"A stylishly horrifying piece of work."

'The Grudge' is by no means an excellent film, but it's an incredibly effective, and stylishly horrifying horror film where no one except poncy film critics should be caring about the...
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"A stylishly horrifying piece of work."

'The Grudge' is by no means an excellent film, but it's an incredibly effective, and stylishly horrifying horror film where no one except poncy film critics should be caring about the plot when such deliciously horrific images are popping up on screen. Storytelling maybe isn't this film's strongest point, but I also don't think whoever made this film was trying to make a masterpiece of modern storytelling either - the purpose of 'The Grudge' is to scare, and at that it most definitely succeeds. Ignore the reviews, watch it, and make up your own opinion of it.

If you like to be scared in a film, 'The Grudge' is an absolute must-see. It's completely terrifying and entertaining, and, while it's not quite as good as 'The Ring', which is actually even scarier, 'Grudge' knows why it was made and doesn't need overly intelligent writing to accomplish what it accomplishes.

The movie was just okay to me. There were some creepy parts but overall, I did not think it was really that scary. I clearly remember a scene in the attic where the kid spirit was behind the main character. She used a lighter as a light and was...
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The movie was just okay to me. There were some creepy parts but overall, I did not think it was really that scary. I clearly remember a scene in the attic where the kid spirit was behind the main character. She used a lighter as a light and was turning in a circle to look around. I saw the shadow of the kid even before she (and the rest of the audience) saw it.

The movie was okay. It's not my best horror movie but it kept me interested to watch.

This movie actually has many similarities to another freaky horror flick, The Ring, Mainly in the way they were made. Both are remakes of Japanese horror movies redone for an American audience, and both accomplish their scares not by using...
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This movie actually has many similarities to another freaky horror flick, The Ring, Mainly in the way they were made. Both are remakes of Japanese horror movies redone for an American audience, and both accomplish their scares not by using tons of blood and gore, but with good old fashioned atmosphere and genuine creepiness. One of the main differences is that this film is set and was filmed in Japan, adding a unique believability to it.
The plot of The Grudge is based around an old Japanese belief that when someone dies in great sorrow or pain, that same anguish becomes a part of the place forever, overwhelming everything that becomes part of it. Not far into the movie we meet Karen, who is an exchange student living with her boyfriend. She works for a home care center, going to people's homes to clean and help take care of old relatives. When Karen arrives at her first solo assignment she is greeted with a very chilling and strange house. She eventually meets a little boy in the house and appears to be attacked by a ghost.
The story is told very uniquely, as you start in the middle of the tale. The movie moves along in present time, but slowly starts going backwards, showing you more and more of the backstory, so that by the end of the film you are viewing both the beginning and the end of the story at the same time. It sounds confusing and it is a little bit the first time you see it. Once you get a grip on the timeframe however, you realize that it's very effective in building suspense because the picture doesn't come into full focus until the end. It's not exactly the most complicated story in the world, it's just a very fun ride.
You start to realize that there is something very wrong with this house, and everybody who becomes connected to it is marked for haunting. As I said there is very little gore, but there is plenty of building atmosphere, as both the eerie music and sound effects are used to great effect, for those of you that have surround sound. Anybody who loves psychological thrillers will totally dig it, as the most effective way to describe the shock moments is creepy, best seen in a very dark room!
Many people believe that Japanese horror is so much better than American horror, and I believe it. At the very core, this movie could be described as a haunted house flick. Whereas American movies have a very situation-solution-problem solved-happy ending formula, the common theme in the east is that the situation is bigger than any of the insignificant people that happen accross it and there is no stopping it. That is the spirit that is invoked here. One of my favorite horror movies out there.