Ju-On the Grudge is one I had in my collection for a fair while (years and years) but never got round to watching. Its supposed to be a classic, but as with foreign language films, I find I really have to be in the mood for them, or I can’t absorb the movie.
THE PLOT of JU-ON THE GRUDGE
Ju-On the Grudge itself was produced in 2002 and revolves around a family (husband, wife and husbands elderly mother) that move into a house which they don’t realise is carrying a curse. The previous owner had caught his wife cheating and killed her, and the rest of the family there. With these actions was born the curse that attaches itself to anyone who should stumble into the house. The slain family still haunts the house, putting a curse on all who enter it. They curse spreads from there.
The movie itself is fairly low budget, and there is a cultural difference one notices straight away when watching a Japanese film. I’m sure there’s a whole bunch of stuff that I’m missing. The film proper, starts with Rika (presumably a community nurse) checking in on the family and finds a shaken house and grandmother inside. She investigates and finds a boy roaming the house. The Grandma is virtually catatonic and can’t communicate what the child is doing in the house. Who is the child? Rika then sees the mother get taken by a spirit of the house.
THE VERDICT
Things continue to get weird but i won’t spoil the movie beyond that. I will say that the directors make great use of what looks to be a limited budget. The scares are definitely there and this does have an unnerving value to it. The atmosphere in the film is great and the dead characters still ghosting the house are genuinely creepy. I’m not sure if its the change of pace being a foreign film, but its cool to get a different take on horror that this stuff provides. Nothing too over the top, gore wise but some good atmosphere and jump scares. Overall, I recommend it. Now to check out the American version which came a couple of years later.
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