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93
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82
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73
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72
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71
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70
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66
Bolt
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
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63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
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61
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
60
Traitor
59
Role Models
58
Express, The
58
Quantum of Solace
58
City of Ember
57
Secret Life of Bees, The
57
Body of Lies
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
57
Twilight
57
Flash of Genius
56
W.
56
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
55
House Bunny, The
54
Get Smart
53
Quarantine
53
Rocker, The
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Sex Drive
49
Family That Preys, The
49
Soul Men
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
45
Pride and Glory
43
Eagle Eye
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
31
Max Payne
28
Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
19
Saw V
15
Disaster Movie
15
College
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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84
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84
Ballast
84
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84
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83
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83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
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82
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81
Let the Right One In
81
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80
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79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
79
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79
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78
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78
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77
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75
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75
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
74
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73
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73
Obscene
73
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72
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72
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70
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69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
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69
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68
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67
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67
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66
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66
Elegy
66
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64
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64
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64
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64
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63
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
Duchess, The
62
Mister Foe
62
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61
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61
Brick Lane
61
Universe of Keith Haring
59
Nights and Weekends
59
We Are Wizards
58
Splinter
57
Towelhead
57
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57
Sixty Six
56
Save Me
56
Religulous
56
Bottle Shock
55
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55
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55
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54
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54
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54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
53
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52
First Basket, The
52
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
52
Special
51
Morning Light
50
Breakfast with Scot
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
How About You
47
Choke
46
Choose Connor
46
Elephant King, The
45
Shoot on Sight
44
Henry Poole is Here
44
Dukes, The
43
Call and Response
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
41
Johnny Got His Gun
41
Cthulhu
40
Igor
40
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40
Passengers
37
Forever Strong
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
33
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32
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31
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30
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28
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27
House of the Sleeping Beauties
27
Lake City
26
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
26
Filth and Wisdom
xx
Dostana
xx
Phoebe in Wonderland
xx
All of Us
xx
Matador, The
xx
Billy: The Early Years
xx
Roadside Romeo
xx
B.O.H.I.C.A.
xx
Eden Lake
xx
Just Buried
xx
Beer for My Horses
xx
Mary
xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Grudge, The
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment
FILM:
MPAA 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."
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Horror
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Stephen Susco
Takashi Shimizu (film Ju-On: The Grudge)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Takashi Shimizu
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: May 17, 2005
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Japan / USA |

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...
75
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.

75
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.

75
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.

70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
It's enough to send you home with jiggly knees and a tummy ache.

70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
One of the flat-out creepiest films ever released by a major American studio.

70
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.

63
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.

60
Empire
Olly Richards
A lean, atmospheric and acutely creepy little horror pic - nothing more, nothing less.

60
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.

58
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.

58
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.

50
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.

50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Pretty much a one-trick pony, and, after a while, that trick loses its ability to impress.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It isn't frightening. Sometimes, in fact, it's laughable.

50
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.

50
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.

50
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.

50
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Takes a leaf from the "Psycho" handbook and abandons its star for stretches here and there.

50
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.

50
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.

50
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.

50
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.

50
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
The Grudge offers a bit more exposition than did "Ju-On," but the plot is still wispy.

50
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?

50
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.

50
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.

50
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.

40
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.

40
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
Isn't art, but as date-night fright flicks go, it's effective.

40
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
More than anything, The Grudge suggests that it's time for Shimizu to move on.

30
Variety
Scott Foundas
Viewers of this Sam Raimi-produced, sub-"Amityville" scarefest are likely to hold the real grudge.

25
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.


The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 93 User Votes
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