The Grudge

I consider myself to be a very scientific and rational person, but I was freaked out after watching this movie. I know it wasn't real, but my mind kept playing tricks on me all night. I kept seeing images of those terrifying faces over and over.

Don't watch this movie right before you go to sleep. It will give you nightmares.

This movie was based on the original Japanese version, Ju-on. The premise is that in Japanese legend, if someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born in the place where that person died. Anyone who goes into that place will be consumed by the curse's fury too.

The movie stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. Buffy must have lost her vampire slaying powers when she moved to Japan, because she was a scaredy-cat the whole time she was there. As for me, if I were paid to go inside a house that's believed to be haunted, I would do it. I would say that there must be a scientific explanation for this. But, if I saw the scary looking faces coming at me, I would run like hell and never go back.

When I saw a scary Korean movie as I kid, I was freaked out by this frightening ghost faced woman. I couldn't walk to the bathroom in the dark, because of the spooks in my mind. I think the scariest looking thing is a scary looking woman. The most terrorizing thing in humans' minds are disfigured human faces. You can create monsters, but if they're not humanized, they won't be that scary.

Buffy is an exchange student who went to Japan because her boyfriend wanted to study Japanese architecture there. When a student nurse didn't report for her job, Buffy is chosen to go to the house to take care of an elderly catatonic lady. She sees a ghost and runs away. She later finds out that a husband killed her wife and son at that house.

There was an American professor that the wife was in love with. The husband reads her diary and drowns her.

The American professor goes to visit the house after reading all the love letters that were sent to him. After visiting the house, he kills himself. He is the first victim of the curse.

Another American family moves into that house because the guy gets a great job there as a CPA. Of course, that family bites the dust.

Buffy's bf thinks that she's in there and goes inside. Buffy finds out he went there to look for her, and she runs inside to save his life. She tries to burn the place, but the spirit won't let her. Finally she drops the lighter into the gasoline. Later, she's at the hospital and we find out that the firefighters prevented the house from burning down. The curse lives on.

There was a bit of Ringu in the movie when they showed the ghost in the videotape walking towards you.

It was too bad they killed off that pretty Japanese girl. Later on, you see she becomes a monster too with her lower jaw missing.

I don't know why that little Japanese boy turned into a catboy.

When Buffy looks through pictures of the professor and his wife, she sees the face of the Japanese woman in the background of all their pictures. Spooky.

The ghost of the woman that drowned kept making burping and gurgling sounds. Those are the same sounds that I make on Sunday mornings when Sarah is forcing me to get out of bed and I can't get up.

This movie had really frightening sounding music. Their picture was shot in a very suspenseful way. As you may know, music really sets the mood of a movie. There was this one video that was spread on the web where some guy remade a trailer of movie called The Shining. He made the trailer seem like the movie was about a family comedy just by changing the music to happy music. That was pretty clever. The music in The Grudge made even the scenes where people slowly walked towards the door extremely suspensful and frightening.

The highs: If you want to be scared, this movie will deliver.

The lows: Horror movie logic.

The Verdict: Don't watch this alone in the dark.

My rating: B, 86.

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