Reviews! - More "Grudge" Stuff....
Dec. 1st, 2012 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philosoraptor42After "The Grudge" was one of my favourite movies on the recent horror marathon, I couldn't wait to see more from the same series. I absolutely loved "The Grudge" because for once this was a ghost story which not only didn't irritate me, but genuinely scared me. Stopping part way through due to tiredness I went to get something from a room in my house and, having a little trouble with the door, was actually disturbed by the seemingly encroaching darkness as the door jerked open.
One of the things I really liked was the effects. Now naturally it's not just the effects, but the way they are set up. However, when the dark hair of the main ghost was used to simulate the way darkness can sometimes 'creep' at you, that was the effect that stuck with me after the film was stopped.
The Grudge 2 (2006)
The sequel had a lot to live up to and I'm not sure it entirely met up to the high demands I had for it. Still, I think this was mainly an expectations issue. I went into the first film expecting nothing and I went into this sequel expecting the world on a platter.
The opening explaining the concept of the "grudge" was more effective than when I saw the first film. At the beginning of the first film I was rather dismissive of the way the film felt the need to use text on screen to explain the central concept. Now, with the concept having firmly caught hold of my imagination, the way that words like "curse" and "fury" linger on the screen and turn a deep red before fading had a clear parallel with the way the ghosts seem to work within the film itself.
The opening scene was an separate piece of a couple arguing, just like the scene showing Bill Pullman at the beginning of the previous film. I was intrigued to see where this would go.
The schoolchildren from the international school, who go into the cursed house -central to the story- as part of a dare, seemed a little older than they ought to be. Still, as per usual in these sorts of films, they are seniors, so the actors are probably somewhat closer to their intended ages than you'd normally expect. (All about 2 or 3 years older than the age of 18 they are clearly intended to be.)
There are more characters in this film, particularly with the random American family whose connection is particularly unclear. However, when the story comes together it really pays off well.
A lot of what happens in the film feels like a big 'eff you' to those viewers who hope for a happy resolution to the 'grudge'. There are a number of pretty optimistic characters who seem determined in the face of torment by the ghosts and their seemingly inevitable doom. Also, while it seemed like backstory to the grudge was pretty much all played out in the last film, it turns out there is more still to tell.
I found this to be a pretty satisfying film, but where I think it was somewhat lacking was the scares. There's not the same build-up in some scenes and the loss of simplicity of the previous film doesn't help. That said, I cannot say that this disappointed me. Though not quite as neat as the last one, I would still recommend this film.
A-
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
So, expectations probably couldn't be higher. There's a general pattern that the original is generally better than the remake. Also I was of the impression from what I'd read around the place that the content of this film was rather more brutal than was risked in the American remake. So I was expecting a more impactful and shocking version of a film I already knew that I loved. Sure, there were a few films in the series before this, but this was the first with a proper cinema release.
I have to say, I was extremely disappointed. I think that the director benefitted a great deal from the opportunity to remake this with a proper effects budget since this film had to manage with pretty much NO effects and I have to say, I personally thought it suffered for it.
The ghosts are more obviously than ever just people covered in make-up. The neat lighting effects which made them seem like pale creepy figures in the remake also made the make-up less obvious. One scene (which can be seen in most trailers for the remake of "The Grudge") involves the female ghost crawling down the stairs. In the remake special effects are used to make this a jerky, inhuman and implausible motion, but in this original movie it's just a woman crawling slowly down some stairs. It was not terribly impressive.
This film suffers far worse than "The Grudge 2" from its large range of characters because no time is given for any of them to develop. When I was first watching the American remake I thought that it was going to be like an anthology movie in that each character had their own separate story of being hunted down by the evil curse, but overall there turned out to be clear story around which all these events were connected. Here, however, none of the individual sections is given enough time, and there's no clear passage for the story to run. With the protagonists generally either not surviving long enough or lacking sufficient screen time for me to anchor myself to them, I found it hard to invest in the story and began to get rather bored. I can only think of the American remake as a worthwhile improvement rather than a watered down sell-out flick as some seemed to suggest.
Perhaps if I can track down "Ju-On: The Curse" and "Ju-On: The Curse 2", this might work better. But with the American movie "The Grudge 3" being handed over to a new director with some very bad buzz surrounding it and with this Japanese version of "The Grudge" feeling so disappointing, I'm somewhat inclined to abandon the series while I'm not yet sick to death of it. If the other Japanese versions are like this, I don't really want to sit through two or three more of them. Not unless I've got insomnia....
