What I’ve Been Watching: The Grudge

Seeing The Grudge (this being the Sarah Michelle Gellar version, not the original) in the theater is one of my fondest horror movie memories. It was just such a terrifically fun experience. So tense, so scary, so fun.

This was the first time I’d seen the film in 10 years, since I saw it in the theater, and it was just as fun as I remembered. There’s so much great in it—the throaty sound of the woman, the creepy little kid, the closet ghost, the missing-jaw segment. One of the things I loved most this time around, and that I don’t really recall noticing before, is how Takashi Shimizu doesn’t let any space or scene go wasted without horror.

Think about the scene in which the sister of the people who own the cursed house is going up to her apartment after a creepy incident at work. In a lot of horror movies, that might just be designed to literally get her from one place to another. Here, creepy Toshio can be seen on each floor she passes, getting closer and closer to the elevator each time we see him. What a great way to build tension and to make the horror all encompassing.

It’s something I’ll certainly be keeping in mind.