of
short dead women crawling around on the floor, but they are. There are other actors that people
will recognize, Clea Duvall (The Faculty,) KaDee (what kind of spelling is this?) Strickland
(Anacondas 2,) and Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Lake Placid,) whose very first scene is a
mirror of what has happened to his career in the last 5 years. I also want to mention the true
star of the movie Ai-Ling Lee, who is the sound effects editor. Without him, the movie is a bust.
I like this movie and recommend you watch it. But don't be surprised if you jump a few times, and
have the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
Brian - the Naked Gun
It's not going to stick out in my mind as a notch in the genre of horror thrillers, but it may claim
the best picture title for the genre this year.
"The Grudge" was a well crafted work about a wife and child who were killed by the family's father
in a jealous rage, because the wife had a crush on Bill Pullman…right. Bill Pullman…ok.
Anyways, it started off with a good grabber and eventually keeps hitting the thriller moments hard.
The picture backs up into the plot's unseen moments, creating a non-linear storyline…if that makes
any sense. This was a very well worth convention which I enjoyed.
The actual scares of the picture are solidly intense and create some of the more frightful moments
I've seen on screen in a while.
Otherwise, this picture is not exactly typical of the genre, but comes close. Sarah Michelle Gellar
is in it, so if you dig her, that's a plus. Sorry, no nudity…not even close.
I AM interested how much longer will filmmakers, including my one time favorite director Sam Raimi,
who produced "The Grudge," continue to make thrillers based on Japanese horror flicks. This one
was based on "Ju-On," which was recently released in the states on DVD.
That's it for this one. I have very little opinion on the work besides it was scary and pretty
well told.
Benn - Where's the Humanity?
I have a hard time liking horror movies because most of the people who die in the movie are stupid
and deserve to have an axe put through their face. This movie also has this same problem; however
it makes up for it by actually being scary. The sound effects in this movie are what make this movie
into an above average thriller.