“What do we do when we are scared?”

“We close our eyes and count one to five.”

In the beginning of the year 2020, another horror movie is starting the year with a scare. Directed by Nicolas Pesce comes another film which was based on the Japanese film, Ju-On: The Grudge (2002).  With the success of many Asian horror films, this movie was compared to all the The Grudge Sequels and I bet you want to find out more about it.

But before we start with the review, this article contains some spoilers which might be affect your reactions about the film if you haven’t watched it. Read at your own risk…

The Synopsis

On her first day, a new case has opened; A body was found in the woods with unknown reason of the death. Together with his colleague, Goodman played by Demián Bichirthey visited the crime scene. Demian was convinced that the death has some connection with the house on 44 Reyburn Drive which they’ve been believing to be haunted after the original owners, Landers family, died.

Demian warned Andrea not to go to the house but instead, she tried to investigate more about the case and that’s when she learned about how the owners died including the family of the realtor, Peter Spencer who was played by John Cho.

One of the officer who got addicted of investigating the house was Detective Wilson played by William Sadler, Demian’s partner who attempted to kill himself because of the horror he’s been experiencing since he handled the case, however he failed to and end up in a mental facility.

Andrea tried to get inside the house and discovered that the new tenants, The Mathesons have gone mad as well. Faith Matheson, played by Lin Shaye, (you might know her Insidious too) killed her husband which was witnessed by the new realtor of the house, who was apparently owned the body that was discovered later on in the woods.

With all the things happening, Andrea is now planning to set everything right, but the challenge is, how can she make things right if she herself is experiencing the curse of the grudge?

The Verdict

First of all, the movie was nice, with all its horror elements, yes, I enjoyed. However, if you look deeper into the story and comparing it with the previous instalments, this won’t even get into the levels of the previous films that were released.

I am a fan of horror films and this one lacks something, I don’t know what exactly, but I’m pretty sure one of its lacking is the story, it doesn’t have any sense. I get it how Fiona Landers brought the ghost with her but why and how will it benefit the ghost? Did Landers do something in the house or why there’s no story behind it at all. The previous films have a clean connections with each of the characters and that’s how it should be done.

The element of scare is there, yes, all the possible scary tactics but it’s not enough. They changed the pale ghost boy to Melinda Landers who became the child ghost in the present story and she is not scary at all. I’d still go cringy if I saw the little boy instead of this little girl.

Seeing Lin Shaye is quite disturbing, not because I don’t want her but I kept thinking that I booked another Insidious sequel while watching her. The movie didn’t justify the fact that hey, it’s a new movie and a different one, so think about her as a different character coz Lin was remarkable in Insidious.

One more thing is that they focus on scaring the viewers rather than putting some importance and connection with the previous sequels. it could’ve been more convincing if they focus on that more than the effects.

I’m still choosing the O.G. Japanese Version.

All in all, I was looking for more, I was asking for explanation especially with how it ended. I’m confused but I guess cliffhangers served their purpose right.

I will give this movie 65% wonderroanne rating.