Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
"Ju-on" (original title)

A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.

Director:

Takashi Shimizu

Writers:

Takashi Shimizu, Bobby White (subtitles)

Stars:

Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Megumi Okina	...	Rika Nishina
Misaki Itô	...	Hitomi Tokunaga
Misa Uehara	...	Izumi Tôyama
Yui Ichikawa	...	Chiharu
Kanji Tsuda	...	Katsuya Tokunaga
Kayoko Shibata	...	Mariko
Yukako Kukuri	...	Miyuki
Shuri Matsuda	...	Kazumi Tokunaga
Yôji Tanaka	...	Yûji Tôyama
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Keibiin
Hideo Sakaki	...	Fukushi Sentâ Jimuin
Takashi Matsuyama	...	Takeo Saeki
Yuya Ozeki	...	Toshio
Takako Fuji	...	Kayako
Chikara Ishikura	...	Hirohashi

Storyline

In Japan, when the volunteer social assistant Rika Nishina is assigned to visit a family, she is cursed and chased by two revengeful fiends: Kayako, a woman brutally murdered by her husband and her son Toshio. Each person that lives or visits the haunted house is murdered or disappears.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | haunted house | pain | ghost boy | anger | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

25 January 2003 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Grudge

Filming Locations:

Nerima, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$17,032 (USA) (30 July 2004)

Gross:

$325,661 (USA) (3 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pioneer LDC, Nikkatsu, Oz Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Rika's in the shower, she has a lot of shampoo in her hair. Yet right before Kayoko's hand appears, the shampoo vanishes.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Hirohashi: Thanks for the effort.

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Connections

Followed by Ju-on: Black Ghost (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Kagi ga akanai"
Music by Hiroyuki Hamamoto
Lyrics by Kei Noguchi
Performed by Suitei Shôjo
Courtesy of Epic Records Japan

User Reviews

Occasionally awkward, but very good overall

Rika Nishina (Megumi Okina) works for a social services agency in Tokyo, although she's never seen any clients. When a new case comes in and they're short on staff, her boss has to send her out. Her first case is a doozy. When she enters the client's home, no one seems to be there, and the house is a mess. She hears scraping on a door--the old woman she is to care for is there, but in a semi-catatonic state. Soon after, she learns that there is much more wrong than bad housekeeping and a neglected old woman. There just may be threatening supernatural forces behind the scenes.

This film is really the third in the Japanese Ju-On series. I won't usually watch a series out of order, but this is the only Ju-On film officially and thus easily available in the U.S. I was very anxious to watch the American remake, The Grudge (2004), and actually watched it the day before watching this film.

The first 40-something minutes are closest to the American remake, but it was surprising that this film is much more linear. It's also more episodic. Neither of those facts are negative here, and both lend to a somewhat easier understanding of the broader mythology behind the Ju-On "monsters", which is presented much more clearly in this film. However, the episodic nature also means that the viewer has to pay attention to the various characters and their names, or there is a good chance that one will get lost--this story touches on many different people, in many different scenarios. Occasionally, there are characters brought into each other's episodes, sometimes as subtly as a name mentioned in a news report. These cross-references, which can also slightly break the linear timeline, are effective if one is alert.

There are things that writer/director Takashi Shimizu does better in this version, and things he does better in the American version. In this version, I loved the brutal opening sequence. Although it's somewhat present towards the end of the American version, it is much more effective here. I enjoyed the more traditional Japanese home--this film was shot on location in an actual house, whereas the American remake was shot on a house constructed on a soundstage. The Japanese house is more claustrophobic. On the other hand, the soundstage house was a bit grungier, which works nicely in the context of the remake. I liked this film's transition in the famous "stair crawling" scene (although I thought the flashbacks weren't necessary), and I also loved some of the more dissonant music here.

The biggest differences occur after the first forty minutes, when Shimizu expands the number of monsters. The film seems to threaten a Romero-like plague that I'd like to see explored more in other Ju-On films (if that hasn't been done already).

The bottom line though is that this is a nicely atmospheric horror film, with a creepy scene per minute. There were a couple very minor flaws--occasionally awkward performances or editing being the primary one, but overall this is highly recommended. It earned a 9 out of 10 from me.