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{{For-multi|the video game|Ju-On: The Grudge (video game)|the series|Ju-On (franchise)}}

{{Infobox Film

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

| name = Ju-on: The Grudge

{{Infobox film

| image = TheGrudge.jpg

| captionname = Movie poster for= Ju-onOn: The Grudge

| image = Juonthegrudgeposter.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| native_name = {{Infobox Japanese

| kanji = 呪怨

| kana = じゅおん

| revhep = Juon}}

| director = [[Takashi Shimizu]]

| producer = Taka Ichise<ref name="variety-review">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/the-grudge-3-1200538307/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Review: 'The Grudge'|access-date=21 September 2024|last=Elley|first=Derek|date=28 October 2003}}</ref>

| producer = [[Takashige Ichise]]

| writer = [[Takashi Shimizu]]<ref name="variety-review" />

| starring = {{plainlist|

*[[Megumi Okina]]

| music = [[Shiro Sato]]

*[[Misaki Ito]]

| cinematography = [[Tokusho Kikumura]]

*[[Takashi Matsuyama (actor)|Takashi Matsuyama]]

| editing = [[Nobuyuki Takahashi]]

*[[Yui Ichikawa]]}}

| distributor =

| releasedmusic = [[JanuaryShiro 25]],Sato<ref [[2003]]name="variety-review" (Japan)/>

| cinematography = Tokusho Kikumura<ref name="variety-review" />

| runtime = 92 min.

| editing = Nobuyuki Takahashi<ref name="variety-review" />

| country = [[Japan]]

| studio = {{plainlist|

*[[Pioneer LDC]]

*[[Nikkatsu]]

*Oz Co.

*Xanadeux<ref name="variety-review" />}}

| distributor = {{ubl|{{ill|Tokyo Theatres|ja| 東京テアトル}}|Xanadeux<ref name="variety-review" />}}

| released = {{Film date|df=y|2002|10|18|[[Screamfest Horror Film Festival|Screamfest]]|2003|08|23|Japan}}

| runtime = 92 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 91:54--><ref>{{cite web|title=''Ju-On: The Grudge'' (15)|url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/ju-grudge-2004-0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080246/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/ju-grudge-2004-0|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 March 2016|work=Medusa Communications & Marketing|publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]]|date=14 August 2003|access-date=8 September 2013}}</ref>

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

| budget =

| gross = $3.7 million<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ju-on: The Grudge |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0364385/ |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=Box Office Mojo}}</ref>

| preceded_by =

| followed_by = [[Ju-on: The Grudge 2]]<br>[[Ju-on: The Grudge 3]]

| amg_id = 1:307949

| imdb_id = 0364385

}}

'''''Ju-onOn: The Grudge''''' (呪怨) is a 2002 [[J-HorrorJapanese horror|Japanese]] [[supernatural horror film]] written and directed by [[Takashi Shimizu]]. The filmIt is the third entryinstallment in the [[Ju-onOn (franchise)|''Ju-On'' series]] series and is the first filmto theatricallybe released theatrically (the first two entries werebeing direct -to -video productions). TheIt film was released instars [[Japan]]Megumi on [[January 25Okina]], [[2003]]Misaki and has spawned several sequels and an American [[remakeIto]], titled ''[[TheTakashi Grudge]]''Matsuyama which(actor)|Takashi was released in [[2004Matsuyama]]. The film is based on a Japaneseand [[hauntedYui houseIchikawa]] legend.

''Ju-On: The Grudge'' premiered at the [[Screamfest|Screamfest Film Festival]] on 18 October 2002, by [[Lions Gate Films]]. The film received favourable reviews from critics, but was initially unfavourably compared to another Japanese horror film, ''[[Ring (1998 film)|Ring]]'' but subsequent reception has been more positive.

