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 he latest in an ever growing line of remakes of
Japanese horror films is a rather underachieving effort that doesn't measure
up to previous attempts. This ghost story is long on eerie atmosphere and
mood, but falls short in delivering a script that engages the audience.
"The Grudge" is a passable spooky tale, but one that's not good
enough to warrant a trek to your local multiplex.
The titular grudge speaks of an
evil contagion borne of a person dying violently in a state of rage. Anyone
who comes in contact with this curse perishes, while the curse itself
continues to spread unchecked like a hellish virus. When an exchange student
(Sarah Michelle Gellar) working as a social worker enters the cursed house,
she unwittingly gets sucked into the circle of violence and death. As more
and more people suffer gruesome fates around her, the student delves into
the history of the house and the tragic fate that befell its previous
occupants. But as she comes closer to solving the mystery, her time is
running out, because the deadly grudge is moving in to claim her as well.
Columbia Pictures made a good decision to get the director of the Japanese
version to take the reins of the American remake. Takashi Shimizu, the
creator and writer/director of four previous installments in the
"Juon" franchise, expertly builds tension and suspense, and keeps
the audience at the edge of their seat for the majority of the movie. He
also infuses the film with a gloomy atmosphere, enhancing the feelings of
dread and foreboding, and is smart enough to rely more on sudden jolts for
scares instead of gore effects. There are some disturbing images, but most
of the grotesqueries are done off screen, where the audience can use their
imagination to fear the worst.
The screenplay by Stephen Susco is a fairly intriguing effort, and it never
reveals its hand right away, but rather shows you its cards one at a time to
keep you guessing. Unfortunately, it's also too slow, and the drought of
information tends to make the film a little hard to follow if you haven't
seen the original Japanese films. By the time all is revealed, it almost
doesn't seem worth the wait. The ending is also a bit anti-climactic; it may
set up a potential sequel, but it doesn't resolve everything we've just
witnessed.
The cast, though good, seems to have little to do.
Ted Raimi (brother of producer Sam Raimi of the "Evil
Dead" and "Spiderman"
films) is good as the head of the social worker agency, but his part seems
too brief to really make much of an impact on the film. As a doomed tenant
of the house, Clea Duvall delivers an understated performance, but since
she's not in the film a great deal, her character doesn't really matter in
the large scheme of things. Bill Pullman's performance amounts to a
glorified cameo, and it's easy to forget he was in even the film.
The only standout is Sarah Michelle Gellar as the
social worker sucked into a vortex of hatred and evil. Gellar (fresh from
battling supernatural evil in the long-running "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer" TV show) convincingly projects the image of a frightened and
bewildered character trying to cope with forces she can't understand. The
score by horror veteran Christopher Young is well done, adding to the
creepy aura.
Despite a promising cast and director, "The Grudge" falls short
of its mark of being an effective horror film. It simply feels too drawn
out, and waits too long to provide the audience with necessary plot
details. "The Grudge" is best as a Friday night rental, and is
not quite worth driving to your local theater and paying a full price
ticket. |
