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The Grudge
An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
2004 · Directed by Takashi Shimizu · 92 min · Horror · Mystery · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 13 frames
Tagline
It never forgives. It never forgets.
Plot
The Grudge is a curse, born when someone dies in extreme rage or sorrow and lingers where the person dies. Those who encounter it will die, and the curse is reborn repeatedly, passing from victim to victim in an endless growing chain of horror.
In 2001, Kayako Saeki, a housewife in Tokyo, is in love with her college professor, Peter Kirk, obsessively writing about him in a diary. Her jealous husband Takeo discovers the diary and believes Kayako is having an affair. In a fit of rage, he brutally murders her, their young son Toshio, and their pet cat Mar. After Takeo hides the bodies in the house, Kayako's ghost hangs him with her hair. After receiving a letter from Kayako, Peter visits the Saeki house only to find her and Takeo's corpses and Toshio's ghost. Shocked and horrified, he flees the scene and commits suicide the next day. The remainder of the Saeki family rises again as restless ghosts due to the curse, notably Kayako, who appears as an onryō.
In 2004, the Williams family from America moved into the Saeki house for Matt's job. While Matt is thrilled with the house, his wife Jennifer and dementia-ridden mother Emma feel uncomfortable, the former experiencing culture shock and feeling lost as she can't speak Japanese, and the latter sensing that something is wrong with the house. The curse quickly consumes Matt and Jennifer. Matt's sister Susan is also haunted as the curse follows her back into her apartment. Yoko, a care worker, arrives at the house to find Emma alone before she encounters Kayako, who drags her up into the attic. Concerned about Yoko's disappearance, her employer, Alex, sends another care worker, Karen Davis, to take over the care of Emma. Karen discovers Toshio sealed up in a wardrobe at the house and later witnesses Kayako's spirit descending from the ceilings to claim Emma.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Takashi Shimizu, Stephen Susco
- Cinematography: Hideo Yamamoto
- Edited by: Jeff Betancourt
- Music: Christopher Young
- Production design: Iwao Saitô
- Produced by: Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, Takashige Ichise
Cast
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen Davis
- Jason Behr as Doug McCarthy
- Takako Fuji as Kayako Saeki
- Yuya Ozeki as Toshio Saeki
- William Mapother as Matthew Williams
- Clea DuVall as Jennifer Williams
- KaDee Strickland as Susan Williams
- Grace Zabriskie as Emma Williams
- Bill Pullman as Peter Kirk
- Rosa Blasi as Maria Kirk
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: Japanese, English
- Studios: Ghost House Pictures
- Budget: $10,000,000
- Box office: $183,474,602
- Themes: nurse, house, remake, curse, tokyo, japan, old woman, catatonia, suspenseful, sinister, frightened
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