This, coming from the people who brought us Pokemon and the Power Rangers.

I watched The Grudge the other night.

Now that I’ve gone and said that, you probably want a review or something. Gah. You people. You’re so insatiable. Always with the reading of my blog, and wanting to know what I think about stuff. Is there no end? Must you insist on hearing my every thought, every electrical impulse that arcs between the cells in my brain? Can’t I just write for me?

So, anyways, The Grudge stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and features Bill Pullman. It’s about this nursing student Karen (Gellar) who has traveled to Japan with her boyfriend (Guy whose name I can’t remember). There, she is sent to care for this elderly woman (not important) in this house, as it seems Yoko, the person who normally took care of her, didn’t come into work one day. Eh, I’m not spoiling anything, Yoko buys it in the first scene. Anyhoo, Karen hits the place up, sees really weird things, and strange stuff starts happening, people start dying, etc., etc.

The movie follows standard horror movie fare, and all the scares are predictable. Nothing that will keep you up at night. Actually, I found myself laughing at most of what was to be considered “scary.” What really stumps me about this flick is that there’s really not a point. The concept of the house, and what happened there, and why all that is bad is explained in the opening credits, but is never really built on. Tack on a car-wreck ending^*, and you’ve got a movie that doesn’t make a lot of sense. There seems to be no reason why the spooks are offing anyone aside from the fact that they’re “supposed” to, and there’s no good explanation as to why some of the people who died, well, died. Apparently, just being in the presence of ghosts or zombies makes people die. Why? Because human beings are stupid, cowardly people who don’t know how to fight or run away. Okay, I’m getting away from myself.

Production wise, the movie doesn’t shatter any molds. The acting is decent enough, with Gellar putting in a decent enough performance with the ability to scream on cue. Visually, it looks a lot like Japan, which is probably a good thing, given that’s where the story takes place. The special effects were limited, which seemed oddly appropriate for something with Sam Raimi’s name on it.

My girlfriend once said that she doesn’t hold grudges because it takes too much effort and life is too short. That’s very good advice, and very applicable to this movie.

-D out.

*Car-wreck ending: A ending so sudden, you don't see it coming and refuse to believe it's ended until the credits start to roll.