DVD Movie Rating for: The Grudge

Rating for The Grudge : 5 out of 5 stars

Movie Plot of: The Grudge

Karen (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR) is an exchange student studying social work in Japan who innocently agrees to cover for a nurse who didn't show up for work. When she enters the assigned home, she discovers an elderly American woman, Emma (GRACE ZABRISKIE), who is lost in a catatonic state while the rest of the house appears deserted and disheveled.

As she is tending to the stricken old woman, Karen hears scratching sounds from upstairs. When she investigates, she is faced with a supernatural horror more frightening than she could ever imagine.

Within this house, a chain of terror has been set in motion resulting from a terrifying evil that was born years before. As more people die, Karen is pulled into the cycle of horror and learns the secret of the vengeful curse that has taken root in this house.

Now she must stop it before it’s too late.

DVD Production Details of: The Grudge

The Grudge is not yet released on DVD

The Grudge DVD Extra Bonus Features

None

Cast of the movie: The Grudge

• Sarah Michelle Gellar .... Karen
• Jason Behr .... Doug
• William Mapother .... Matthew Williams
• Clea DuVall .... Jennifer Williams
• KaDee Strickland .... Susan Williams
• Grace Zabriskie .... Emma
• Bill Pullman .... Peter
• Rosa Blasi .... Maria
• Ted Raimi .... Alex
• Ryo Ishibashi .... Detective Nakagawa
• Yoko Maki .... Yoko
• Yuya Ozeki .... Toshio Saeki
• Takako Fuji .... Kayako Saeki
• Takashi Matsuyama .... Takeo Saeki
• Hiroshi Matsunaga .... Igarashi
• Yoshiyuki Morishita .... Guard
• Kazuyuki Tsumura .... Peter's Co-Worker
• Taiki Kobayashi .... Policeman
• Nanna Koizumi .... Daughter
• Yôichi Okamura .... Restaurant Manager
• Courtney Webb .... Sick girl

Photo Gallery of the movie: The Grudge

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The Grudge starring Sarah Michelle Gellar

Reviews of the movie: The Grudge

"The Grudge," a low-budget horror movie starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, delivered an additional shock on Sunday by selling $40 million worth of tickets in its first three days at the North American box office, doubling the expectations of its distributor.

The Columbia Pictures project, a remake of a Japanese haunted-house thriller that was released in the United States earlier this year, took over the No. 1 slot from the cartoon "Shark Tale," which had been the top movie for the past three weeks.

"If we would have done twenty (million dollars), we would have been ecstatic," said Rory Bruer, president of domestic distribution at the Sony Corp. -owned studio.

Sarah Michelle Gella, perhaps best-known for playing the title character in TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," plays an American in Tokyo who must outwit a ghoulish presence. The PG-13-rated film was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also made the original, "Ju-On." Bruer said the remake cost less than $10 million to produce, and a sequel is in the cards.

The Grudge. What's most remarkable about the remake is that Hollywood (and I'm sure Sam Raimi's protection of his director had something to do with this) didn't feel the need to try to explain anything. The premise behind The Grudge is just as vague as the original, and, apparently, American audiences are willing to accept that. In fact, the film seems to delight in its own narrative abstraction - there's a genuine sense of freedom here, a horror film that doesn't feel like it's trapped by genre conventions or audience expectations. It's also tightly structured and disciplined, with almost every scene following a strict (and effective) pattern of an intense lull followed by a payoff shock. Only the appearance of Hollywood stars provides any sort of distraction from the creepy goings-on.

Let's get to that: the cast, for the most part, is strong, but the casting reeks of Hollywood's need to have familiar stars to look at in these kind of movies. The film, like the original, takes place in Japan, but we need to have the main characters be American, of course. Look, there's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, going back to the scream-queen kind of role she did in Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Look, there's Bill Pullman, looking as confused as he did in David Lynch's Lost Highway. Look, there's Ted Raimi, he's in it because his brother is the producer. Look, there's Jason Behr...who the hell is Jason Behr, and what the hell is he doing in this movie? Oh yeah, Buffy needs a good-looking boyfriend with stubble and a shaggy haircut, even if he has absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

Hollywood, like the schoolyard bully it is, certainly makes its presence known (this is the AMERICAN version, dammit!) with such casting, but ultimately it does little damage. The Grudge, like Ju-On before it, is short on character development (it seems like some characters die before we've even learned their name) but long on good, strong scares, which is more than can be said for about 95% of the horror films of the last ten years or so. With this and Saw, it's quite remarkable that Hollywood has more treats than tricks this year for Halloween.

MTV Interview Sarah Michelle Gellar on the GRUDGE

MTV: This movie was really frightening, and you've been in other scary stuff, like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 2." What is it that attracts you to these types of roles?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: I love movies that make you feel something. I love movies that you walk away and you keep thinking about them. I'd be so disappointed to make a movie and people went, "Oh, that was good" and they went on with their life. I like movies that stick with you, and I like characters where women get to do something, where women are active, where women drive a story. And this is a genre where women get that opportunity to ... to really do that.

MTV: And what brought you to this particular project?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: So many things. I've seen the original movie, and I was fascinated by it. I thought it was so different than anything I'd ever seen. And then next you hear Sam Raimi [is executive producing it], you go, "Wow, OK, he's pretty great." And then you hear it's shooting in Japan for three months. And then you hear that the original Japanese director is going to direct it. And never before has a Japanese film ever been remade for English-speaking audiences with the original Japanese director. I mean, this is a first. This is a Japanese movie in English. And all those combined made for an opportunity that was really once in a lifetime for me.

MTV: And how was it working with Takashi Shimizu? He doesn't speak very much English. Was it funny? Was it weird?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: It was so much easier than I ever anticipated that it would be. Because you just realize that you don't need language to make friends. That there are other ways in which you can bond with people and get to know them and really get to understand them. And I think Shimizu is pretty well educated in me. I mean, I think that he understands me. He's incredibly intuitive. He's a really smart man. I mean, this man made a movie in a language that he doesn't understand, and I don't think I could do that - that I could go out tomorrow and make a Japanese film.

MTV: Are you worried about how the ending was changed from the original?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: It's not a different ending. It's an epilogue. We added to the film. But I haven't seen the whole ending, I have to be honest. I'm waiting, actually, for the premiere to see it. I have no worries about this film. I am so proud of this film. I'm proud of the job that everyone did. I think it's really different. I think it's really intelligent. I think that audiences are going to get scared, but they're also gonna think. I don't think it's what people are gonna expect from it. I think that it's emotional. I think that it's a kind of tragic story. ... But I'm not worried, because I really like the film, and I think that people will like the film. I think they'll have a good time.

MTV: Since you've worked with all these demons and vampires on TV and all the scary things that you've worked with in the movies, does anything scare you anymore?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: I can easily get scared in a scary movie, as long as the movie is good. Like I said, I like movies that make me feel, and if a movie's good I can get lost in it completely.

MTV: What are you working on next?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: I am working on a vacation. I am working on a little bit of a break, which I've not had in maybe 15 years straight, and I'm excited.

MTV: How much time are you gonna take off?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: I haven't actually decided yet. You know, this was such an amazing experience, and I had such a great time, and I love this project so dearly that I want to wait until I have that feeling again, so I don't know how long.