Remaking Classics

What's it with Hollywood and their remaking of classic Japanese horror movies like "The Ring" and "Ju-On"? Last heard they're also replicating "Dark Water", a film I like tremendously. There's an old saying that goes "if it ain't broke(n), don't fix it". Methinks the Americans are too fond of 'Americanizing' everything foreign - so that they can call it their own. Sometimes, it's not a bad idea; other times, like in the case of "The Ring" and "Ju-On", they turn out to be fiascos.

I just saw "The Grudge", which is the remake of "Ju-On", at Golden Village Tiong Bahru this afternoon. Whereas the original version made me squirm in my seat (especially when vengeful female spirit Kayako was performing her 'Sadako crawl' down the stairs), its Hollywoodized counterpart very much paled in comparison.

Below is my review of the movie.

The Grudge
Mostly unnecessary (nearly scene-by-scene) Hollywood remake of last year’s “Ju-On: The Grudge” is, nevertheless, an effective chiller in its own right – much like 2002’s reworking of “The Ring”. Sarah Michelle Gellar, an accomplished actress, re-invokes her scream queen roots – she was in “Scream 2” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” – as she plays Karen an American social worker serving in a Japanese care center. When a fellow volunteer mysteriously goes missing, she is assigned as a substitute to take care of a senile elderly woman (KaDee Strickland) in a house later ‘revealed’ to be haunted; fans who have seen “Ju-On” would know that the abode has been cursed with the rage and fury of one Kayako (Takako Fuji) and her Smurfin son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki). The spooky pair, like in the original movie, pop up everywhere and without warning – be it in the lift or shower. Similarly told in a nonlinear narrative style that either confuses or exasperates you. Directed by Takashi Shimizu (“Ju-On”) and produced by Sam Raimi. GRADE: C+