FILM REVIEW
The Grudge
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Clea Duvall,
Bill Pullman
Classification: 13V
Running Time: 91 min
Opens On: 10 Dec 2004
"JU-ON: a curse born of a grudge held by someone who dies in the grip
of powerful angers. It gathers in the places frequented by that person in
life, working its spell on those who come into contact with it and thus
creating itself anew."
It's a supernatural phenomenon that occurs when a person dies while in an
enraged emotional state. Their soul becomes a tortured ghost (called an
onryou) bent on making the living who stumble upon their domain of terror
suffer unspeakable horrors. The curse thereby constantly propagates itself
by being passed around from host to host in a manner akin to a virus.
The Grudge stars Sarah Michelle as a Tokyo resident working to become a
nurse. She lives a relatively idyllic existence with her boyfriend Doug
(Jason Behr) until the day Alex, Karen's boss, asks her to care for Claire
- an elderly American woman who is near catatonic - who lives with her son
and daughter-in-law, Matthew and Jennifer. While checking in on Claire,
Karen discovers an escalating series of unexplained phenomena including
apparitions of the undead. Eventually, these events lead her to discover a
young boy who is tied up in a closet with his hands and feet taped
together.
It's up to Karen and Doug to discover exactly who is responsible for this
and what is going on with all of the strange events unfolding before their
eyes.
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