The Grudge (DVD, 2005)

Leave that freaking house alone.

Rather than beat all of you reading this down with the whole "Hey, did you know they only made this movie because of the success of The Ring? And did you also know that this is also a remake of a Japanese horror movie directed by the same guy who directed the Japanese version? Huh? HUH?" - I'll move on and talk about the movie. Oh, and no Buffy references either. You don't need to be bludgeoned over the head with those bad jokes.

Some bad stuff happened in a house a few years back in Japan - and when the new owners move in, they find out about this curse thing where if someone dies in an intense way - they stick around to haunt. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the role of a house cleaner (caretaker) working her way through college who gets hooked up with this house, and subsequently, gets to share in the goolies.

First of all, the movie is creepy - despite some bad reviews. The director wields a lot of suspense for a movie that actually shows the payoff right from the beginning. And that's a difficult feat. The crazy, pale Japanese ghosts with eyes about as big as an anime cartoon get under your skin adequately enough. So props go there.

And props go to the screenplay. It's nice when a horror movie isn't wrought with way too much exposition and over-explaining. In fact, even though I'm trying not to draw comparisons, I felt The Ring suffered a bit from those very problems. Not here though. The creepy starts from the beginning and keeps on coming, without much time for the whole "why is this happening" speech. To tell you the truth, it's refreshing.

However, the non-linier storytelling can become a bit confusing for those not paying attention. When it goes in flashback mode - you better be on your toes or you'll be scratching your head and getting frustrated. It didn't bother me so much, but I did find it could have been done more effectively.

The big issue with this movie is simply its lack of depth. Sure, there are scary moments - but there is nothing here that will stick with you. The good scary movies are the ones that make you think twice about turning out the lights. The Grudge doesn't do that.

And as a side note - it did seem like a give up that they set the movie in Japan...but put some Americans in it. I mean, why not just show me the original?

The extras are not bad as you get cast and crew commentary that's better than normal (some funny stuff in there too), a five-part "making of," and a little documentary on fear and film audiences that ends up being fluffy. So, buy it if you like this kind of stuff.