LogFAQs > #946301918

DAY 25.1: Ju-On: The Grudge
On Amazon Prime

So I had a lot of complaints about the American version of this movie. It was interesting seeing the original Japanese version instead.

Enter the house. You die. Meowing ghost. Croaking. Etc.

I gave a proper summary of the American version and it's more or less the same. A lot of this will also be a comparison to the American version.

I'll start by saying the Japanese version is better. It just is. I had a big complaint about the sister part in the US version seeming irrelevant but it makes a lot more sense here. It also doesn't follow ace detective Sarah Michelle Gellar, so that helps.

The US takes a lot of identical scares for the Japanese version, and it shows. I think that the one new scare in the US version I really liked was actually absent from this movie (fans who have seen both probably know what I'm talking about).

This film seems a lot more concise with it's storytelling. It doesn't meander around. It gets right to it and barely even gives you background. Again, it's meant to just get in there and unsettle and scare you and get out. It does a great job of that.

The scares feel more effective in the Japanese version as well, simply by virtue of knowing how to subtly scare or unsettle you and the narrative being concise enough it doesn't let you have much time to breathe. I really just love the way this story goes down and it doesn't feel, and you guys probably know what I'm talking about, not Americanized so hard.

I recommend people watch the original Ju-On. I think it's rather outstanding at what it does and it understood how to do it effectively.

Rating: 8/10

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