 The Grudge, the latest American remake of a Japanese horror film, comes hot on the heels of its overseas predecessor, Ju-On: The Grudge. Certainly, Hollywood deserves some criticism for this latest craze - it won't give decent distribution to these Japanese creep-fests, but it will make PG-13 remakes of them. The Ring was a so-so remake of a so-so original, Ringu, but The Grudge certainly has the edge: producer Sam Raimi is behind it, and the American version has the same director as the Japanese original. What's even more striking is that each film is just as good as the other.
Ju-On (coming to DVD on November 9th) is a prime example of Japanese horror: slow-moving, quietly intense (and intensely quiet), creepy as all hell and borderline nonsensical. The latter element might actually be the greatest strength of the Japanese horror film: Asian directors understand that horror doesn't necessarily need a clear explanation for (or clean resolution of) its premise. Horror, more than any other genre, finds its strength in an emotional response from the audience, which doesn't necessarily have to lend itself to a narrative thru-line. If anything, these stories are based on a visceral, emotional journey, not one of cause, effect, explanation and resolution.
Ju-On certainly tells its story from such a subconscious level: jumping backward and forward in time, the story centers on a house where a violent double murder took place. Legend has it that when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, the place (in this case, the house) where this happened is forever cursed, and the curse is passed on to anyone who enters the area. Why? Because. Ju-On, while at its heart is a haunted house story, embraces the simplicity and vagueness of myth without any attempt at explanation, and you either go along for the ride or you don't. Don't look for any "You only moved the headstones!" type of revelations, because there are none.
Ju-On is a low-budget effort from director Takashi Shimizu, and he's quite skilled at making the lack of resources work to his advantage. He's an expert at creating tension and delivering scares, using excellent cinematography and a firm control of tone rather than special effects and SUDDEN LOUD SOUND CUES. His story follows several individuals as they are affected by the curse throughout the years, creating a never-ending domino effect of terror from which there is no escape. If anything, that may be the story's major weakness: There's absolutely no way out. Evil (or is it sadness?) prevails, period. Look past the film's many strengths and start thinking about it too hard and you may wonder, well, ultimately: What's the point of telling such a story? A minor quibble, fortunately: Ju-On, if nothing else, is here to scare us, and scare us it does.
Which brings us to The Grudge. What's most remarkable about the remake is that Hollywood (and I'm 
sure Sam Raimi's protection of his director had something to do with this) didn't feel the need to try to explain anything. The premise behind The Grudge is just as vague as the original, and, apparently, American audiences are willing to accept that. In fact, the film seems to delight in its own narrative abstraction - there's a genuine sense of freedom here, a horror film that doesn't feel like it's trapped by genre conventions or audience expectations. It's also tightly structured and disciplined, with almost every scene following a strict (and effective) pattern of an intense lull followed by a payoff shock. Only the appearance of Hollywood stars provides any sort of distraction from the creepy goings-on.
Let's get to that: the cast, for the most part, is strong, but the casting reeks of Hollywood's need to have familiar stars to look at in these kind of movies. The film, like the original, takes place in Japan, but we need to have the main characters be American, of course. Look, there's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, going back to the scream-queen kind of role she did in Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Look, there's Bill Pullman, looking as confused as he did in David Lynch's Lost Highway. Look, there's Ted Raimi, he's in it because his brother is the producer. Look, there's Jason Behr...who the hell is Jason Behr, and what the hell is he doing in this movie? Oh yeah, Buffy needs a good-looking boyfriend with stubble and a shaggy haircut, even if he has absolutely nothing to do with the plot.
Hollywood, like the schoolyard bully it is, certainly makes its presence known (this is the AMERICAN version, dammit!) with such casting, but ultimately it does little damage. The Grudge, like Ju-On before it, is short on character development (it seems like some characters die before we've even learned their name) but long on good, strong scares, which is more than can be said for about 95% of the horror films of the last ten years or so. With this and Saw, it's quite remarkable that Hollywood has more treats than tricks this year for Halloween.
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