Wintertijd

The Grudge

Last night I did something I'd never really done before. I went to a horror movie in the movie theatre. The reason I hadn't gone to a horror movie before is that Michael Jackson destroyed the genre for me. In the early eighties when I was seven or eight, I saw the premiere of his video Thriller, and ever since I haven't been able or inclined to watch horror movies.

Aside from the must-sees like the Excorcist and Rosemary's Baby, I missed out on all of them. Until I read about the Grudge. I'm somewhat of a sucker for Manga and Japan-related movies, so I figured a Japanese horror flick ought to be interesting. With my colleague Mattias at my side I collected all the guts I could muster and went to see it.

And boy, was I not disappointed. Basically this was some of the scariest shit I've seen in my life. The basic story is that a family is murdered while the victims are in a state of extreme rage or sadness, and that event stains the house where this happens, destroying all that cross the grudge's path. I will not tell you more about the hows and whys, except that there was use of non-linear storytelling which means you have to keep watching to get it all.

Story and suspense aside, the filming was great. Eerily yet beautifully shot, the movie offers a lot of eye candy. Sound effects and style suggest that the director is a great fan of the less is more credo, which works very well for this type of film. The whole thing made me want to go see the four (!) original Japanese movies by the same director.

The fact that this re-make stars some Americans in Japan didn't disturb me. Quite the opposite, it only added to the desparate sense of isolation of the characters. There was a lot of symbology that seems out of place in typical western horror stories, and a complete lack of christianity-related themes, which made for an interesting watch. A lot of focus on eyes and hair with fleeting images and a lot of things that are implied rather than graphically shown.

If you want to get seriously frightened, this is the movie to go see. I'll give it 5 out of 5 points.

Posted by Chris at February 9, 2005 10:25 PM