==Plot==

{{plot}}

{{spoilers}}

An evil [[curse]] named ''Ju-on'' lingers upon a house in [[Nerima, Tokyo]], where a husband had murdered his wife and child years ago. The powerful grudge is manifested whenever someone dies in a fit of rage which then passes on to those who enter the haunted ___location of where the dead once lived.

A sequel to the film titled ''[[Ju-on: The Grudge 2]]'', also directed by Shimizu, was released in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2004/film/reviews/the-grudge-1200530056/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Review: 'The Grudge 2'|author=Weissberg, Jay|date=24 November 2003|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>

The first few scenes show what the curse is, and a brief [[Black-and-white|black and white]] [[Collage|montage]] of the murder of Kayako Saeki by her husband Takeo. After, the story is shown through six sequences, all with a loose relation to each other.

It also spawned [[Ju-On (franchise)|a franchise]], an [[The Grudge|American remake]], [[The Grudge 2|2006]] and [[The Grudge 3|2009]] sequels, a [[The Grudge (2020 film)|2020]] sidequel to the remake and a prequel television series entitled ''[[JU-ON: Origins]]'', which premiered in 2020.

==='''Rika''' |理佳|===

Volunteer social worker Nishina Rika (Megumi Okina)is charged with the task of caring for the catatonic Tokunaga Sachie. She discovers the quiet suburban home in a state of disarray and her ward malnourished and soiled, with none of the other occupants present. While vacuuming she finds a family picture with the wife's face cut out. Walking upstairs, she hears shuffling noises coming from the bedroom closet. Rika finds the closet taped shut. Meowing sounds from within prompt her to remove the tape and open the door. Inside, she discovers a black cat and a young boy. Startled, she runs downstairs to call the Welfare Center. Rika recognizes the boy from the family photo. She asks his name. "Toshio," is his reply. Murmuring from Sachie's room draws Rika's attention. Rika attempts to calm Sachie, but is suddenly frightened by a dark shadow descending upon them. A pair of eyes appear within the shadow which open and stare directly at Rika, who then faints.

==Plot ==

==='''Katsuya''' |勝也|===

{{hatnote|Below, the events of the film are in chronological order; however, the original film is presented in a nonlinear narrative.}}

Several years before the main plot, [[Takeo Saeki]] murders his wife [[Kayako Saeki|Kayako]] after discovering she is in love with another man, also killing the family cat, Mar, and his son, [[Toshio Saeki|Toshio]]. The murders create a curse that revives the family as [[Onryō|vengeful ghosts]], which results in Kayako's ghost murdering Takeo. Whoever enters their house in [[Nerima]], [[Tokyo]], is eventually consumed by the curse, which spreads to the place they die in and in turn consumes anyone who comes in.

Kazumi, Katsuya's wife and Sachie's daughter-in-law, cannot sleep at night because of what she mistakenly presumes to be Sachie restless stirring. Kazumi reminds her husband as he leaves for work that his sister, Hitmoi, is expected for dinner. She falls asleep on the couch after eating a cup of noodles. She is awakened by the sound of noodle cup falling to the floor. At first she assumes that it is Sachie, but soon realizes a trail leads up the stairs. As she follows the trail upstairs, she is startled by the presence of a black cat and a small, pale boy.

Katsuya comes homes to find his wife lying on the bed in a state of shock. As he reaches for the phone, the boy pops up from under the bed. Katsuya asks who he is, but gets no reply as the closet doors begin to shake and his wife's condition worsens.

Hitomi arrives for dinner only to find her brother sitting on the stairs behaving strangely and muttering something about a child that isn't his. Katsuya pushes Hitomi outside and tells her to go home.

The latest owners of the house are the Tokunaga family, consisting of [[salaryman]] Katsuya, his wife Kazumi, and his ill mother Sachie. Kazumi is quickly consumed by the curse, and Katsuya is possessed by Takeo before dying as well. Kayako's ghost follows Katsuya's sister Hitomi to her office, where it kills a security guard, and then to her apartment, where it kills her as well.