... That being said, looking for images for these reviews I'm seeing some rather intriguing shots from "Ju-On: The Grudge 2", so perhaps I'm not entirely finished with these films just yet...
D-
Anyone know anything about the Wii game? It looks strangely intriguing based on this youtube video:
(video link)
One of the things I really liked was the effects. Now naturally it's not just the effects, but the way they are set up. However, when the dark hair of the main ghost was used to simulate the way darkness can sometimes 'creep' at you, that was the effect that stuck with me after the film was stopped.
The Grudge 2 (2006)
The sequel had a lot to live up to and I'm not sure it entirely met up to the high demands I had for it. Still, I think this was mainly an expectations issue. I went into the first film expecting nothing and I went into this sequel expecting the world on a platter.
The opening explaining the concept of the "grudge" was more effective than when I saw the first film. At the beginning of the first film I was rather dismissive of the way the film felt the need to use text on screen to explain the central concept. Now, with the concept having firmly caught hold of my imagination, the way that words like "curse" and "fury" linger on the screen and turn a deep red before fading had a clear parallel with the way the ghosts seem to work within the film itself.
The opening scene was an separate piece of a couple arguing, just like the scene showing Bill Pullman at the beginning of the previous film. I was intrigued to see where this would go.
The schoolchildren from the international school, who go into the cursed house -central to the story- as part of a dare, seemed a little older than they ought to be. Still, as per usual in these sorts of films, they are seniors, so the actors are probably somewhat closer to their intended ages than you'd normally expect. (All about 2 or 3 years older than the age of 18 they are clearly intended to be.)
There are more characters in this film, particularly with the random American family whose connection is particularly unclear. However, when the story comes together it really pays off well.
A lot of what happens in the film feels like a big 'eff you' to those viewers who hope for a happy resolution to the 'grudge'. There are a number of pretty optimistic characters who seem determined in the face of torment by the ghosts and their seemingly inevitable doom. Also, while it seemed like backstory to the grudge was pretty much all played out in the last film, it turns out there is more still to tell.
I found this to be a pretty satisfying film, but where I think it was somewhat lacking was the scares. There's not the same build-up in some scenes and the loss of simplicity of the previous film doesn't help. That said, I cannot say that this disappointed me. Though not quite as neat as the last one, I would still recommend this film.
A-
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
So, expectations probably couldn't be higher. There's a general pattern that the original is generally better than the remake. Also I was of the impression from what I'd read around the place that the content of this film was rather more brutal than was risked in the American remake. So I was expecting a more impactful and shocking version of a film I already knew that I loved. Sure, there were a few films in the series before this, but this was the first with a proper cinema release.
I have to say, I was extremely disappointed. I think that the director benefitted a great deal from the opportunity to remake this with a proper effects budget since this film had to manage with pretty much NO effects and I have to say, I personally thought it suffered for it.
The ghosts are more obviously than ever just people covered in make-up. The neat lighting effects which made them seem like pale creepy figures in the remake also made the make-up less obvious. One scene (which can be seen in most trailers for the remake of "The Grudge") involves the female ghost crawling down the stairs. In the remake special effects are used to make this a jerky, inhuman and implausible motion, but in this original movie it's just a woman crawling slowly down some stairs. It was not terribly impressive.
This film suffers far worse than "The Grudge 2" from its large range of characters because no time is given for any of them to develop. When I was first watching the American remake I thought that it was going to be like an anthology movie in that each character had their own separate story of being hunted down by the evil curse, but overall there turned out to be clear story around which all these events were connected. Here, however, none of the individual sections is given enough time, and there's no clear passage for the story to run. With the protagonists generally either not surviving long enough or lacking sufficient screen time for me to anchor myself to them, I found it hard to invest in the story and began to get rather bored. I can only think of the American remake as a worthwhile improvement rather than a watered down sell-out flick as some seemed to suggest.
Perhaps if I can track down "Ju-On: The Curse" and "Ju-On: The Curse 2", this might work better. But with the American movie "The Grudge 3" being handed over to a new director with some very bad buzz surrounding it and with this Japanese version of "The Grudge" feeling so disappointing, I'm somewhat inclined to abandon the series while I'm not yet sick to death of it. If the other Japanese versions are like this, I don't really want to sit through two or three more of them. Not unless I've got insomnia....
... That being said, looking for images for these reviews I'm seeing some rather intriguing shots from "Ju-On: The Grudge 2", so perhaps I'm not entirely finished with these films just yet...
D-
Anyone know anything about the Wii game? It looks strangely intriguing based on this youtube video:
(video link)
