Movie Review--The Grudge (2020)

"What do we do when we're scared?"
--Detective Muldoon, The Grudge (2020)


Not every movie released in January has to typify why some moviegoers skip visiting theaters during the first month of the year, but some films do little to nothing to overcome the negative reputation of January releases.  The Grudge is one of the latter films.  The 2020 reboot of The Grudge had a great amount of potential, but the execution, from the lack of character development to the inclusion of many jumpscares, holds it back from amounting to a great horror movie.  There are sparks of quality in the film, but none of them are enough to start a fire on their own.


Production Values

For all its missteps, the the new Grudge film does have a very promising setup.  The cast is excellent, the effects are not incomplete, the cinematography is far from dreadful, and the R rating provides more creative freedom.  This only makes the squandering of the production values all the more tragic.  As the end of the movie approaches, it becomes clear that the mysteries of the plot have little to stand on other than the scenes being shown out of chronological order.  Perhaps even worse, the subtlety and restraint of some shots are rejected in favor of strings of jumpscares close to the finale.

Similarly, the abilities of the talented cast are squandered on a script that does not give them the opportunity to truly show how capable they are.  None of the primary actresses and actors butcher their roles; the roles themselves are merely simplistic and limiting.  Even the fact that The Grudge focuses on present day events from the perspectives of detectives, a somewhat rare approach for horror, is not utilized in a way that makes the film stand out as it could have.


Story

Spoilers!

The story is told in a non-linear manner, the scenes jumping back and forth between three timelines that are ultimately connected with a single house.  A "Ju-On," or "grudge," is a spirit left after someone dies in the grip of extreme sadness or anger, and the home in question is a site affected by the curse.


Intellectual Content

Unsurprisingly, The Grudge wastes its subject matter in the same way that it wastes its other sources of potential.  What could have been a thoughtful exploration of what might lead a thorough detective to acknowledge that a spiritual curse seems to be behind linked murders instead becomes a series of connected scenes with incomplete thematic and character development.


Conclusion

It needs to be granted that there was actual promise held by the reboot of The Grudge.  However, practically every element of the movie is either underused or weakened by the mismanagement of some other element.  The R rating itself, something that immediately distinguishes the reboot from the 2004 film it connects to, is not even used to the greatest advantage possible, as many of the kills or more graphic scenes are accompanied by jumpscares or generic plotting that would almost certainly deflate the impact for anyone who appreciates artistic competence in horror.  The Grudge's 2020 reboot ultimately serves as an example of how not to misuse storytelling resources to either bring back an established franchise or create an original story.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  A decaying corpse is found in a car inside of a forest, and the film eventually shows what happened to the driver years before.  A man attempts to kill himself with a gunshot to the head, but he survives, only to remove his own eyes later on.  Macabre imagery is shown at multiple points.
 2.  Profanity:  "Fuck" and "shit," as might be expected in a horror movie with an R rating, are uttered.