==='''Hitomi''' |仁美|===

[[Social worker]] Rika is sent by her boss Hirohashi to take care of Sachie. She discovers Toshio before she witnesses Sachie being killed by Kayako's ghost, causing her to faint in shock. Hirohashi finds Rika and contacts the police. Detectives Nakagawa and Igarashi discover Katsuya's and Kazumi's bodies in the attic and later learn of Hitomi's disappearance and the death of the security guard at her workplace. Hirohashi's body is discovered, and the ghosts begin to haunt Rika.

Tokunaga Hitomi is leaving her call that the house receives near the end of the first sequence. While she is walking down a [[hallway]] after work, she stops twice to look around upon hearing [[slush]]y wet bag noises behind her. Making a brief stop in the bathroom, Hitomi sees a shadow walk into the next stall from her own. At that precise moment her cell phone rings, apparently a call from Katsuya. When she answers it, her brother seems to be joking by making a [[death rattle]], and promptly hangs up. Banging from the next-door occupant alerts Hitomi to apologize. As she is leaving the bathroom, a small [[teddy bear]] decoration from Hitomi's purse is flung off. She tries to reach for it, but is greeted by the person in the next stall, who makes the same death rattle. The stall opens, and a curtain of black hair begins to emerge from the stall in such a frightening manner that she runs out of the bathroom. She goes to a security guard who goes to investigate. Hitomi watches him over a surveillance camera. She sees him stop in front of the bathroom door, and a dark fog comes out and slides up his body. She screams in fright and runs home to her apartment complex, and gets a call from Katsuya again. He immediately comes up and rings the doorbell. She opens to nothing but air, and the death rattle is heard loudly from the phone. Hitomi runs to her bedroom, unplugs the phone and gets under her covers. She turns on the television, but the picture starts to [[warp]] and make another death rattle. A lump then builds under the covers, dragging Hitomi under. She lifts up the cover to reveal Kayako, and is dragged under with her.

Upon researching the history of the house and the Saeki murders, Nakagawa and Igarashi contact a retired detective named Toyama, who is afraid of revisiting the case. Toyama goes to burn the house down but hears a group of teenage girls upstairs. One flees while the others are consumed. Kayako then appears, chasing Toyama away but killing Nakagawa and Igarashi. After becoming a shut-in, Toyama eventually succumbs to the curse, leaving behind a young daughter named Izumi.

==='''Toyama''' |遠山|===

After visiting the house, Rika moved on with her life. Her friend Mariko, an elementary school teacher, pays a visit to Toshio, who is registered as her student but has never shown up for class. Rika races to save her but is too late. Kayako's ghost comes after her, and Rika witnesses Kayako briefly take on her appearance. She realizes that she is doomed to play out the curse and the same fate as Kayako. With Toshio watching from the banisters, Takeo’s ghost descends the stairs and kills her.

After Rika hasn't come back to the care center, Hirohashi goes to check on her. She finds Sachie dead on the floor, and Rika in a state of shock in a corner. The police are notified. Detectives search the house, where they find the family photo Rika found earlier and hear a phone ringing in the attic. Upon investigation, the detectives find the corpses of Kazumi and Katsuya. We meet a detective named Toyama. He has a wife and a young daughter Izumi. Detectives notify him that there have been more disappearances within the Saeki house. He later goes there with cans of [[gasoline]] to burn the house down. He is distracted by a light coming from the front of the house. He sees a [[premonition]] of Izumi as a teenager into the future, leaving the house scared. It is a premonition of her friends upstairs and her checking out the house. Izumi gets scared and left. From her point of view, Toyama has died, and she sees her dead father. Toyama goes upstairs and sees three young girls in a bedroom, laughing at Izumi for leaving. Something falls from the roof and kills the girls. Toyama leaves the house frightened, while the other detectives fall victims to the curse.

