Americanized Trash
The Grudge is just another movie on the every-growing list of terrible modern horror movies. I can't claim to have seen the original Japanese version of this film, but I can only assume that it was much better. The Grudge has been Americanized, and loses a lot of culture with a predominant American cast. I've seen enough modern Japanese horror movies in my time to realize that they're much, much better than American horror movies, whether it be the filter on the camera, or the downright freakiness of a certain scene. The Grudge is like The Ring, only it reveals the creatures far too soon, and not really in a scary way.
As the film explains, when a person dies in an extreme rage or sorrow, a curse is born, and stays in that spot forever, tormenting those who come there. The two main forms of this curse are a little boy that can scream like a cat and a long, black-haired woman that makes a strange sound and only walks when she feels like it. Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a nursing student in Japan, who enters this house to take care of an elderly patient, so of course, the curse wants her dead, along with the rest of the large cast who enter the house sooner or later. The film is primarily death after death, with a flashback thrown in to explain what happened. This technique is tedious however, and will have you leaning towards the exit rather than the screen. By the time the revelation, if it can even be called that, is revealed, I just didn't care, and wasn't very surprised either. What I like about Japanese horror films is that they tend to avoid the obvious cliches, but this movie seems to follow them like a pattern.
Not since "Gothika" have I seen so many people enter dark, strange places with no protection or plan at all. There are strange noises coming from a house that isn't supposed to have anyone in it. Well alright, let's check it out. There are just so many dumb moments, it removes all intelligence from the film. After the first few "scares" you'll be laughing at the scary parts. Yes, it's that bad. This movie will not scare you, unless you are very young, in which case, the rather grim visuals may disturb you. The opening scene is very powerful, but the impact is lessened since the story takes so long to play out. I would love to see the Japanese version, to see if it is scarier or not. I'm sure it's better at least.