Ugh, the 2020 Grudge movie sucked! I loved the 2004 remake of the Japanese original and even the sequel, The Grudge 2 was fairly good. However, this is a franchise that has gone on way too long. The Grudge 3 was pretty bad and in Japan, the number of sequels is pretty out of hand. Still, with a decent cast and Sam Rami being attached, I thought I would give this a chance.
How to Download The Grudge (2020)
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like supernatural horror films, check out also our reviews of The Nun, Annabelle, or The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
The Movie Review
Let me tell you a little bit about “The Grudge” in case you do not know what it is. Basically, when someone dies in a fit of real anger, passion, or an emotional state, they leave a vengeful spirit behind that will terrorize and kill those that live in the house. It made for a great concept in both the original Japanese movie and the American remake.
One thing I do give them credit for is having a pretty good premise. We have this young female cop (Detective Muldoon) who is also a single mother who has been put on a case where a mother killed her family. It is a pretty brutal case and with her being a young mother herself, she is pretty invested in this case.
As Muldoon starts her detective work, she realizes that this house has been the location of several horrendous murders over the years and she soon realizes the “supernatural truth” about what is going on. Look, on paper, this sounds awesome, a cop trying to solve a murder that turns out to be supernatural! However, the execution just is not here at all.
While Detective Muldoon is getting closer and closer, she and her son soon find themselves a target of The Grudge! I think that Andrea Riseborough does a great job as Detective Muldoon and there are some other well-known actors in this movie. Yet, even this rather talented cast cannot save this poorly-written story.
A huge part of the problem is that the movie jumps through different timelines. This is nothing new in film, however, The Grudge makes it really hard to follow. It can be very frustrating to watch actually! It is like they think they have this very interesting mystery that the audience will be on the edge of their seat for, but I just never really cared enough to get fully invested.
I hate to say this, but overall, The Grudge is just pretty boring! Also, I have to say I hate how they just called it “The Grudge” why do studios do this? It is the fourth movie, just call it The Grudge 4 or give it some kind of subtitle. It will just make it harder for people to track down and watch the good 2004 Grudge movie over this one.
Even if you watched The Grudge and The Grudge 2 and enjoyed them (forget the third one) I still cannot recommend this movie to you. I am legit having a hard time thinking of a single reason why someone should check this out. Watch the 2004 Sarah Michelle Geller movie instead, that one still holds up pretty damn well in my opinion.
