The Grudge [2004]

The American remake! You knew this was coming guys and I hope you were expecting a tirade cuz I aim to please. (O_<)-b

O Hollywood, you money-grubbing, ravenous scavenging bastards. Such good material and you had to go and enhance it. Why? The subdued atmosphere made that film what it was! Takashi Shimizu.....you had a good thing going there, you really did.

Was it a bad film? ....Yeah, it really kind of was. I'd like to make a note of the fact that a jump scare moment happens at 7 minutes and 20 seconds in. Yeah, not even 10 minutes and they throw one at you.

Ju-on: The Grudge started to lose its grip on the roots but this one just washed away, only hanging on to some residual material. I've already said my piece on the casting of Sarah Michelle Gellar.
I mentioned the lost mystery element in J:TG. Well, The Grudge didn't bring it back. Still, while the film as a whole fell flat, I will say that the final reveal sequence exhibited two points of improvement. Bill Pullman's acting hasn't gotten any better since Independence Day but whatever, I won't harp on that stuff anymore for now. The mystery wasn't as good as Ju-on, ok, but it was a bit better than J:TG, though J:TG was a better film otherwise. Is that confusing?
Ju-on Film Series Ranking (so far)
#1: Ju-on
#2: Ju-on: The Grudge
#3: The Grudge
Hope that helps. (^___^;;)7

How they should have looked.

But yes, the final reveal sequence. This is the first Ju-on film to show Toshio's death and explains why he's always making cat noises. Also I especially liked Shimizu's addition of the rhythmic thumping sound against the wall caused by Takeo's swinging corpse. Oh chills of awesomeness! /((>◡<))\ These were the highlights of the film. Everything else, faded shadows of what was and what could have been. Every single scare was punctuated by an unnecessary loud noise. Kayako falls out of the attic in front of the teacher instead of being found. These cheap little tweaks to try and make things scarier really just destroy the film. ╮(╯︵╰)╭
Toshio doesn't just meow anymore. He roars at people. What the fuck is that? The demise of the couple is just cringing to watch. The cinematography of the scene is horrid and just look at that green skin!

What the hell did they do to their corpses?

The sister of the couple, called Susan in this one, gets chased up the stares by Kayako's crawling ghost. (⌐ ⌐▂) What happened to subtlety?

J:TG - Hitomi is so dead.

 

The Grudge - OH MY GOD SOMEONE'S ALREADY HERE!

Look at these two shots of the 'under the covers' scene. In The Grudge, Kayako looks like she's surprised to see someone in the bed already.


In a final act of spineless wannabe-ism, the final shot is a direct rip-off of Ringu: A close-up of  one of Kayako's eyes through her veil of hair.