As a teenager, Izumi visits the house with her friends but flees while Kayako kills her friends; this is the event Toyama witnessed when he visited the house, as a vision of the future. Two weeks pass and two of Izumi's other friends visit her to deliver some photos. A news broadcast confirms Rika's body has been found at the Saeki residence after she was reported missing. They find that Izumi is wrought with guilt for abandoning her friends and has become increasingly paranoid, and her mother is under the influence of the curse as well. As Izumi's friends leave, they find that she and her dead friends have their eyes blackened out in photos. Izumi encounters a vision of her dead father and then discovers the ghosts of her friends watching her. She is cornered by her dead friends, only for Kayako to appear and drag her into damnation.

==='''Izumi''' |いずみ|===

Many posters of missing persons lie on the ground in the almost deserted Tokyo streets. Rika's corpse, now with a much longer hairstyle similar to Kayako's, lies in the house's attic, only to reawaken with a death rattle.

Izumi (now a teenager) and her two friends, Chiharu and Miyuki, are walking to school, discussing their teacher Sekine-san and his horrible English, when Izumi spots a [[Missing person|Missing poster]] of Saori and her two friends. She knows why they are missing and feels strong [[guilt]] for leaving them. When inquired for her hesitation, Izumi says that nothing is wrong. Back at school, there has been a school event where all are trying to find a picture of him/herself, and Izumi can't find one of herself. Chiharu and Miyuki pester Sekine-san about this, thus he will try to find the [[Negative (photography)|negative]]s and develop them, although Izumi is not particularly troubled by this.

==Cast==

Walking home, she spots another poster about the three missing girls, and she is much more visibly frightened. Upon entering her apartment, the radio announces that the body of one Nishina Rika (hinting this story takes place after the ending sequence of the film) has been found in an empty house in the Nerima ward, and the camera closes up on a specific photo on the family shrine that

{{main|List of The Grudge characters}}

Izumi's mother is staring at: her father. This implies that Toyama has died sometime between the last and current sequence. Izumi then enters her room, and is noticeably being driven into [[depression]] and [[insanity]], as she closes her curtains and clutches her pillow tightly. Some time later, Chiharu and Miyuki take the newly developed photos from Sekine-san and visit Izumi. Slightly disturbed by her catatonic mother, they go to their friend's room where a graying Izumi frightfully jumps into bed and puts up her hood.

{{cast listing|

* [[Megumi Okina]] as Rika Nishina

* Misa Uehara as Izumi Toyama

** Tomomi Kobayashi as Young Izumi

* [[Misaki Ito]] as Hitomi Tokunaga

* [[Yui Ichikawa]] as Chiharu

* [[Yōji Tanaka]] as Yûji Tôyama

* [[Kanji Tsuda]] as Katsuya Tokunaga

* Shuri Matsuda as Kazumi Tokunaga

* [[Kayoko Shibata]] as Mariko Uki

* Hirokazu Inoue as Detective Kenichi Nakagawa

* Daisuke Honda as Detective Daisuke Igarashi

* Risa Odagiri as Saori Takamiya

* Kaori Nakajô as Chiaki Nakano

* Kana Kobayashi as Ayano Muto

* Yukako Kukuri as Miyuki

* [[Hideo Sakaki]] as Welfare Center Clerk

* Chikako Isomura as Sachie Tokunaga

* [[Yoshiyuki Morishita]] as Security Guard

* [[Miho Fujima]] as Joshi Ana

* Isao Yatsu as Saito

* [[Takako Fuji]] as [[Kayako Saeki]]

* Yuya Ozeki as [[Toshio Saeki]]

* [[Takashi Matsuyama (actor)|Takashi Matsuyama]] as [[Takeo Saeki]]

}}

==Production==

Miyuki tries to open the curtains, against Izumi's cries. Her windows are found to be taped with newspapers. She tells them about her foray at the haunted house with Saori, Kazumi and Ayano and how she ran out, and now they have disappeared and are out to get her. When leaving Izumi's apartment, her mother tells the two girls that her husband had gone through the same behavior before he died. The girls then remember the photos, and after viewing them, they realize that every picture of Izumi and the three missing girls display black blotches around their eyes and a shadowy [[wraith]] near them.

