My Review of The Grudge (2019)

 

Written by Nicolas Pesce And Jeff Buhler

Directed by Nicolas Pesce

Burke: "Bye Mom!"

I genuinely thought with this title that we were in the remake era once again and we were about to have a new take on the first story. Instead this film took place between and within the three movies that preceeded it.

It's an unusual approach if I'm being honest and I'm not sure it's one that entirely worked. There's a slew of characters and once again, Kayako Saeki (Junko Bailey) was at the heart of causing have among these characters.

The closest to a protagonist was weary Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough). She's recently lost her husband and she's trying to be a good mother to her son, Burke (John Hansen). She's as immersed in the central story and in spite of her efforts, things didn't end particularly well for her.

There's also two couples also at the heart of the film. The younger couple - Peter (John Cho) and Nina Spencer (Betty Gilpin) were expecting a baby and their story took a rather dark turn when Peter encountered the ghosts of mother/daughter Fiona (Tara Westwood) and Melinda Landers (Zoe Fish). It's a very dark ending for that couple.

The older couple - Faith (Lin Shaye) and William Matheson (Frankie Faison) was the most interesting of the bunch. It was an assisted suicide storyline with Lorna Moody (Jacki Weaver) completely out of her depth. It's the best of the three main storylines and the one that I wished had more focus.

The common strand in the stories was 44 Reyburn Drive. It was cursed of course and the location of many of the deaths. Muldoon was investigating the place with her partner, Goodman (Demián Bichir) and it was also the final place she'd ever step foot into, giving this a rather pointed ending.

- The original plan was actually a reboot that would've abandoned the Saeki family but we got this one instead.

- The address was a reference to Ju-on short film 4444444444 (1998). 

- Standout music: Laura St. Jude's Devil's Daughter.

- Chronology: 2004, 2005 and 2006 in Pennsylvania respectively. 

Arguably the weakest of the bunch, but at the same time, I did think this version of The Grudge (2019) had some interesting ideas. They could've been executed a tad better than they were tbh but it could've been a lot worse.

Rating: 6 out of 10