DO YOU HAVE A GRUDGE?
American exchange student Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives in Tokyo and gets a job as a care worker, subjecting her to Kayako, a vengeful spirit. The U.S. remake of Ju-on: The Grudge (2003) kept the same director and Japanese locations, but changed other aspects of the story. The results are less effective, even though Takako Fuji and Yuya Ozeki once again play Kayako and the eerie ghost boy. As in the original film, the story is nonlinear, throwing us from one timeline to another, but on the whole itās an empty exercise.
2004-U.S.-Japan. 91 min. Color. Directed byĀ Takashi Shimizu. Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Karen Davis), Jason Behr (Doug McCarthy), William Mapother (Matt Williams), Clea DuVall, Grace Zabriskie, Bill Pullman.
Trivia: Co-produced by Sam Raimi. Followed by three sequels, starting with The Grudge 2 (2006).