''Ju-On: The Grudge'' was filmed entirely in Tokyo.<ref>{{cite web |date=18 February 2018|url=https://the-irishman.com/15-famous-movies-filmed-tokyo-japan/|title=15 Famous Movies Filmed in Tokyo (Japan)|publisher=The Irishman.com|access-date=24 October 2020}}</ref>

==Remake==

They throw the pictures away and run. Back at Izumi's home, she opens the door to the family room and sees her father, recalling that she saw him at that house. Of course, this reunion is broken short when Izumi wakes up. She notices that a scrap of newspaper is on her bed and she opens her curtain to replace it. Suddenly through the gaps, she sees Saori, Kazumi and Ayano, and screams. Running and falling out of her room, they are now following her. She tries to shore up the doors, but to no effect. As she backs up against the family [[shrine]], two white hands clasp her head. Behind her the face of Kayako is briefly seen before it disappears, dragging Izumi kicking and screaming into the shrine. The three dead schoolgirls view the shrine, which amongst the ornaments now have the shadowy faces of Toyama and Izumi.

{{Main|The Grudge (2004 film)}}

In 2004, [[Sony Pictures Entertainment]] released an American [[The Grudge (2004 film)|remake]] of the film. The film was directed by Takashi Shimizu and starring [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] and [[Jason Behr]]. The main plot of the film follows Rika's experience within the house but with a different ending. Its sequel, ''[[The Grudge 2]]'', however, mirrors a similar ending, where Aubrey Davis meets the same fate as Rika.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}

[[The Grudge (2019 film)|A sidequel and reboot]] of the original 2004 American film was released on 3 January 2020.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

==='''Kayako''' |伽椰子|===

==Release==

Time has passed, and Rika is now more or less in an untroubled state. She receives a call from her friend Mariko, and sets up a date to meet. At the care center, behind her through a glass window, an old man is seemingly playing [[peekaboo|peek-a-boo]] behind her back either with her or with himself, although the latter can be canned as he waves away one of the other workers waving at him. When Rika notices this, she finds it rather disturbing. Subsequent shots of Toshio's reflection next to the old man reveals the identity of his playmate. At a restaurant with Mariko, Rika finds Toshio under her table and leaves.

''Ju-on: The Grudge'' was shown on 18 October 2002 at the ''[[Screamfest Horror Film Festival]]'' in Los Angeles California under the title ''The Grudge''.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021020201723/http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=37356|url=http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=37356|archive-date=20 October 2002|access-date=25 September 2014|work=Screamfest Horror Film Festival|title=The Grudge}}</ref> The film was also screened as part of Midnight Madness at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]] in September 2003.<ref name="variety-review" />

''Ju-On'' was given a limited theatrical release by Solar Films in the Philippines on 26 November 2003.<ref>{{cite news|title=Opens Today At Selected Theaters Only|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8rhjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eyUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2444%2C13903051|access-date=8 September 2022|newspaper=[[Philippine Daily Inquirer]]|publisher=The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc.|date=26 November 2003|page=A30|quote=Makapanindig balahibu! Mapapaihi ka sa takot... Mauutal ka sa pagkatulala!!}}</ref> The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 23 July 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://allmovie.com/movie/ju-on-the-grudge-v307949/|work=[[Allmovie]]|publisher=[[All Media Guide]]|title=Ju-on: The Grudge|last=Cooper|first=Tracie|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>

Later Mariko goes to the cursed house. Rika runs there, and finds her being dragged up to the attic by Kayako. Rika sees Kayako crawling to get her in the attic, and runs downstairs. When she runs past a mirror, Kayako's reflection is there instead of hers. She looks at the mirror and puts her hands over her face as the old man did with peekaboo. Kayako's reflection appears again, coming out of Rika's shirt, then disappearing. Rika hears a thump upstairs, then a loud slushy wet bag noise. A door opens upstairs. Kayako slowly crawls down the stairs, inside her trash-bag, covered with blood. Rika drops to the floor and backs up against the wall by the door. Kayako gets closer and appears to be reaching to Rika for help. She puts her hands over her face again, and sees a non-bloody version of Kayako.

