This is a rare case where I’ll say the re-make is better than the original, and Columbia TriStar really opened up the floodgates for this release. Why they couldn’t put this version out originally, I’ve no clue outside of purely monetary reasons, but The Grudge: Unrated Director’s Cut should keep fans happy, and might be enough to convert those of us who didn’t give it a go the first time around.
The Grudge: Unrated Director’s Cut
3 Stars
Hollywood has opened Pandora’s Box with its recent slate of Asian Horror remakes. Time will tell if fan’s appetites can stomach the upcoming Dark Water, but with the recent release of Ring 2, and the upcoming sequel to the Grudge remake, there seems to be no end in site of slick horror films showcasing creepy kids and women with long, black hair and bad posture.
I didn’t catch the Grudge re-make in the theaters, as I’d had an iffy reaction to the original (Ju-Oh). So news that the Sarah Michelle Geller fueled remake would be utilizing the same sets, ghostly actors, and director didn’t really get me excited. After sitting down with the upcoming Unrated Director’s Cut, I’m comfortable in my decision to stay away from the theater version, but I wasn’t wholly unhappy with the atmospheric thriller.
The Grudge tells the story of one very bad house. Seriously, this place makes Amityville House look like Disney World in comparison. Anyone who encounters the cursed house soon finds themselves contending with the murderous spirits of its previous occupants, and there ain’t nobody who’s a match for a cat-screeching little boy with pitch black eyes. The film tells the stories of each of those poor souls who’ve walked in the wrong doorway. Geller plays an exchange student who’s internship as a social aid worker brings her into contact with the home, and it’s through her that we learn the stories of each of the house’s victims who have all fallen before the unstoppable rage of it’s ghosts.
Plotwise The Grudge is paper-thin, but this is a movie more concerned with atmosphere and sheer creepiness than telling a cohesive story. So while it certainly does the job in dispensing out the heebie-jeebies, you’re left feeling like you missed an integral part of the plot, when it wasn’t there to begin with.
This is a rare case where I’ll say the re-make is better than the original, and Columbia TriStar really opened up the floodgates for this release. Why they couldn’t put this version out originally, I’ve no clue outside of purely monetary reasons, but The Grudge: Unrated Director’s Cut should keep fans happy, and might be enough to convert those of us who didn’t give it a go the first time around.