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The Grudge and the 10 best foreign horror movie remakes

By Wesley Lara

LOS ANGELES - OCTOBER 12: Actors Sarah Michelle Gellar (L) and Clea DuVall pose at the premiere of Columbia Pictures' "The Grudge" at the Village Theatre on October 12, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - OCTOBER 12: Actors Sarah Michelle Gellar (L) and Clea DuVall pose at the premiere of Columbia Pictures' "The Grudge" at the Village Theatre on October 12, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) /
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3. The Grudge (2004)

Remake of Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) – Japan

You knew it was coming eventually. One of the main driving forces behind the boom of Asian horror movie remakes in the 2000s, The Grudge is one of the most infamous films in that bunch simply because of the frighteningly memorable scenes and THAT groaning noise that haunted the dreams of every American teenager in 2004.

A remake of the popular 2002 Japanese horror film, Ju-on: The Grudge, the American remake takes a route that would eventually be used by Shutter and places its American protagonist in Japan.

This gives an excuse for the horrors of the film to be eerily reminiscent of the original, hardly having to change anything incredibly drastic to get the spirit of the original through to audiences. Moviegoers felt this a little too hard. The unusual terror caused by the curse of the Grudge scared the living daylights out of American audiences as they witnessed this mysterious curse affect different people by having them haunted and killed by this being of rage and sorrow.

America is fairly friendly to the idea of supernatural horror, so to see this new type of horror inflict terror on its victims through the use of creepy and uncanny valley spirits contorting into strange shapes and making inhumane noises was too much for audiences to handle. But not enough to drive them away, as the film grossed over $180 million worldwide and for good reason.

The film’s respect for the original shines through in the fact that original director, Takashi Shimizu, helmed the remake and made sure that it was done right for American audiences.

A wise (or maybe not so wise for our mental health) decision in the long run.

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