By Chris Kavan - 01/02/20 at 12:00 AM CT
Happy New Year to all! It's 2020, so let's look at what Hollywood is bringing us to celebrate. We're being gifted with everyone's favorite - a horror remake and... it's The Grudge. You remember The Grudge, right? The 2002 Japanese horror film (Ju-on) that was remade in 2004 - riding the wave of horror remakes (The Ring, Dark Water, Shutter) that was really big in the mid-late 2000s. Despite the fact that ship has long sailed... here we are. Though January has had some surprisingly big horror films (not all of which were highly regarded), something tells me this isn't going to have much of an impact against the current crop of box office champions.
THE GRUDGE I have no qualms saying that I was a fan of the J-horror craze. I enjoyed both the original and many of the remakes - and I always thought The Grudge was certainly one of the better, and truly more scary, of the options. Sure, the films features all the tropes that one tends to associate with this brand of horror - but it was done well. Granted, it spawned an OK sequel and a totally unnecessary third film - and it seems this Grudge film, directed by Nicolas Pesce (known for The Eyes of My Mother) is cranking things up with a hard R-rating. No PG-13 jump scares here - it's going to be darker and grittier, but also still familiar. The story remains the same - a house curses anyone who enters it as the spirits, victims of a violent murder, haunt and ultimately kill those who disturb their home. The actors this time around include Tara Westwood, Andrea Riseborough, Demián Bichir, Lin Shaye, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Junko Bailey, Jacki Weaver and William Sadler among others. I'm sure many (if not all) will die violent, horrible deaths after they dare enter the cursed abode. Look, I can't begrudge trying to update The Grudge - hell, if any series deserves to be made better, it should be this. But I just don't see it making that big of impact. I might stream this some time when I'm in the mood for horror, but that's about as good of recommendation as I can muster.
With just a single, somewhat niche, title being released, I don't see the box office changing much from last weekend. I'll see you on Sunday with the results.
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