The Grudge
The Grudge ★½ 2004 (PG-13)
Shimizu remade his own 2003 horror flick “Ju-On” and there are still more groans (of disbelief) than shrieks. Studying social work as an exchange student in Tokyo, Karen (Gellar) discovers elderly Emma (Zabriskie) home alone, her family (Mapother, DuVall) missing. She sees a ghostly boy (Ozeki, who was in two of the Japanese films) and his demonic mother (Fuji, who's been in all five). Karen's scruffy boyfriend (Behr) is lured in, as is her boss (Raimi) and a local detective (Ishibashi). Pullman also appears briefly as an American professor who was an early victim of the house of horrors. Gellar's an old hand at battling things that go bump in the night but this experience isn't worth her expertise. 96m/C DVD, UMD . US US Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea DuVall, KaDee Strickland, Grace Zabriskie, Bill Pullman, Rosa Blasi, Theodore (Ted) Raimi, Ryo Ishibashi, Yuya Ozeki, Takako Fuji, Yoko Maki; D: Takashi Shimizu; W: Takashi Shimizu; C: Hideo Yamamoto.