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This year’s film calendar begins with a thorny proposition: a ruthless arthouse director in charge of a studio project (excellent) that also happens to be the second American remake of a half-scary 2002 Japanese feature (not promising). Is there a horror film that you can suggest based on its heinousness? Meet Nicolas Pesce’s reimagining of “The Grudge,” which is often as gruesome as you want it to be, jump scares and generic packaging notwithstanding.
Pesce’s script is still based on Takashi Shimizu’s original script (who did the 2004 American remake of his film “Ju-on”), and it’s about a Japanese mansion cursed by a murder committed in a fit of passion, and the otherworldly creature that travels with anyone who has been in the house (in this version, an American woman brings it stateside before the opening credits). Pesce orchestrates a deep, frightening atmosphere, where unhappy humans must handle their own heavy grief, as well as the mysterious, space-invading monsters that crop up in the dark, rather than fretting about who’s who in a fresh narrative of cursed people.
One of the first things you notice about this film is how depressing it is—characters are introduced with the harsh cards that fate has dealt them, the type that no one wants. Take, for example, Andrea Riseborough’s Detective Muldoon, who has recently relocated to Cross River after her husband died of illness. She learns about a house on 44 Reyburn Drive that has ties to other long-forgotten murder cases in town, such as one from 2005 involving a real estate agent named Peter (John Cho) and his wife Nina (Betty Gilpin)—we meet them as they receive life-changing news about the baby she’s carrying, and it lingers between their silences for the duration of the film. The arc’s gut punch comes from what happens one night when Peter leaves the Reyburn home, not from supernatural pranks that follow Peter. Also, you must try to play this The Grudge quiz.
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For good measure, the film includes a plot about a Reyburn resident (Frankie Faison) who wishes to euthanize his loving wife of nearly 50 years (with the assistance of a “compassionate presence” played by Jacki Weaver) due to her failing mental state. And he’d like to do it in the Reyburn house because of his pitiful yearning to control the property’s shaky boundaries between life and death. In a brief monologue, Faison encapsulates a lot of sorrow, and it’s one of many instances in which “The Grudge” labors over plot elements that are often overlooked in less imaginative horror entertainment. Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Grudge quiz.
The horrific spectacle of pain gets a lot of mileage in Pesce’s “The Grudge,” probably best defined by a moment that introduces horror legend Lin Shaye. As someone enters inside the shadowy Reyburn house to check what all the hubbub is about, she’s only heard as the sobbing voice of a lady. Shaye’s back is turned, but her cries are audible and terrifying, and that’s before she takes a step forward and into the light, revealing her hands. Pesce then brings us to another one of his hallmark unsettling pictures of life’s abandonment—a perfectly gnarly corpse, highlighted by the abrupt fuzz of a TV screen—in this well-calibrated scene.
Pesce’s story (writing credit shared with Jeff Buhler) is like an ensemble film, with recognized faces providing emotional fortification for lean character information, much like Shimizu’s original film did. All of Pesce’s supporting performers (including Demian Bechir, who looks like he’s ready to take over a season of “True Detective”) emphasize how fragile and defenseless these characters are, emphasizing how awful it would be for a horrible force to make them suffer even more. In the end, it’s Riseborough’s show as she investigates the house’s entire history, but everyone gets their own harrowing sequence, and there’s a satisfying genre thrill in seeing an actor like William Sadler (who plays a detective who cursed himself by investigating a murder years ago) tear through a flashback that shows how he was driven insane, which includes some great body horror). The same can be said for Jacki Weaver, who is more captivating in a scenario in which she is tortured at a grocery store than the bizarre events taking place around her. But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Grudge quiz.
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Pesce manages a seamlessness while handling these different lives in multiple timeframes, resulting in a background that is more about the entity’s kill total than individual characters. But he maintains a steady pace throughout, repeating the same story of how these people unknowingly cursed themselves, falling prey to a force that has no logic other than to come in the shadows, be angry, and be consistent. The supernatural power that strikes these folks in Pesce’s hands isn’t like Shimizu’s bad-luck ghost, but is as constant and relentless as sadness itself.
“The Grudge” by Pesce frequently leads his generally strong cast to a jump-scare, and those jolts are the film’s least interesting feature. Not simply because of their generic composition (though Pesce can wind them up like a pro), but also because of the pay-off: watching shadowy, damp creatures scream with their eyes blacked out, occasionally accompanied by the ridiculous slow croaking sound that has become canon thanks to “The Grudge.” There’s some creepy stuff involving tubs and showers, but it’s more like “Grudge” visual clues than separate uncomfortable scenes. In “The Grudge,” there are far too many peekaboos for what makes the film enjoyable, and by the third act, they’ve become an awkward part of the transaction of viewing a horror film made by a studio in desperate need of a decent trailer.
Despite the fact that movie isn’t really terrifying, “The Grudge” excels at being uncomfortable. It’s a good fit for Pesce, whose brutal directorial debut “The Eyes of My Mother” is a must-see for any horror lover who hasn’t seen it; it’s an act of emotional terrorism on the audience as well as the characters. Even though there are times when “The Grudge” feels like watching an artisanal chef cook cereal, that vision shines through most of the time. Pesce is certainly leading with heart, and an astonishing lack of it, in crafting a top contender for the feel-bad movie of 2020.
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