Retro Film Review: Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
Twenty years ago Asian horror films were what French comedies used to be in 1990s – remedy for the lack of original ideas in Hollywood. This phenomenon benefited both Hollywood and Asian film makers; at least some of the audience introduced to the usually inferior Western copies took some interest in the original versions. Their curiosity, however, sometimes led to disappointment and Ju-On: The Grudge, 2002 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu, represents one of them.
Ju-On: The Grudge is part of the franchise which started with two short films in 1998, and continued with two direct-to-video hits. This film, the first theatrical feature in the series, has the plot set in a Tokyo house whose owner has killed his wife and child in a fit of jealous rage. This horrible crime created terrible curse and the house is haunted by malevolent ghosts of the murdered victims. One of the people to experience this phenomenon is Rika Nishina (played by Megumi Okina), young social worker who replaces mysteriously disappeared colleague and enters house. Soon it becomes apparent that everyone who enters is subjected to the curse which manifests itself in ghosts scaring their victims to death. All those incidents are presented chapters relating to an individual being in some way connected to the house.
Ju-On: The Grudge features some really effective scenes and this film isn’t the one that could be recommended to those faint at heart. Because of that Ju-On: The Grudge had opportunity to become genuine horror classic. Unfortunately, the film’s structure is flawed –there is very little narrative glue to connect those scenes and despite use of chapter format – which looks innovative at first – Ju-On: The Grudge quickly gets repetitive. By the time film ends fate of each character is going to be predictable. To make things worse, there are too many characters and few of them are portrayed in a way that would allow audience to really care about their fate.
This doesn’t mean that Ju-On: The Grudge is a bad film. Fans of horror genre are probably going to be satisfied. The acting is good most of the times and Shimizu shows great skill in creating effective scenes with small budget. Unfortunately, there are certain formulaic limitations that Ju-On: The Grudge, just as most of its Hollywood genre counterparts, can’t overcome.
Success of Ju-On: The Grudge led to six more sequels, ending in 2016, as well as streaming miniseries. Shimizu in 2005 directed The Grudge, American remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, which had two more sequels and 2020 reboot called The Grudge.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: Original version of the review is available here.)
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