Terry's Reviews
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The Grudge – Special Edition Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - 2005 Directed by Takashi Shimizu Starring |
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| I really enjoyed THE GRUDGE. It is an
old-fashioned haunted house picture that truly delivers chills. At this point I
haven’t seen the original film but that’s irrelevant. What matters is that as I
watched THE GRUDGE, I was sucked into the story and felt the creeps with haunting images
and unforgettable sound effects. A large Japanese house is home to a brutal incident and has become haunted ever since. Anyone who enters the house faces certain doom. The quotes that open THE GRUDGE explain this best; "When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage… a curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury." An American social worker named Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) goes to the house to sub for a co-worker, which leads her into a world of terror and the truth of what happened in the house. The way the story is told in non-linear fashion was fun and made the film more interesting. I like when writers and directors can tell stories in way that is fresh without losing comprehension of the audience. Takashi Shimizu really impresses me with his mature directorial touch focusing on mood and deliberate pacing. This is a filmmaker who understands that you have to build to get a true payoff. At the same time he’s not afraid to throw out something every once in a while to keep you off balance. Shimizu excels at creating images that will be etched in your mind after the movie is over. The chalky white dead skin of Kayako (Takako Fuji) and Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) are nightmare inducing. The low, croaking sound Kayako makes stood my hair up every time it came out of my surround sound system. I was totally not prepared to hear it when Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was riding on the bus in broad daylight and suddenly Kayako’s ghastly face appears in the reflection of the window. THE GRUDGE supplements deliver. The Making of THE GRUDGE consists of featurettes entitled; The Birth Of The Grudge, Myth Of The Ju-On, Culture Shock, Designing The Grudge House, A New Direction: Understanding Takashi Shimizu. After watching the behind the scenes pieces I felt pretty informed how the film was put together. I give Sam Raimi credit for giving Takashi Shimizu the opportunity to make this film for an American audience. I’m actually amazed that the film come out so good considering the director and much of his crew did not speak English and they were making a film for an English audience. Considering communication is the key to directing and Shimizu couldn’t even speak directly to his actors, I find that astounding. Under The Skin is a twelve-minute featurette with Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D. He is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at the Center for Neural Science at NYU. LeDoux goes into detail what technically happens to our bodies when we are scared. He has written two books on the subject. A pretty rousing Audio commentary is provided by producer Sam Raimi, screenwriter Stephen Susco, and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Ted Raimi and KaDee Strickland. Some of the more interesting comments where that THE GRUDGE was shot in the same studio that the GODZILLA movies were made. I was surprised to hear that Yuya Ozeki who plays the little boy character Toshio is actually afraid of cats. Ted Raimi says that the Japanese crew moves much faster than the other crews his worked with and he believes this is from their focus and concentration. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr explain that Takashi Shimizu only likes to do two takes and then move on. With these things in mind, its no wonder the filming was so quick and efficient. I’m sure many people who have seen the JU-ON series may have a problem with this remake, because from what I hear it’s pretty much the same minus blood, plus American cast. For me this is the first time experiencing the story and I enjoyed the heck out of it. |
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