Predictability undercuts scare even if the 'scary' parts scare you - The Grudge film review

How convenient is it to set the time of occurence of a horror story on an older date to make a usual horror film! One need not answer why is it way too behind the times.

The Grudge adapted from Ju-On, the 2002 Japanese film, is your regular don't-wink-when-you-hear-the-ajar-door-squeak horror film. Nicholas Pesce rests his creative weight wholly on that kind of an audience.

A haunted house that got haunted because of a murder happened there usually has a strong back story, which determines the film's success. The Grudge takes a heavy beating on this aspect as the reason 'discovered' (will let you know in a while why I put the word in quote) happens to be a fleeting mention in a tape-recorder. Thereby throws a reference at Takashi Shimizu's original.

Coming to the discovery part, what Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) unearths is not something that lies hidden beneath, then why so much fuss? 

But she couldn't be blamed much as Pesce and Jeff Buhler's lazy writing doesn't help any characters. The much bloated suspense ends up bland and it ends almost 15 minutes into the 2nd half; imagine how bloated it was.

Yet, what just manages to be the saving grace by nose was a sharp edit helped by Cristobal Tapia de Veer's music. And though we are intentionally shown the afflicted are devout Christians, we are saved from the elaborate exorcism scene and we salvage a tragic ending.

But if you still have an appetite for a classic template-horror story, your two hours can be invested for the movie this Friday.