THE
GRUDGE (2020)
Starring
Andrea Riseborough, Demián
Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver, William
Sadler, Frankie Faison. Directed by Nicholas Pesce. (93 min)
ON
BLU-RAY FROM SONY
Review
by Josey, the Sudden Cat😼
I
was never that enamored with 2004’s The Grudge, mostly
because it felt pretty derivative of The Ring, as did all the
other remakes Hollywood cranked out during its brief infatuation with
J-horror. So my expectations for this belated fourth entry in the
franchise weren’t exactly lofty.
Maybe
that’s why I kind-of enjoyed it.
Despite
the identical title, this isn’t a remake, nor is it exactly a
sequel. The Grudge is more like a spin-off with a prologue
that has an American nurse quitting her job at the same Tokyo house
from the first film, unknowingly bringing the curse back home with
her. A few years later, an investigation by the recently-widowed
Detective Muldoon (Andrea
Riseborough)
loosely
works
as a framing device for the film to tell three
concurrent stories. All of them involve poor bastards unfortunate
enough to have ventured into a suburban house where the titular demon
has taken residence. Like a virus, once someone is exposed, the
little Grudgling follows, along with a variety of violent
pleasantries.
 |
| "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand!" |
None
of it is particularly original, nor are there a ton of surprises.
However, The Grudge makes nice use of its non-linear narrative
to show how the characters from each “story” are ultimately
linked. It also features a strong cast that includes a variety of
familiar character actors, such as John Cho, Demián
Bichir, William Sadler, Frankie Faison
and everyone’s favorite senior scream queen, Lin Shaye. Finally,
the film more-than-earns its
R-rating with some nasty bits of bone-breaking, blood-spattering
violence (though I could have done without seeing a child murdered by
her own mother).
The
Grudge isn’t a great film. A reasonable argument could be made
that it isn’t even a good one. But since I was expecting neither,
it was certainly watchable enough. While bringing nothing new to the
franchise (or horror, in general), the film is efficiently assembled
and doesn’t water-down the mayhem for the mallrat crowd.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES
- “Designing Death” (making of featurette); “The Cast of
the Cursed” (cast & crew featurette)
"EASTER
EGG HAUNT” - Director Nicholas Pesce explains several
references to previous films, as well as the symbolism of recurring
numbers.
DELETED
& ALTERNATE SCENES
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW.
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