The Grudge
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: October 22, 2004
3.5
USER SCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 272 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
73
Mixed:
46
Negative:
153
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
1
AlexAug 25, 2010
A terrible, NOT scary, and practically un-followable film. For example, the young Chinese child? There is no explanation to why he is there, nor why he has a black cat with him? Also, if the grudge thing kills people, how did she survive whenA terrible, NOT scary, and practically un-followable film. For example, the young Chinese child? There is no explanation to why he is there, nor why he has a black cat with him? Also, if the grudge thing kills people, how did she survive when it appeared under her duvet cover? When Yoko climbs into the loft close to the beginning, and sees the grudge things head, it is just...not scary. I've seen scarier things in children's movies. The jumpy edge to the film is almost non existent, and therefore, there is no horror in the film whatsoever. I do say, the scene in which the grudge thing is following her around the building is mildly scary. Although, how it got out the loft is beyond me. I personally think that, this is a poorly made film. If your'e looking for a real scare, try Blair witch (not the sequel, Blair witch 2 was far worse than the grudge) and Paranormal Activity. 1/10. Why? It managed to get me tense enough to jump when someone opened the front door.… Expand
9 of 9 users found this helpful90
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2
mbeckfordApr 7, 2013
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. THE ONLY POTENTIAL SPOILER IS THAT I DESCRIBE THE ESSENCE OF NEARLY ALL Japanese HORROR SCENES)

The rule of thumb for watching any Japanese horror film that is remade in Hollywood is to go for the original, subtitles be damned. The one exception is The Ring.

The Grudge remake, made by the exact same director of the original, is a series of confusing, disconnected creepy scenes until the end where you kinda-sorta get an explanation. No plot. Just typical stupid horror movie characters doing stupid things. "Oh, let's go check out that really creepy sound all by myself after I found my wife/mother/girlfriend/pet dead/catatonic/(insert-state-of-being-here)."

Having seen nearly all the Japanese horror flicks, there is a clear culture of fear of long black hair, water and eyeballs or mouths that are stretched/blacked out via PhotoshopCGI. When you experience it for the first time, it's scary. The second time, it's interesting. For the third, fourth, it's yaaawwwwwnnnn.… Expand
7 of 7 users found this helpful70
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3
teddy1984ltMar 12, 2016
It's not very scary or even makes that much sense.....................................................................................................
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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1
MetalMan95Dec 22, 2010
Not Scary. This movie basically rocked me to sleep. I did not jump, wasnt even creeped out. this was boring and WAYYYY too short. The acting left alot to be desired, the dialogue was OK, nothing big, and i wasnt even entertained.
7 of 8 users found this helpful71
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3
TTW107Feb 10, 2012
Absolute utter trash. I was a tiny bit scared of this when It came out when I was 13 but even then I knew it was a god awful movie. A disgrace to the horror genre and movies as a whole.
10 of 12 users found this helpful102
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0
nashville13Nov 2, 2011
Oh My Gross, I hate "Ju-on" Style movie. This movie are silly-dumb.... very bad scary movie ever!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 of 6 users found this helpful51
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3
RikiegeJan 24, 2013
One of the most boring movies I've ever seen. BAD and many minor scenes.
7 of 10 users found this helpful73
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3
PanchogulMay 17, 2020
Un remake que no es ni la mitad de aterrador de lo que fue su versión original, el hecho de que ambas versiones compartan al mismo director no dice mucho, además, haber puesto a Sarah Michelle Gellar sólo hace que este Remake sea aún peor yaUn remake que no es ni la mitad de aterrador de lo que fue su versión original, el hecho de que ambas versiones compartan al mismo director no dice mucho, además, haber puesto a Sarah Michelle Gellar sólo hace que este Remake sea aún peor ya que es una horrible actriz.… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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2
54321peaceDec 6, 2013
the grudge is ok but the ring is waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than this so is halloween and house of 1000 corpses the woman in black! that is all i have to say.
3 of 7 users found this helpful34
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0
BenB.Oct 2, 2005
This movie is.....wait, scratch that, I don't even consider this piece of garbage a MOVIE! I don't even know where to begin..... No suspense involved here, and WHY OH WHY does she keep going back to that stupid house!!! If she This movie is.....wait, scratch that, I don't even consider this piece of garbage a MOVIE! I don't even know where to begin..... No suspense involved here, and WHY OH WHY does she keep going back to that stupid house!!! If she KNOWS something bad is there then WHY GO BACK! And don't call me a harsh critic because i've never ever said a movie to be as bad as this one, in fact before this, the lowest level of a movie I had seen was a "meh". The movie was confusing all around and didn't really give the viewers a sense of relevance to keep on watching. But the most confusing thing about this movie is, above all else, why the critics loved it so much?… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
0
SammyFeb 7, 2006
This movie is so bad. I never got scared once. It's a pathetic attempt to copy The Ring. I hate it so much, and you will too.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
0
AndrewH.Jun 29, 2006
I really hate this movie. It's a rip off of The Ring and they tell it out of order for no reason at all, just to confuse you. This movie is just really, really stupid.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
[Anonymous]Jun 18, 2007
Give it an extra 2 for nice horror, but for the rest, I call it trash, very bad plotting.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
0
lelouchMFOct 26, 2014
Who understand the history of this movie CONGRATULATIONS BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPER MAN !!!!! Not even a little scary and completely nauseating making you almost puke (seriously) . I thought it was the best horror movie I've ever watch beforeWho understand the history of this movie CONGRATULATIONS BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPER MAN !!!!! Not even a little scary and completely nauseating making you almost puke (seriously) . I thought it was the best horror movie I've ever watch before going to see it . Complete disappointment… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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3
wdz3zaraJan 28, 2016
Noioso e non molto pauroso. La trama di base è striminzita. Magari inizialmente non sembra essere un flop, ma una volta arrivati a metà film inizi a comprendi la sua totale insufficienza.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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1
bartcbemNov 20, 2019
Not scary, did not make much sense, lacking anything remarkable. Don't even remember character names after watching. Also too little Bill Pullman. Seriously, what was the point of this movie?
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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3
DawdlingPoetNov 28, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'd say that the most comparable movie of its type, to this (that I can think of anyway) is The Ring and if I were to compare the two, The Ring is a better movie, in my opinion. This movie is a horror/thriller which very much relies on the constant sinister element to keep you on your toes, to keep you watching. There's heavy use of violins to create the suspense, the buildings seem quite sort of 'clinical', there's alot of greys, alot of dark shots where your left trying to follow the line of sight of the characters on screen, searching for clues as to where the sinister noise is coming from, although it isn't just the strange noises that peak the interest but you can tell the characters on screen feel compelled somehow to follow some intangible aura...creepy, huh? ehh..I do tend to be sceptical of these sorts of movies but having seen a few, I really don't think this is among the best. I kept watching the movie yet I kept feeling that I simply 'wasn't buying it', which is for a variety of reasons, which I'll explain now.

