The Grudge was definitely far more superior than Hollywood’s other attempt, The Ring. I’ve always felt the latter was Hollywood’s attempt at Americanizing a storyline that was inherently Japanese, and to situate it within an American context didn’t further create the sense of isolation that a lot of these Japanese horror films were trying to create, but rather make it even more non-sensical.

And yes, I do realise I’m talking about the horror genre, but I’m betting most of us know (and have learnt) from shows like The X-Files that what scares us most is usually more human than supernatural.

Recycling of the hauntings aside, The Grudge could actually be taken as a stand-alone, or if you’ve seen the previous 4 verions, a continuation of the curse - I’ve seen 3 of the Japanese versions…I just need to figure out which ones I saw in order to locate the 4th. In fact, this version offered a better explanation of the events that lead to the curse in the first place, which I confess, as much as I love a mystery, drove me nuts. Not to mention, timeline-wise, it was easier to follow. Then again, I supposed the element of not knowing why the curse was born - the idea that it was just a ‘random’ killing could be more chilling than actually knowing the reason behind it, the violence of the deaths not withstanding.

Placing the American characters in Japan added to, and further emphasized on the isolationist theme I was talking about earlier. And it was nice, for a change, to see the hesitation in one of the characters when she was shopping in the supermarket and found herself at a loss because of the complete absence of the English language. Something as simple as shopping for food becomes an almost impossible feat because you have no idea what the food you’re buying is, or getting lost and unable to ask for directions because no one could tell you the directions. The hopelessness of it all. If the situation was reversed, imagine how it feels like for someone whose foreign language *is* English, and who has no basic knowledge of alphabets who find themselves in similar situations!

All in all, I’d actually rank it not as scary as the original (?) Ju-On, but it’s only because I know what to expect when it comes to the scary parts of the film. Some scares were new though…On a sidenote, it was amusing to watch the bunch of teenagers sitting in front of us, who were very noisy when the film started, screaming and steadily sinking further into their chairs as the film progressed! Not for the faint-hearted!