the grudge (2020)-review

spoiler-free synopsis:
do i really need to give you one?
if you’ve seen one grudge, you’ve seen them all.
you get the picture.

which leads me to:

if i had paid for this movie (it’s streaming on the starz channel on prime), i’d be mad.
so, like. wait until it’s streaming for free to waste your time.
it was, at best, blah.
at worst, it’s an exercise in colonialism and appropriation.
there was not a single unique thing about this movie —
it was stripped and sanitized of any cultural meaning.
replacing the terror of an anger so intense it holds on after death…with…well. i don’t even know really.
because it didn’t explore that transition at all.
i don’t understand how or why the rules of the ju-on changed to suddenly attach to people instead of a single place.
and they don’t explain it.

the flash back story-telling was poorly executed and buried the lede every time.
it all felt rushed and poorly storyboarded and…un-cared-for.
it was a movie pulling in too many different directions which left the characters, their backgrounds, and their stories completely malnourished.

this may be the first “review” i’ve done that wasn’t a borderline (if not fully) art house piece.
but there were a few striking shots i appreciated.

my four favorite parts of the movie:
-they actually mentioned “ju-on” by name. (it’s the original that the grudge films are based on. go watch it instead. 😂)
-there’s a really neat shot kind of early on that’s a pretty direct nod to “halloween”. (which is my favorite, so of course i think that’s amazing.)
-the special effects makeup on one of the detectives was REALLY cool and looked like it had been researched with care.
-the end when the credits rolled with no music. just the sounds of a silent home and surrounding suburbia.

1.5/5 scars