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‘The
Grudge’ burns a trail Director Takashi Shimizu’s remake integrates seamless ensemble acting while allowing Gellar to break from previous warrior woman roles to become more vulnerable, though not helpless. Despite its American stars, however, “The Grudge” stays uniquely Japanese. On the surface, it’s simply another creaky-hinge haunted house fright-fest. But unlike many Western ghosts, Shimizu’s spirits of wrath can’t be reasoned with, don’t stick to their prescribed territory and can’t be laid to rest with the resolution of their unsolved murders. A master of atmosphere, the Japanese director Takashi Shimizu leads his audience along on a celluloid leash to his pitch-black attic of horror, inviting each hair on the back of your neck to stand up. The story line goes Karen (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR) an exchange student studying social work in Japan who innocently agrees to cover for a nurse, who didn’t show up for work. When she enters the assigned home, she discovers an elderly American woman, Emma (GRACE ZABRISKIE), who is lost in a catatonic state while the rest of the house appears deserted and disheveled. As she is tending to the stricken old woman, Karen hears scratching sounds from upstairs. When she investigates, she is faced with a supernatural horror more frightening than she could ever imagine. Within this house, a chain of terror has been set in motion resulting from a terrifying evil that was born years before. As more people die, Karen is pulled into the cycle of horror and learns the secret of the vengeful curse that has taken root in this house. Coming off a seven-year stint in the wildly successful TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” Sarah Michelle Gellar assumed the role of the central character, Karen. ”The fact that Sam Raimi placed such trust in Takashi Shimizu, though he’d never made an American film before and spoke no English, demonstrated to me an incredible amount of belief in his talent,” observes Gellar. “Knowing that, I really had to be involved. And as an actor, it really made me want to rise to the occasion. I love to be scared and, to me, the original JU-ON is a perfect example of that experience.” Jason Behr, who assumed the role of Karen’s boyfriend Doug, says he was blown away by the original JU-ON. “I watched it in my living room with a bunch of friends and we all thought it was fantastic, different from any horror film we’d ever seen. So I really couldn’t pass up the chance to do a Japanese horror film in English. I immediately packed my bags for Japan. Gellar starred in Columbia Pictures’ hit thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer and the blockbuster hit Scream 2. She won a 1998 Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Summer and was nominated for a 1998 MTV Movie Award for her role in Scream 2. When Gellar starred opposite Ryan Phillippe in Cruel Intentions, she earned two MTV Awards: Best Actress, and Best On-Screen Kiss. Japanese actors Takako Fuji and Yuya Ozeki reprise the roles they played throughout the evolution of JU-ON in the English-language version The Grudge. “It was unusual to work with the same actors in the same roles over such an extended period,” says Shimizu. “It was also rewarding, because we were able to find greater nuances in those roles in each successive version. It was also amazing for us to watch the evolution of this story from a Japanese short to an American movie.” This season most of the Hollywood Horror creations did hit the success button it seems The Grudge has also the potential to do big. With critic rating worldwide being quite positive the new breed of the Eastern and Western Horror mix seems to be worth all ones money. |
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