I'd say that the first reason for this is that the story, as it unravelled, became confusing to me - I say this in as much as the scenes kept cutting between different time frames and I found it hard to keep track of the timeline. I thought the characters and the roles they played were also a bit unclear at times, although that may be more down to me not keep proper track.

I also didn't find it very believable (surprise, surprise(!)) in terms of Karens ability to escape the situations she found herself in. I do like a good thriller that grabs you and you feel compelled to follow it through to see the final outcome for the main character, the good guy/gal but I only bedgrudginly watched it through to the end as it reached a point where it felt quite predictable and I could have guessed the ending.

Another issue for me was when the 'curse', this sinister element was shown visually on screen - maybe I'm a bit harsh as a critic but I have to say, I found it more comical than genuinely scary. It may have been better if they hadn't included the ocassional scene showing the 'deathly' or 'otherwordly' figure, it kind of spoiled it for me a bit - in movies such as The Blair Witch Project, it works due to the fact that its up to us, the viewer, to have an image in our minds of what this unspeakable horror is but we get a few too many glimpses in this movie and I simply didn't feel that it worked well.

What I think did work pretty well were some of the shocked faces, the stoney, lifeless expressions that appeared throughout. Unfortunately, overall I feel there's little credibility to make up for it really - it has quite an American feel to it and knowing it was based on a Japanese/Asian original, this is another of those movies where you hear that the original is much better than whats seen by some as a lazy remake making use of a popular cast to basically partially guarantee revenue - I imagine the original is alot scarier, with a higher age rating to reflect that. I'd say that this movie doesn't scare me but thats not to say that it couldn't instill fear in other people, it does have a bit of a sinister feel to it and some scenes would certainly scare if not disturb younger viewers, so I would definitely not encourage children to watch it, but if this type of movie is your 'kinda thing', I'd say there are better examples out there.

It seems only fair to mention, after the criticism I've given towards the film, that I didn't feel compelled to switch it off, there was something about it which was rather eery and peaked my interest somewhat, although I didn't by any means feel like I was right at the edge of my seat, I did follow it through to the end and as such I feel it would be perhaps a bit harsh to give it a 1 star rating. I'm also aware that movies like this with this sort of story aren't entirely my cup of tea (I do wonder why I keep watching them I suppose but even so, I recognise what I believe to be better made examples of this type of movie) but others can get more 'into them' and as such, I'm going to slightly give it the benefit of the doubt and issue it with a 2 star rating but given I've seen similar movies which I felt more 'involved with' and I felt had a more original plot, I just can't say that this is worth considering above them, so I have to give it a low rating.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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3
313btfuJan 7, 2020
Jarring leaps through time and nonsensical character behavior and motivations don't assist a film that's plot could likely have been contained in a 30 minute short film. A truly unsettling backstory and gruesome, disturbing imagery areJarring leaps through time and nonsensical character behavior and motivations don't assist a film that's plot could likely have been contained in a 30 minute short film. A truly unsettling backstory and gruesome, disturbing imagery are highlights of an otherwise lackluster, run-of-the-mill horror film.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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2
Patrick90Oct 18, 2022
I remember going to see this in theaters walked out after 15 mins cause it was so bad then a bunch of people I knew told me it got really good and I should give it another shot so rented then watched it all and I was ticked I lost over anI remember going to see this in theaters walked out after 15 mins cause it was so bad then a bunch of people I knew told me it got really good and I should give it another shot so rented then watched it all and I was ticked I lost over an hour of my life I would never get back… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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