The Grudge
Short description
An American nurse studying in Tokyo takes on a home-care job for an elderly woman who lives in a quiet house with her family. She arrives to find the house in disarray and the old woman unresponsive, and she senses a presence elsewhere in the building. The house carries a curse tied to a violent death from the past. Anyone who enters it is marked, overcome by rage and then killed, while the curse passes on to the next person it touches. As it spreads, the nurse and her boyfriend try to work out what happened in the house before it reaches them.
The film was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who wrote the screenplay with Stephen Susco, and was produced by Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Takashige Ichise. It is Shimizu's sixth film as director in chronological order, following Ju-on: The Grudge 2 and preceding Reincarnation. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Karen Davis, with Jason Behr as Doug McCarthy, Takako Fuji as Kayako Saeki, Yuya Ozeki as Toshio Saeki, William Mapother as Matthew Williams and Clea DuVall as Jennifer Williams. The credited cast numbers 25 and the credited crew 97.
Made for about 10 million dollars, the film took roughly 183 million dollars worldwide, a large return on its budget. On IMDb it holds a 5.1 out of 10 from 164 critics' reviews, while on TMDB it has a 5.9 out of 10 from 3,294 votes, so audiences rate it somewhat higher than critics do.
What's left behind the scenes
- Two versions of the film—(R-rated) and PG-13—were presented for test screenings. After a short debate, it was decided to release the less harsh version, from which the most disturbing scenes had been removed.
- The attic of the ominous house was a separate structure. This created more space for the filming crew to maneuver within the house itself.
- The filming locations for the remake almost completely replicated the sets from the original film.
- Just on the fourth day of release, after the film unexpectedly grossed $39 million in its debut weekend, a decision was made to create a sequel.
- Yuya Ozeki, who played the role of the ghost boy, is terribly afraid of cats in real life. Nevertheless, throughout the film, we see his character with a cat in his arms.
- Before filming began, the entire film crew underwent a certain ritual, secretly hoping that nothing terrible would happen to them while working on the film. As it turned out, filming actually went smoothly without incident.
- The eerie sound emanating from the mouths of all the ghosts was recorded using the voice of Takashi Shimizu himself.
- The sounds preceding the appearance of the female ghost were created using a regular comb.
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