In the United States, the film grossed a total of $325,680 from 23 July – 9 December 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=juonthegrudge.htm|work=[[Box Office Mojo]]|publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]|title=Ju-On: The Grudge (2004)|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>

Rika sees that this was the woman haunting her behind her bed, in her shower, and on top of Sachie in the beginning. Kayako disappears. Then, Takeo walks down the stairs, covered with Kayako's blood. Rika sees she will meet the exact same fate as Kayako. Takeo gets closer, and reaches his hand on Rika's face. She is killed. Some pictures of empty streets are shown, and the last shot is of Rika (Not Kayako) inside the attic in the trash-bag. The camera pans closer until it is in front of Rika's face. Her eyes snap open.

''Ju-on: The Grudge'' was released on [[DVD]] by [[Lionsgate Films|Lions Gate]] on 9 November. The disc contains an audio commentary with [[Sam Raimi]] and [[Scott Spiegel]] and interviews with the cast and crew.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://allmovie.com/movie/ju-on-the-grudge-v307949/releases|work=Allmovie|publisher=All Media Guide|access-date=25 September 2014|title=Ju-on: The Grudge}}</ref>

A sequel to the film titled ''[[Ju-on: The Grudge 2]]'', also directed by Shimizu, was released in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2004/film/reviews/the-grudge-1200530056/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Review: 'The Grudge 2'|author=Weissberg, Jay|date=24 November 2003|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>

==Cast==

*[[Megumi Okina]] as Rika Nishina

*[[Misaki Ito]] as Hitomi Tokunaga

*[[Misa Uehara II|Misa Uehara]] as Izumi Toyama

*[[Yui Ichikawa]] as Chiharu

*[[Takako Fuji]] as [[Kayako Saeki|Kayako]], the ghost

*[[Yuya Ozeki]] as Toshio

*[[Kanji Tsuda]] as Katsuya

==RemakeReception==

[[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film a rating of 80% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 5 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ju-on: The Grudge |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ju_on_the_grudge_2003 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=27 March 2024}}</ref> At [[Metacritic]], a website which assigns a rating out of 100 for reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an [[weighted mean|average]] score of 48, based on 22 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref name="metacritic">{{cite web|url=https://metacritic.com/movie/the-grudge-2004|work=[[Metacritic]]|title=Ju-on: The Grudge|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' gave the film a mixed reviewing, stating that it "isn't particularly scary. No, it's much harder on you than mere fright: It's{{nbsp}}... creepy" and "it lacks any interest in conventional narrative and doesn't bother with hero or heroine, or with any sense of coherency, of any mechanism of solution of its mystery".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34255-2004Oct15.html|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|title='Ju-On': It's Sure To Give You The Creeps|date=15 October 2004|access-date=27 September 2014|last=Hunter|first=Stephen}}</ref> [[David Kehr]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' compared the film unfavourably to ''[[Ring (film)|The Ring]]'' (1998), opining that ''Ju-on: The Grudge'' "turns into a rote series of killings, with each new sequence introduced by a title with the name of its primary victim. Because there is a new hero to identify with every 10 minutes, the viewer isn't drawn into a sustained suspense, but is merely subjected to a series of more or less foreseeable shocks".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/movies/23JUON.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Beware the Ghosts in the Closet (and Virtually Everywhere Else)|date=23 July 2004|access-date=27 September 2014|last=Kehr|first=David}}</ref> [[Kim Newman]] gave the film three stars out of five in ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'', noting that "as a film, it is at once too much a part of an overarching story and divided into too many episodes to be all of a piece. However, as a sustained collection of scare moments, it's a winner".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=10270|work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|title=Ju-On: The Grudge|access-date=27 September 2014|author=Newman, Kim}}{{dead link|date=August 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Derek Elley compared the film unfavourably to both ''The Ring'' and ''[[Dark Water (2002 film)|Dark Water]]'', writing that "in the end, ''The Grudge'' comes down to little more than when and where the ghostly little boy will next appear, and the final explanation is so-what".<ref name="variety-review" />

