Starring: Andrea Riseorough, Demian Bechir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, Frankie Faison, William Sadler, Jackie Weaver, Tara Westwood, Zoe Fish, David Lawrence Brown
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 94 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2020
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It is surprising to discover how many versions of The Grudge that have been over the last 20 years. The first film was made in Japan, at the end of the 1990s, a period when there was a great popularity of mysterious stories, ghost stories, mysteries beyond the natural. This is also the period of The Ring which led to a series both in Japan and in the United States.
When The Grudge was remade in the US, it led to a number of sequels. This particular version harks back to the original story, mysterious events in a house in Japan, and then brings a mystery to the US.
It is made clear at the beginning of the film that there is rage and anger involved in the experience of the grudge, that the anger enters into the house and to people within the house. It can be described as a curse. So, this film opens with an American woman leaving a Japanese house, a great sense of unease, movement in garbage bags outside the house… She then returns home to a loving husband and daughter. The setting is 2004.
The plot then moves to 2006 with a recently widowed detective, Muldoon, played by Andrea Riseborough, moving to a Pennsylvania town with her young son who was about to go to school. Her first job in the town is to accompany one of the detectives, Goodman, Demian Bichir, to the scene of a crash in the forest, a skeleton concealed off a service road that was closed during the winter. Detective Muldoon is puzzled by the situation and finds connections with the house described in various police reports which she studies. Goodman warns her against becoming involved.
The story then veers back into 2005 and even back into 2004, two seemingly different stories but involving the same house, the house where the woman returning from Japan reunited with her family.
One story involves an elderly couple, the Mathesons, Lin Shaye and Frankie Faison, she with terminal cancer, he concerned about her health, bringing in an expert in assisting the dying, Lorna Moody, played by Jackie Weaver. It seems that Mrs Matheson has an imaginary friend, the little girl of the original family. Obviously, ghosts in the house, Mrs Matheson’s mind deteriorating, danger to Mr Matheson – and fear to Lorna Moody who rushes, highly agitated, from the house in fear and crashes in the forest.
Another story involves a real estate agent, Peter Spencer, John Cho and his pregnant wife, Betty Gilpin. They are concerned about the health of their unborn child, experience tension, but ultimately, before the ghostly disaster falls on them, to cherish the child. Peter is in the house of the original couple, sees the daughter – which leads to mysterious deaths.
The cast in these stories is quite strong and so they bring some impact, building up the sinister atmosphere. This is compounded by the strange behaviour of a detective previously involved in the case, Detective Wilson, William Sadler, who was so ineffective that he wants to kill himself and finishes in a mental institution, visited by detective Muldoon. Detective Goodman, has a strong religious sense, and avoids visiting the house in question.
So, where else can the screenplay go but to a final confrontation between detective Muldoon and the mysterious presence in in the house and her determination to destroy it and to protect her child.
As with all this kind of ghost story telling, while it seems to move to a satisfying and happy ending, there is always alarm before the final credits that all is not well.
It is worth putting out of mind and the experiences of the previous versions of The Grudge, and accept this one on its own terms.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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