The Grudge

"It never forgives. It never forgets."

2004 1h 32m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 3,315

HorrorMysteryThriller

Synopsis

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An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

“It never forgives. It never forgets.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Karen Davis
Jason Behr
Doug McCarthy
Takako Fuji
Kayako Saeki
Yuya Ozeki
Toshio Saeki
William Mapother
Matthew Williams
Clea DuVall
Jennifer Williams
KaDee Strickland
Susan Williams
Grace Zabriskie
Emma Williams

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Takashi Shimizu
Writers: Takashi Shimizu, Stephen Susco
Languages: Japanese, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $183M — a 18.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Japanese, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Grudge Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Takashi Shimizu, shot by Hideo Yamamoto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jeff Betancourt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr and Takako Fuji carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Takashi Shimizu directs. Hideo Yamamoto behind the camera. Christopher Young scores. Jeff Betancourt cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Japanese, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $183M — a 18.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released 22 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Japanese, English.
4Part of the "The Grudge Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Takashi Shimizu, shot by Hideo Yamamoto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jeff Betancourt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr and Takako Fuji carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It never forgives. It never forgets.".
10IMDB entry: tt0391198 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 11 themes, including "nurse", "house", "remake", "curse".

The technical file

Cinematography: Hideo Yamamoto
Original score: Christopher Young
Editing: Jeff Betancourt
Production design: Iwao Saitô
Costume design: Miyuki Taniguchi
Makeup / hair: Veronica Lorenz
VFX supervisor: Kory Jones
Sound: Kelly Vandever
Stunt coordinator: Hideo Saito
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $183,474,602
Return: 1835% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Grudge (2004)

Part of

The Grudge Collection

American horror film series released by Sony Pictures based on the Japanese Ju-on series created by Takashi Shimizu. The series focuses on those affected by a curse of a deceased woman's violent rage that destroys the lives of everyone who comes in contact with it. Known as The Grudge, this curse causes it's victims to become fatally afflicted by it which leads to a new curse being born and passed like a virus to all those who enter the Saeki residence or come in contact with the curse.

Also by

Takashi Shimizu

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Community reviews

What people are saying

The Movie Diorama2020-01-16
★ 4/10
The Grudge begrudgingly latches onto croaky jump scares without logical cohesion. This, is an unusual horror to review. It’s rather uncommon for the same director, in this case Takashi Shimizu, to remake his own original film for an entirely different audience. Most would push their original creation onto the masses and convince them, with glorified persuasion, to withstand subtitles and invest the time into the chilling ghost story. Yet Shimizu thought it would be apt to direct his own film again. Admirable? Yes, it ensured he received total creative control over the studio and producers. Necessary? No. Somehow, by remaking the exact story with essentially the same spine-tingling sequences, Shimizu downgraded the atmospheric aura of ‘Ju-On’, resulting in nothing more than a Japanese ghost boy releasing his inner cat and his ethereal mother croaking the life out of anyone who visits the cursed house. That’s the plot synopsis, right there. Well, there’s a tad bit more to the mystery, however Shimizu’s insistence on haphazardly fracturing the narrative between present day and the past week consequently confused audiences rather than enthral. There’s no logic behind the structure. No foundational development. And certainly no characterisation. So the abrupt switching back and forth held no purpose, other than to illustrate a host of jumpy death sequences. Some effective apparitional imagery heightened the tension, particularly the surveillance footage sequence and bedroom scene that made me frightened of my own bloody duvet when I was an innocent boy, yet negated by the bland acting from every single actor. Buffy has no more vampires to slay or Daphne has solved all remaining mysteries (take your pick...), and so she’s left wandering aimlessly around Tokyo with just one facial expression. Confusion. Pullman contributed nothing. And even Kayako herself, Fuji, was grossly misused during moments of tension-raising buildup. The final expositional flashback sequence, revealing to us why the house is now essentially cursed, was rushed and overwrought. Then concluding the entire feature on a frickin’ jump scare that looked cheaper than Kayako’s mascara. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be thinking to yourself “...why are these Americans in Tokyo anyway?”. I just...don’t understand how Shimizu can make his remake so unprogressive in terms of quality. He had another shot at bettering his original, overcoming previous criticisms, yet failed miserably. I’m open to the idea that The Grudge is a product of its time, comprising of several horror traits that the previous decade had commonly exploited. And I appreciate it stuck to its J-horror roots. But damn, this has not aged well in the slightest. The core is there. I can visibly see the contents. Yet, either due to Shimizu’s inability to improve in directorial control or studio interference, The Grudge growled like a ghoulish kitten instead of exhuming a ghostly lion’s roar. Y’know, because Toshio opens his CGI mouth and a cat noise comes out? Urgh, whatever. Couldn’t think of anything...

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