E's Reviews: The Grudge Trilogy

So some of you may have noticed on my Twitter feed this weekend, that I had taken it upon myself to sit through a trio of films that are getting the reboot treatment next year. That trilogy is, of course, The Grudge, a film that goes deep into Japanese mythology and superstition. The Grudge describes a curse that is born when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage or extreme sorrow. The curse is an entity created where the person died. Those who encounter this supernatural force die, and the curse is reborn repeatedly, passed from victim to victim in an endless, growing chain of horror...

The Grudge (part 1) was directed by Ju-On (of which The Grudge is adapted) director Takashi Shimizu and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, and Clea Duvall, and is about an American nurse living and working in Tokyo who is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

This film has it all, a spooky house, tragic backstory, a creepy entity, depressing sequences, and some damn good scares. It's also got some great acting, each character showing just how bad this curse is when it locks onto you. There are some fantastic sequences of terror when Kayako (the evil spirit) comes for you, that has me in chills just thinking about it. This is one of those American adaptations that I just fell in love with when I first saw it back in 2004, it was so good I went out and watched Shimizu's original, Ju-On, which I loved even more. This film isn't without it's shortcomings though, and one of those things that bothered me was the gore. There were a few scenes where they threw in some blood to, I suppose, get a rise out of audiences, when really this movie didn't need any of that in it, it's perfectly fine without the blood. The other thing I loved about this film, was how each character's story is interwoven, culminating in something horrifying happening to them by the very end of it. And that's why it's always been one of my favorite horror films.

The Grudge (part 2) was again directed by Takashi Shimizu and this time stars Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen, and Arielle Kebbel and is about three interwoven stories about a terrible curse, the same one from the first film. A young woman encounters a malevolent supernatural force while searching for her missing sister in Tokyo; a mean high school prank goes horribly wrong; a woman with a deadly secret moves into a Chicago apartment building...and we have a movie.

Actually, I didn't hate this one like a lot of people. It still had the same themes, the same sadness and depression throughout, similar scares, but it built on top of the mythos from the first one, adding in Kayako's mother, Kayako's backstory, making it go deep into Japanese folklore and, in my opinion, made her both even scarier and more tragic as a character. The parts in the apartment building, as the curse has no followed someone who has gone into the house from the first movie, absolutely chilled me. You get to watch as this curse takes hold of a completely new location, how it spreads, takes over, and ultimately ruins these people's lives. The ending was something that really blew me away as far as endings go. The one thing I hated about this film, was Amber Tamblyn. I know she can be a great actress, but was definitely miscast in this film. She was weak as a lead, and definitely overdid it with some scenes where I had to roll my eyes. I was so engaged with everything that had happened to Arielle Kebbel's character and the apartment building, that I was just over and done with Amber Tamblyn's issues with her sister that they tried to push, and tried to make me believe she could carry a film...which she tried to do, but in my opinion, failed to do. But I was still entertained by it, it had some legitimate scares and had some great moments.

The Grudge (part 3) was directed by Toby Wilkins (wait...where's Shimizu-sensei!? NO!!!!) and stars Matthew Knight, Shawnee Smith, and Mike Straub and is about a young Japanese woman who holds the key to stopping the evil spirit of Kayako, and travels to the haunted Chicago apartment from the sequel, to stop the curse of Kayako once and for all.

And this one sucks. The CGI was crap, the makeup effects for Kayako and Toshio were all wrong, the acting was very weak from some of the actors, the story had promise but delivery was so way way off...This movie definitely felt like a cash grab. They didn't care about the fans, they didn't care about the story or the backlash, they just wanted to cash in on the name, and that's something that really saddens me about Hollywood. Movie fans want there to be some sense of caring in their films...but this movie tells me they just don't care. They overdid it with the blood (see: opening scene with Matthew Knight...poor kid...best actor in the whole movie), they overdid it with the cheesy acting, and you've got a lot of moments where just nothing happens. There's absolutely zero tension in this movie between characters. Then there is the same line being repeated over and over again... "You're leaving, so..." and they repeat it over and over again. I did enjoy the ending, though, as they pushed the backstory of Kayako a little further, and had it end with a whole new curse being born (which was actually pretty cool). Other than that? Stay away from part 3...

Final Scores:

Part 1: 8/10
Part 2: 6.5/10
Part 3: 3/10