The Grudge

2004·92 minPG-13·English

Rate

5.94941%2.8/5

Not currently available on any streaming platform

An American nurse living and working in Tokyo 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.

What critics thought

Critics landed mostly in the mixed-to-negative camp, acknowledging some effective creepy imagery while finding the fragmented storytelling more confusing than frightening. The film's biggest sticking point was its hollow characters and recycled haunted-house mechanics that felt too derivative of its J-horror contemporaries to justify the remake.

“I'm not sure how most of the scenes fit into the movie. I do, however, understand the underlying premise: There is a haunted house, and everybody who enters it will have unspeakable things happen to them.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“A convoluted plot makes it hard for the viewer to track the action and to become involved with any of the characters, including Gellar's perfectly nice, perfectly ordinary student.”
Kevin Thomas·Los Angeles Times
“Project might have been more successful if Shimizu had style and/or atmosphere to substitute for his canned scares, cardboard compositions and flaccid cutting”
Scott Foundas·Variety
“Writer/director Takashi Shimizu (who also wrote and directed the original) does a decent job of setting the mood of the film and (to a lesser extent) developing the storyline, but to be so similar to a movie that came out only two years ago... it's a tough obstacle to overcome.”
Brian Rentschler·Screen Rant

Parents guide

Violence: moderate
Sex: mild
Profanity: mild
Substances: none
Intensity: severe

Genres

Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Cast & Crew

Takashi ShimizuDirector

Sarah Michelle GellarKaren Davis

Jason BehrDoug McCarthy

Takako FujiKayako Saeki

Yuya OzekiToshio Saeki

William MapotherMatthew Williams

Clea DuVallJennifer Williams

KaDee StricklandSusan Williams

Grace ZabriskieEmma Williams

Bill PullmanPeter Kirk

Rosa BlasiMaria Kirk

Ted RaimiAlex Jones

Ryo IshibashiDet. Hideto Nakagawa

Christopher YoungComposer

Stephen SuscoWriter

Hideo YamamotoCinematography

The Grudge

2004·92 min·PG-13·English

Rate

5.94941%2.8/5

An American nurse living and working in Tokyo 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.

What critics thought

“I'm not sure how most of the scenes fit into the movie. I do, however, understand the underlying premise: There is a haunted house, and everybody who enters it will have unspeakable things happen to them.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“A convoluted plot makes it hard for the viewer to track the action and to become involved with any of the characters, including Gellar's perfectly nice, perfectly ordinary student.”
Kevin Thomas·Los Angeles Times
“Project might have been more successful if Shimizu had style and/or atmosphere to substitute for his canned scares, cardboard compositions and flaccid cutting”
Scott Foundas·Variety
“Writer/director Takashi Shimizu (who also wrote and directed the original) does a decent job of setting the mood of the film and (to a lesser extent) developing the storyline, but to be so similar to a movie that came out only two years ago... it's a tough obstacle to overcome.”
Brian Rentschler·Screen Rant