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Grudge, The
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 95 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Horror | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Stephen Susco
Takashi Shimizu (film Ju-On: The Grudge)
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
DVD: May 17, 2005
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: Japan / USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, William Mapother, KaDee Strickland, Bill Pullman, Rosa Blasi, Grace Zabriskie, and Courtney Webb
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in this remake of director Takashi Shimizu's popular Japanese movie "Ju-On: The Grudge."
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Ju-On: The Grudge Marebito The Grudge 2
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
A master of atmosphere, Japanese director Takashi Shimizu leads his audience along on a celluloid leash to his pitch-black attic of horror, inviting each hair on the back of your neck to stand up.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
There is no "why" in The Grudge, at least not an explanation that provides comfort or cure. It simply is. That's what makes it really scary.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
The only character with any personality in The Grudge is a Tokyo house, but not to worry - it's got enough mean in it to keep any horror movie afloat.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It's enough to send you home with jiggly knees and a tummy ache.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
One of the flat-out creepiest films ever released by a major American studio.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Richard James Havis
Slightly less frightening than the original, but it's still a scary psycho-horror that effectively replicates its bleak and crisp shocks.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
This is an eerie, inventively mounted movie: It's a shivery fun time, filled with dark corners, deserted hallways and sudden apparitions. But it never manages to genuinely rattle you.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
A lean, atmospheric and acutely creepy little horror pic - nothing more, nothing less.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's effectively frightening. It's just not the kind of frightening that stays with you very long, unless of course someone decides to make the same movie . . . yet again.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A horror film that consists of virtually nothing but don't-go-in-the-attic suspense scenes strung together with a reasonable degree of brooding mood and a minimum of logic.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
In the hands of a less-skilled director, this Hollywood-mandated need to impose order could have ended in disaster.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Most of the chills have been faithfully re-created, though first-time screenwriter Stephen Susco hasn't done much to straighten out the muddled narrative.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Pretty much a one-trick pony, and, after a while, that trick loses its ability to impress.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It isn't frightening. Sometimes, in fact, it's laughable.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
There are so many events here but no real story. Perhaps that is what's making the drowned kabuki ghost so irate: She's desperate to find a coherent script.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Like a good horror movie, the images, jolts and artistically directed disorientation will keep your stomach clenched...Like a bad one, it doesn't make a lick of sense.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Shimizu can't quite pull everything together, trying to get off easy with a bargain-bin twist ending that most of the audience will see coming by the time the pile of corpses reaches double digits.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Takes a leaf from the "Psycho" handbook and abandons its star for stretches here and there.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
The benchmark for any horror movie, of course, is how well it frightens you, and The Grudge is pretty satisfactory in that regard.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The cast is drab and lifeless, the characterization non-existent, the ending simply impossible. Between our jumps of fright come lumps of time that take forever to pass.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
At least the horror premise here has a hook - a house can spread its curse like a plague to adversely affect all who enter.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Its not a disaster by any stretch, but purists will ache to show newcomers the horrific genius of "Ju-on" over The Grudge as soon as they exit the theatre.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
The Grudge offers a bit more exposition than did "Ju-On," but the plot is still wispy.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
American audiences have seen Ju-On. And The Grudge just goes to show why remaking it is such a frivolous idea: What's the use in wasting so much energy if the filmmakers aren't going to fix what was wrong with the movie in the first place?
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Less scary than creepy, The Grudge may have lost some oomph in the translation from Japanese to English, and the desire for a PG-13 rating probably muted the violence and perhaps the scares.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
The overdetermined approach preempts character shadings or social subtext-just compare Hideo Nakata's original "Ring," which tapped its dread from viral-replicant mass culture and its pathos from a broken home, or Nakata's "Dark Water," which channeled the sorrow, guilt, and paranoia felt by a young divorcée mired in a custody battle.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Less a film than a terror delivery system, The Grudge repeatedly shows off Shimizu's technical chops, but never gives viewers a reason to care about or identify with the victims.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Despite the tighter rewrite and the slicker production, it's obvious that Shimizu is still searching for what scares him, and until he finds it, he doesn't stand--ahem--a ghost of a chance of frightening us.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
Isn't art, but as date-night fright flicks go, it's effective.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
More than anything, The Grudge suggests that it's time for Shimizu to move on.
Read Full Review >Variety Scott Foundas
Viewers of this Sam Raimi-produced, sub-"Amityville" scarefest are likely to hold the real grudge.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Sarah Michelle Gellar, the nominal star, has been in her share of horror movies, and all by herself could have written and directed a better one than this.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 95 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Javito13 O gave it a10:
The best horror film EVER. Sarah Michelle Gellar was incredible here and Kayako and Toshio actors too. Simply AWESOME.
Brandon W gave it a9:
It's funny how some of you said, "It's a pathetic attempt to copy The Ring" when this film is actually a remake of the orginal Ju-On. The Ring was a pathetic remake compared to this masterful remake. Get your facts straight.
Sarah o gave it a10:
AMAZING MOVIE I loved it so much I'm only 11 years old it was one of the best movies I have seen in my life! ITS downright creepy!
[Anonymous] gave it a2:
Give it an extra 2 for nice horror, but for the rest, I call it trash, very bad plotting.
Riren gave it a5:
The only effective thing about The Grudge is the gimmicks it brings to the table. The masses of black hair are creepy. The distinct groaning sound is creepy. The pale little boy is creepy (if you aren't fed up with pale children from a host of similar movies). The plot, the acting, the mood - these are all generic, certainly nothing fresh enough to have necessitated it being a remake. If there is one annoying person who likes to make fun of movies in the theatre, they will make fun of The Grudge - and it's really the sort of movie that attracts those kinds of patrons, too.
Axel L. gave it a10:
I don't know why some people are so unappreaciative of horror movies these days, this movie is one of the best I have seen!!! A successful remake of Ju-on.
Chris gave it a10:
I really like this movie. It was scary, disturbing and that noise that Kayako made was downright creepy. Everyone should see it.
