Review of "Ju-On: The Grudge" (2003) DVD

Maybe good buzz can work the opposite way, and actually become the dreaded buzz-kill. I've been hearing amazing things about this critically acclaimed Japanese ghost movie for months and months -- the buildup was incredible. I couldn't wait to see it. I really like Aisan horror, love ghost movies, and relish any opportunity to be given a good chill by a movie. So I finally saw Ju-On: The Grudge and thought… "Hm. That was OK."

The story follows an inexperienced homecare volunteer working in a Tokyo suburb, Nishina Rika (Megumi Okina). She enters the simple abode of a bedridden patient and soon discovers a strange, ghostly presence lurking behind a door sealed with duct tape. Her opening of that door unleashes a ghastly evil which baffles police investigators, who find that a whole string of innocent people have gone missing from that same house. Further investigation leads to Izutni Toyama (Misa Uehara), a former detective who handled the case of a man who murdered his wife in the house, but whose son was never found. When the angry "ju-on" spirit of vengeance that has infected the house reaches beyond its boundaries to kill Toyama and his daughter, Rika realizes that the horror is spreading. It's up to her to put a stop to it, or she could be the next victim of the grudge from beyond the grave.

There is the requisite black cat, a touch I rather liked. But who'da thunk there was a pussy shortage in Japan? Apparently there is, because in this Asian chiller there's a scene with about 12 cats closing in on a terrified woman… and nine of them are cheap, clunky statues. The one real cat slinking throughout the film is a cute blackie who is sort of a "soul-brother" to the dead little boy. The cat statues aside, the special effects are pretty crude, too -- the ghosts look a lot more like white-faced kabuki theater actors than honest-to-badness apparitions. You can see almost every scare coming from a mile away, and there are so many underdeveloped characters that you really don't care whether they live or die. In this respect it's more "the drudge" than "the grudge".

I will concede that there are a couple of chilling scenes in the movie, and the creative, disconcerting use of editing is quite effective; but as a whole it just doesn't work nearly as well as some other recent Asian horror offerings such as The Eye, Ghost Actress, or Spiral.

Ju-On: The Grudge is the third film in a series (all directed by Takashi Shimizu), following Ju-On and Ju-On 2, both underground hits released directly to video. The Grudge was the first of the Ju-On films to be released theatrically, earning some 500 million yen. It will be released in limited form Stateside by Vitagraph films on July 23, 2004. Columbia TriStar's remake of The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Geller and Bill Pullman (and directed by Takashi), will be released in theaters October 2004 (right around the time this version hits video stores).

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com