I remember being scared of this movie when I saw the first trailer but still intrigued enough to watch it. I hadn't seen any proper Japanese horror pictures at that time. I didn't even know that The Grudge is a remake at that time. In other words I wasn't prepared for how this picture played out.
This film is told out of sequence. It starts technically the day after the major impetus for the story of this movie takes place and subsequently bounces back and forth in time. In my experience most people are unaware of the out of sequence way that the picture is told the first time that they watch it.
In the opening credits the audience is informed that if someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage a curse (Ju-On) is born. This curse stays in that place and anyone who comes in contact with the curse will be consumed by it. To make matters worse, there is nothing that can be done to stop it in theory.
In this film the curse happens to be in a house in Japan. You can walk by it, you can look at the house from the outside. But once you set foot in the house, you are doomed to be consumed by the curse. It doesn't matter if you are the nicest person who wouldn't hurt a fly or if you've never done anything wrong or if you didn't know about the curse. The house looks fairly ordinary from outside. What's interesting is that, throughout this picture (and the subsequent sequel), anyone who goes into the house is unnerved at least slightly. It's as if they sense that something is wrong in that house even though they have no knowledge of the events that took place that resulted in the curse.
The picture features a family that moves into the house after the curse is born and any visitors that enter the house as well. The family consists of Matthew (played by William Mapother), his wife Jennifer (played by Clea Duvall), and his mother Emma (played by Grace Zabriskie). Matthew's sister Susan (played by KaDee Strickland) also lives in town but not near the house. Since Emma has dementia, a home nurse named Yoko (played by Yoko Maki) is hired to come help care for Emma.
When Yoko doesn't show up for work one day, an American college student named Karen (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) who also works at the center that Yoko works for is sent to the house to help. After mysterious deaths start occurring and after witnessing the strange death of Emma first hand, Karen starts looking for answers as to what happened in the house. After she finds out about the curse, her search begins to find a way to beat the curse.
The film is very atmospheric in its horror. It definitely has some jump moments. Many people that I know of are bothered by the distinct sound that the main ghost Kayako (played by Takako Fuji) makes. Incidentally the sound that she makes is in fact performed by the director and writer of this picture Takashi Shimizu. Further the reason for the sound is explained in the sequel to this picture The Grudge 2.
All in all a very good horror picture. If you don't like horror pictures, I would say that I can appreciate that but this film is worth giving a try. It isn't gory at least and there is barely a scene of sensuality. The imagery is disturbing so watch with caution. Probably not for small children.
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