11 years after The Grudge 3 went straight to DVD, it looks like Sony has decided to partially reboot the franchise. I say partially, as this is more of a side-quel, as it takes place around the same time as The Grudge (2004) and The Grudge 2 (2006). As any fans of the series will be aware, these year stamps are very important, as this isn’t the only chapter in The Grudge franchise. Starting off as short films, before becoming direct to video movies in Japan, before making the leap to the cinema in Japan, and then crossing the ocean for cinematic American remakes (but still set in Japan), the franchise is just as repetitive as the spooky goings-on in each entry.
The Grudge (2020) starts off in Japan in 2004, as a real estate agent returns to America and brings the curse with her. Flash forward to 2006 and recently widowed cop Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) goes back to work in a new town. After discovering a corpse in a car, she works her way to a house where she finds Faith Matheson, Lin Shaye on wonderfully creepy form. Muldoon soon becomes obsessed with the house, where she discovers the tragic history that connects to real estate agent Peter Spencer (John Cho), and her new partner’s, Detective Goodman (Demian Bichir), past. With almost five interconnecting stories playing out, the film soon becomes cluttered, though to its credit, we’re usually aware of where we are in the timeline.
Unfortunately, what made the original Japanese cinematic film so impressive at the time hampers this latest release. With the house the true main character, there’s nobody to feel connected to. Outside of Muldoon, all the other timelines and character’s fates are pretty systematic and easy to work out. It makes it very hard to feel any sort of remorse as we have no time to get to know anyone and most are guaranteed gonners. What is there is handed to us in awkward dialogue, the kind where characters state facts about other characters purely for the audience’s benefit.
Related: New trailer for the remake of The Grudge
Director Nicholas Pesce is the first person to take a shot at a cinematic Grudge, with Takashi Shimizu, having directed the two Japanese entries and the first two American remakes (as well as the previously mentioned short films and direct to video movies). Although Pesce creates a grim atmosphere, it’s also very dirty and unpleasant visually. There’s also the painful use of jump scares for literally every reveal of something “frightening”. Sparing use of jump scares is fine, but here you hear the loud sound, blink, and then the spooky image on screen has lost all its impact. As the film picks up the pace, intertwining all stories at the same time, it becomes BANG BANG BANG! The cinematic equivalent of a child jumping out at you. You may be startled, but a split second later you’re just annoyed and not likely to lose sleep over it.
The Grudge wants to be a good film, as it incorporates emotional difficulties for each set of characters with pretty convincing performances throughout. What it lacks, as many horrors do, is to have the confidence to let the audience do most of the legwork. No need for imagination here, each scare is signposted. Add to that the confusion as to what the rules are for these hauntings and spirits and it raises a lot of questions I doubt anybody has answers to. If you like nasty, cold films, and jump scares, then you might have a decent 90 minutes. But really, just watch the 2002 and 2003 films.
The Grudge is now playing.
