Ju-On: The Grudge/The Grudge (Film Review Face-Off)

2002 Lions Gate Films
Written and Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Takashi Matsuyama, and Yui Ichikawa
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 92 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10


2004 Sony Pictures Releasing
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu; Written by: Stephen Susco (based on Ju-On: The Grudge by Takashi Shimizu)
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Clea DuVall, and Bill Pullman
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 91 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

Rika/Karen, a social worker, is sent to make an in-home visit to take care an elderly woman named Sachie/Emma. The vibe leading up to the house feels just a bit off, and when Rika/Karen enters the home, she finds the place extremely disheveled, and seemingly empty. Then she finds Sachie/Emma, who seems in a near catatonic state, along with a small, quite frightening looking boy. The thing is, Sachie/Emma was supposed to be living here with only her adult son and his wife. There should be no child...or creepy cat...or demonic, crab-walking girl. Sachie/Emma soon dies, and many others do too. This house is cursed...the kind of curse that follows you home.
The success of both the Japanese and American versions of Ring at the end of the 90's and start of the 00's brought forth an avalanche of supernatural horror flicks. Ju-On: The Grudge was probably the most successful, both with drawing audiences, and at least in the case of the Japanese version, pleasing them...or at least it pleased me.
Ju-On doesn't focus on any one particular character, introducing each person's tale of interaction with the cursed house with a title card featuring their name. The lack of a clear protagonist and non-chronological storytelling turned off some critics at the time, but those aren't requirements for a good film. These criticisms also ignore the fact that these storytelling mechanisms allow Ju-On to better explore its themes, which center upon the ripple effect of trauma and violence. But come on, you're watching this movie for the scares.
Writer and director, Takashi Shimizu, utilizes every visual and audio scare tactic in the book, and almost every one of them works. Nearly every frame contains an empty space that seems ripe for some evil figure to fill. Brilliant jump scares abound, some expected, but effective, and some unexpected, and most definitely effective. It's not all in your face terror, though. Shimizu also ratchets up slow burning tension, as his sound designers put in extra work, with creepy, high pitched whines, upstairs thumps, screeches, bumps; a dialogue-free version of this movie would be even more terrifying. The overall atmosphere and set design are also top notch. Ju-On really is a horrific treat. I wish I could say the same about the 2004 American remake.
2002's remake of Hideo Nakata's Ring has a reason to exist. That remake not only adds a unique American sensibility to the Japanese material, but features an entirely new directorial vision by Gore Verbinski. 2004's The Grudge, like the original film upon which its based, takes place in Japan...in the exact same house as the original, with nearly the exact same story and beats as the original. The difference here is that the main protagonist is Karen, an American exchange student, instead of the native Japanese Rika of the original. As Karen, Sarah Michelle Gellar continues her streak of proving her worth in scary stuff, and this remake is at times scary...just not nearly as scary as the original. This is strange, as this remake was directed by...Takashi Shimizu. Yes, the director of the original Ju-On: The Grudge, Takashi Shimizu.
The issue here is that Shimizu found the perfect balance of showing and implicating with his original Japanese film. The original reveals just enough story so that the film makes sense once you think it over afterward. Some criticized the original film's story for being too vague, so Shimizu over explains here in this do over. This hurts the film by throwing off the delicate rhythm found in the original. The first version contains moments, that would, if they'd lingered one extra second, or been placed elsewhere in the film's non-chronological storytelling, seem silly. This remake begins with an added scene, showing a POV suicide of a character jumping off a building, which just feels silly, followed by the death of another character to which we haven't yet been introduced. It takes time to get to Karen, but then the film almost stays with her exclusively. This also throws off the rhythm of the film just a bit.
Another issue comes with some of the shots and staging here. Since Shimizu, who wrote the original film, but is here working from a script by American, Stephen Susco, has filmed most of these sequences before, he seems bored at points, and just changing angles and points of view from the original because he doesn't want to do the same thing again. The results sometimes feel a bit like a second answer in Family Feud. If the best answer was the first guess, than the second guess is going to pale in comparison. Shimizu's first instincts for The Grudge are often far better than what he tries to do here. A ghastly figure creeping under bedsheets or a demonic child standing at the window of every floor as an elevator rises look terrifying in the original. Shimizu changes up the angles and staging a bit for this 2004 version to keep them fresh, but these new versions just aren't as effectively done as they were the first time around.
Still, The Grudge's world and central tale are so terrifying, they still work here, even with the missteps. While I'd take the original over the remake every time, this 2004 version will do okay for those who either can't track down the original 2002 version (it generally streams for free, so not a great excuse in 2021), or can't abide subtitles...of course, since the remake takes place in Japan, you're still going to have to read a lot of those, anyway. Just watch the original.