Black Girl Horror

Happy New Year, positive vibrations, and all those good things! I know it’s been a while- I was out here island hopping and such for the holidays. But in 2020 I promise to bring you more posts about all things horror!

I saw my first horror movie of the year this weekend- The Grudge. I remember seeing the ones from the early 2000s and thinking that they were cool, but I wasn’t pressed to watch them over and over again like I do other movies. So I was a little apprehensive about going to see this new one, but you know I never pass up an opportunity to see a horror movie!

The film begins in Tokyo in 2004, the same timeframe as the original Grudge movie. Fiona Landers is working a job there and decides she is too creeped out and wants to return home to her family in Pennsylvania. The movie then jumps to 2006 to introduce us to Detective Muldoon, a widowed mother, and her new partner, Det. Goodman. After that the movie jumps between 2004, 2005, and 2006 so much that you will get dizzy if you’re not paying close attention. In this timeframe we ae introduced to everyone who will be affected by the curse: The married realtors who tried to sell the Flanders home before they died, an elderly couple that move into the house the next year, Detective Goodman’s partner who worked the original case, and a nurse that visited the elderly couple. The time hop throughout the movie shows how the curse affects everyone who has entered the house but can be a bit confusing at times. By the end of the movie, you will see how everyone is connected, but the back and forth of the years wasn’t really necessary. There are so many characters and we have to learn about every single back story so we can create an emotional connection (I guess that’s what the writers were trying to do) that it becomes really overwhelming. There are so many people we have to care about that it makes you wonder if Detective Muldoon is really the main focus of this movie.

The Grudge is definitely suspenseful but a lot of the jump scares don’t work. There are lots of shadows in the background and things that pop out at you but the movie only really gets intense in the last 20 minutes. Detective Muldoon thinks she has figured out a way to save everyone – burn down this cursed house! As the viewer you know this won’t work because clearly the curse followed Fiona from Japan but ok white woman burn your little house down I guess. My cousin made a hilarious point that made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe. The house is located at 44 Reyburn Drive. According to my cousin, from the beginning they were telling us, “she rey burn this house down.” I cried y’all.

Overall, this movie was not horrible. I don’t think it was a good idea to have the movie jump between the years and involve so many different characters. The movie is only 94 minutes long and there are almost a dozen characters we have to see individual storylines for. The cliffhanger ending leads me to believe there could be a sequel. I’m good luv, enjoy.