{{main|The Grudge}}

The film's reception has changed to become more positive over time, with many fans and critics now frequently listing it as one of the greatest Japanese horror films ever made.<ref>{{Citation |title=Top 10 J Horror Films | date=31 March 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC7f2WjsYg8 |access-date=2023-12-25 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Casalena |first=Em |date=2016-09-08 |title=The 16 Best Japanese Horror Movies of All Time |url=https://screenrant.com/best-japanese-horror-movies/ |access-date=2023-12-25 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref>

In [[2004]], [[Sony Pictures Entertainment]] released an American [[The Grudge|remake]] of the [[film]]. The film was directed by Takashi Shimizu and starred [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] and [[Jason Behr]]. The main plot of the film followed Rika's experience within the house.

Some critics have identified loose connections between the story in the film and the traditional Japanese folktale ''[[Yotsuya Kaidan]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author=28 December 2019 |date=28 December 2019 |title=The Grudge's Ghost Origin Story Explained |url=https://screenrant.com/grudge-movie-ghost-origin-story-legend-explained/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |publisher=Screen Rant}}</ref>

== Sequels ==

{{main|Ju-on: The Grudge 2}}

'''''Ju-on: The Grudge 2''''' is the sequel to ''Ju-on: The Grudge'' which is a continuation of Kayako's storyline and follows identical subplots.

===See Planned =also==

* [[List of ghost films]]

{{main|Ju-on: The Grudge 3}}

* [[List of horror films of 2002]]

'''''Ju-on: The Grudge 3''''' is the third sequel which is currently expected to be released in [[2008]].

* ''[[Yotsuya Kaidan]]'', a traditional Japanese folktale featuring similarities to the ''Ju-On'' plot.

== Trivia References==

{{reflist}}

* Chiharu's storyline is the only subplot explained in the sequel ''[[Ju-on: The Grudge 2]]''.

==External links==

*[http://www.imdb.com/ {{IMDb title/tt0364385 ''|0364385|Ju-on: The Grudge on Imdb'']}}

* {{mojo title|juonthegrudge|Ju-on: The Grudge}}

'''Reviews'''

* {{Metacritic film|title=Ju-on: The Grudge}}

*[http://nipponcinema.com/db/review/ju_on_the_grudge Nippon Cinema]

* {{Rotten Tomatoes |ju_on_the_grudge_2003| Ju-on: The Grudge}}

*[http://www.mandiapple.com/snowblood/juonthegrudge1.htm Snowblood Apple]

{{The Grudge}}

{{Ju-on}}

[[Category:Cult films]]

{{Takashi Shimizu}}

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[[Category:2000s supernatural horror films]]

[[Category:2002 horror films]]

[[Category:Films about filicide]]

[[Category:Films about curses]]

[[Category:Films directed by Takashi Shimizu]]

[[Category:Films set in Tokyo]]

[[Category:Films shot in Tokyo]]

[[Category:Japanese ghost films]]

[[Category:Japanese horror films]]

[[Category:Japanese nonlinear narrative films]]

[[Category:Japanese supernatural horror films]]

[[Category:Japanese psychological horror films]]

[[Category:Ju-On films]]

[[Category:Lionsgate films]]

[[Category:Fiction about mariticide]]

[[Category:Films about uxoricide]]

[[Category:2000s Japanese films]]