The Grodge

I'm pretty clearly on the record for loving the Ju-on movies, so I was savouring watching the 2020 version. Okay, sure, small hitch with certain events closing down cinemas, but we live in a connected world so it wasn't that much a problem.

After having been to a certain house in Japan, Fiona Launders returns home, and a new cycle begins. Later there's a cop, and she investigates Fiona's house. And there are other people living there. And there is someone else in a car. And there's another detective, who is obsessed with what happened. And there are other people too.

What you might be able to tell is that there is a lot of people in this movie. What you might not be able to tell is there is not a lot of scares or deaths. By halfway through a normal Grudge movie, half the cast would have been killed in gruesome ways! In this, we're still introducing new people! (The movie jumps about in time.) This is sort of saving up the death scares for the end, but... what we actually get is a really boring movie with just a whole of people and not much happening. A Grudge movie shouldn't be boring, but this is!

There is the usual palaver of ghosts sort of being seen and random jump scares, but they aren't effective. Well, except one. Otherwise they are all telegraphed and you just wait for... there it is!

The director, Nicholas Pesce, has ideas for a sequel. And this was supposed to be a reboot, but he tied it in anyway. After this, then yes, let's reboot, but give it to someone else.

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