The Grudge

Rating:

This movie was pretty lame.

Ann and I rented it, well, actually, I rented it and then I made Ann watch it with me because I am such a baby about scary movies. It’s strange. I love scary movies, but I hate being scared. At one point Ann said she wanted to get the laundry and I had to set her straight: “From now on, we move only in pairs. And stay in the light.”

In my defense, I saw the Ring, knew that it was a Japanese adaptation, and let my racial prejudice blind me into thinking that they had an innate talent for remakes of scary Japanese movies. Well, the lesson is, racial prejudice is bad.

So the movie started off well enough. A freaky intro. Some interesting special effects. And scary dead kids. One problem it had though was its star. I just kept looking at Sarah Michelle Gellar and thinking alternately, “What’s Buffy doing outside of Sunnydale?” and, “What’s with that girl’s NOSE?” You have to admit, she has a weird schnozz.

Anyway, the movie became ridiculous about halfway through, and even though it kept using the same tricks, I only got more and more bored with them. The plot reveal is nothing interesting, and the ending was anticlimatic. It was also handicapped with the amount of real horror it could generate and maintain a PG-13 rating.

If you really really like scary movies, you might rent this after you have seen everything made with an A or B list star (I consider Sarah Michelle B list). You have to get to Cory Feldman or Billy Zane before The Grudge starts looking worthwhile.