Karen takes on Japan!
Join BP, Coop and Justin as we discuss The Grudge, the 2004 J-horror film starring Buffy aka Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Spoilers ahead!
The Grudge describes a curse that is born when someone dies in the grip of extreme rage or sorrow, created where the person died. Those who encounter the curse die, and the curse is reborn repeatedly, passing from victim to victim in an endless, growing chain of horror. The following events are explained in their actual order, however, the film is presented in a nonlinear narrative.
In 2001, Kayako Saeki, a housewife living in suburban Tokyo, is in love with college professor Peter Kirk, obsessively writing about him in a diary. Her husband Takeo becomes jealous as he discovers the diary and believes that Kayako is having an affair with another man. Takeo brutally murders her, and their young son Toshio for walking in on the murder, and the pet cat Mar in a fit of rage. 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 both her and Takeo's corpses along with Toshio's ghost. Shocked, he flees the scene and commits suicide the next day. The remainder of the Saeki family rise again as ghosts due to the curse, notably Kayako, who appears as an onryō.
In 2004, the Williams family from America move into the Saeki house. While Matt is thrilled with the house, his wife Jennifer and dementia-ridden mother Emma feel uncomfortable. Matt and Jennifer are quickly consumed by the curse.
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. At the house, Karen discovers Toshio sealed up in a wardrobe and later on witnesses Kayako's spirit descending from the ceilings to claim Emma.
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In late 2002, the unexpected success of the English-language remake of The Ring finally gave Sony Pictures confidence to green-light an English-language remake of Ju-On: The Grudge. That same day, Takashi Shimizu, the director and creator of the original film, was hired to direct the film, with Stephen Susco writing the screenplay, and Sam Raimi through its Ghost House Pictures banner producing the project, alongside Robert Tapert and Takashige Ichise. Shimizu was eager to work on a remake of his own film, as he saw it as an opportunity to improve and fix some of the perceived problems and flaws that were present in the original film.
Principal photography on the film began on January 26, 2004, with reshoots occurring in July 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. Sarah Michelle Gellar filmed her scenes in Tokyo within three months before returning for the reshoots.
In late 2002, the unexpected success of the English-language remake of The Ring finally gave Sony Pictures confidence to green-light an English-language rem
