I don't understand why this movie gets very poor reviews. My only criticism towards this film is the fact that it just isn't all that scary and shouldn't be in the Horror genre.
I understood it. When people say they didn't understand I have to question their intelligence. The whole movie is out of order.
There was 3 story arcs. One Arc was very boring. The one with the family in America. (Jennifer Beals' storyline). This story starts off with Jennifer Beals' character killing her husband with a fry pan. Then it jumps back before that event happened. Her moving in with him and his children (son and daughter). The little boy starts seeing a odd person whom is now living with the Flemings in the apartment down the hall acting very suspicious and he continues to be curious of that person, after many odd occurrences.
For me I was like "what is the purpose of this storyline?" As you never saw anyone of this family go into the forsaken 'grudge' house. Of course, there is a point to them which you find out in the last maybe, 5 minutes of the film. Even though this part of the story arc ties in nicely the movie would have been better without it.
Another story arc focuses on a loser nerd, Allison (Arielle Kebbel) who attends an International school in Japan. Two 'cool' girls trick her into going in The Grudge house (2 years after Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) set the house on fire)they then trick her into going in the cupboard and close the door. She sees a diary with a strange eye at the front. Then Kayako appears, Allison freaks and runs away. After this she starts seeing odd things and begins seeing the school therapist.
The Last story arc is Aubrey's (The stunning Amber Tamblyn) which is set a few days after the event (Karen setting the house on fire) occurred. She is sent by her mother to bring Karen back to America. In Japan, she sees her sister (Karen) who clearly is now insane, in the hospital. There she meets a very handsome Asian Eason (Edison Chen) who is a reporter and whom also has the grudge curse. On walking out of the hospital Karen falls from the hospital roof and obviously dies. Aubrey is determined to find out what caused her sisters death and Eason helps her. Eason goes back into the house to find out more 'clues'. Aubrey is dragged in there by one of the evil spirits. Towards the end of the film Aubrey goes to see Kayakos mother to see if this will help her, the mother tells her everyone is making the curse worse and that it wont be stopped. Aubrey grabs her hand for help, and she then experiences a flashback. Kayako's mother then realizes that Aubrey has brought Kayako with her and as Aubrey stands dumbfounded, Kayako kills her mother.
Throughout the movie people start to go one by one. The two mean school girls, the school therapist, Eason, the parents in America & their daughter and eventually Allison and Aubrey.
The story all comes together within the last 10 minutes. It shows Aubrey going into the house. She sees Karen's vision and goes upstairs. The diary from when Allison was in the cupboard flips open revealing the drawn eye becoming real and drags Aubrey into the vision. Takeo, the husband who originally killed Kayako kills Aubrey the same way he killed Kayako and she dies of Asphyxia.
It then cuts back to when Allison was locked in the cupboard at the beginning of the film revealing that 'Kayako' was really 'Aubrey'. The little boy, Jake in America runs out of the apartment after discovering his family's deaths. He finds the 'odd' person from the Flemmings apartment in the hallway. This person is finally revealed to be schoolgirl Allison. Allison is taken by Kayako at the end.
Sure the whole movie doesn't make any sense until the 10 remaining minutes, but it makes you think. This movie wasn't really a horror film to me. I did not find the little boy who kills people with his wails scary at all. I think they overused him a bit in this film. It was great though to see a "horror movie" actually have some character building in it though. I really actually cared for Aubrey, Allison and Eason.
In closing, the movie didn't really make any actual ground with the whole 'grudge mystery' and how it can be stopped. It also would have been a lot better if the whole movie focused more on Aubrey's storyline and if Sarah Michelle Gellar had more time on screen in the movie.
If your intelligent give it a go. I thought it was alright.
I understood it. When people say they didn't understand I have to question their intelligence. The whole movie is out of order.
There was 3 story arcs. One Arc was very boring. The one with the family in America. (Jennifer Beals' storyline). This story starts off with Jennifer Beals' character killing her husband with a fry pan. Then it jumps back before that event happened. Her moving in with him and his children (son and daughter). The little boy starts seeing a odd person whom is now living with the Flemings in the apartment down the hall acting very suspicious and he continues to be curious of that person, after many odd occurrences.
For me I was like "what is the purpose of this storyline?" As you never saw anyone of this family go into the forsaken 'grudge' house. Of course, there is a point to them which you find out in the last maybe, 5 minutes of the film. Even though this part of the story arc ties in nicely the movie would have been better without it.
Another story arc focuses on a loser nerd, Allison (Arielle Kebbel) who attends an International school in Japan. Two 'cool' girls trick her into going in The Grudge house (2 years after Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) set the house on fire)they then trick her into going in the cupboard and close the door. She sees a diary with a strange eye at the front. Then Kayako appears, Allison freaks and runs away. After this she starts seeing odd things and begins seeing the school therapist.
The Last story arc is Aubrey's (The stunning Amber Tamblyn) which is set a few days after the event (Karen setting the house on fire) occurred. She is sent by her mother to bring Karen back to America. In Japan, she sees her sister (Karen) who clearly is now insane, in the hospital. There she meets a very handsome Asian Eason (Edison Chen) who is a reporter and whom also has the grudge curse. On walking out of the hospital Karen falls from the hospital roof and obviously dies. Aubrey is determined to find out what caused her sisters death and Eason helps her. Eason goes back into the house to find out more 'clues'. Aubrey is dragged in there by one of the evil spirits. Towards the end of the film Aubrey goes to see Kayakos mother to see if this will help her, the mother tells her everyone is making the curse worse and that it wont be stopped. Aubrey grabs her hand for help, and she then experiences a flashback. Kayako's mother then realizes that Aubrey has brought Kayako with her and as Aubrey stands dumbfounded, Kayako kills her mother.
Throughout the movie people start to go one by one. The two mean school girls, the school therapist, Eason, the parents in America & their daughter and eventually Allison and Aubrey.
The story all comes together within the last 10 minutes. It shows Aubrey going into the house. She sees Karen's vision and goes upstairs. The diary from when Allison was in the cupboard flips open revealing the drawn eye becoming real and drags Aubrey into the vision. Takeo, the husband who originally killed Kayako kills Aubrey the same way he killed Kayako and she dies of Asphyxia.
It then cuts back to when Allison was locked in the cupboard at the beginning of the film revealing that 'Kayako' was really 'Aubrey'. The little boy, Jake in America runs out of the apartment after discovering his family's deaths. He finds the 'odd' person from the Flemmings apartment in the hallway. This person is finally revealed to be schoolgirl Allison. Allison is taken by Kayako at the end.
Sure the whole movie doesn't make any sense until the 10 remaining minutes, but it makes you think. This movie wasn't really a horror film to me. I did not find the little boy who kills people with his wails scary at all. I think they overused him a bit in this film. It was great though to see a "horror movie" actually have some character building in it though. I really actually cared for Aubrey, Allison and Eason.
In closing, the movie didn't really make any actual ground with the whole 'grudge mystery' and how it can be stopped. It also would have been a lot better if the whole movie focused more on Aubrey's storyline and if Sarah Michelle Gellar had more time on screen in the movie.
If your intelligent give it a go. I thought it was alright.