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by Willie Waffle

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The Grudge

A scary movie in time for Halloween! At least some movie studios understand what kind of mood we are in during October. I don't want to deck the halls. I want to scream in terror and hide my eyes (like at a Jennifer Lopez movie, or when I stand naked in front of my mirror). Sadly, The Grudge's scares aren't accompanied by much else.

Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Karen - a foreign exchange student from America studying in Japan along with her boyfriend, Doug (Jason Behr). She's working for some sort of unexplained elderly care facility, and takes a new assignment when co-worker Yoko suddenly disappears (much the way Paul, George and Ringo wished she had suddenly disappeared). Tasked with caring for a non-speaking, elderly American woman, Emma (Grace Zabriskie, a familiar face to Seinfeld fans), Karen is surprised to find a mysterious young Japanese boy, and loads of trouble.

Why is he there? Who is he? What's with that knocking in the attic?

When will these people in horror movies learn? If you hear some knocking around in the attic, just leave it alone. When sent to takeover for a co-worker who vanished into thin air, ask if the house is haunted. You only have yourself to blame when the ghosts try to reach out, grab you and drag your screaming self into another dimension.

The Grudge has many scares, but not much of a story to keep us interested. Director Takashi Shimizu gives us plenty of chilling, spooky, downright creepy and freaky deaky stuff to make you sleep with the lights on for 2 weeks, but the movie doesn't do enough to satisfy our intellectual and inquisitive needs in a ghost story. We learn about the entity haunting the house, and how it got there, but it's very cursory and never dramatic.

Writer Stephen Susco (based on Shimizu's original) could have added a touch more complexity and twists to help heighten the tension instead of relying on Shimizu to do it all visually, especially to help explain the entity's motivation and history. While Shimizu, comes up with some inventive ways to spook us, does a wonderful job playing with chronological order, and only relies on the gory stuff sparingly, Susco provides an overly basic story with little explanation about how the entity operates, why, and what it's seeking. This leaves Gellar and the cast to make something out of nothing, and that's hard to do.

Gellar is best when being strong (just like when she was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), but doesn't convince me when acting scared and vulnerable (just like when she was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Her primary job is to peer around the corner before something scary happens, or look scared when face to face with the entity. The dialogue and story don't compel her to do much else, so her ability is wasted. Others in the movie are equally along for the ride.

If you want a cheap thrill and good scare, The Grudge is for you. If you're looking for a better movie, check out two of my favorite horror films, The Hand and The Woman in Black.

1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

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