Reviews

* No Spoilers for The Grudge * * Spoilers for The Ring *

I have read a lot of the reviews here on IMDb stating that this movie really lacks story in compared to The Ring. This isn't true. I didn't actually see The Ring until after I saw The Grudge. Some friends and I watch The Ring over Halloween weekend and I was surprised at how "not scary" it was. A friend there who had never seen it described it as "extremely intriguing" but not scary. Other than the creepy video (which really isn't that creepy compared to the one in Ringu) and dead girl's body in the closet at the beginning (which really sent chills up my spin), the movie didn't give you much of a fright until the very end. What it did give you though is spoonfuls of story -- just handed to you -- one little piece of investigation evidence at a time, until the characters and the audience understood exactly what happened. In the Grudge, it's the opposite. The Grudge scares you constantly and doesn't spoon-feed you the answer. Its there -- I thought it was obvious. Apparently a lot of people on IMDb didn't though. This movie is exceptionally well done with the Raimi brothers probably loving every minute of it. Did I mention that the movie is scary?

Long-short of it:

The Ring = Very good, Very Intriguing, Creepy The Grudge = Very good, Intriguing, Very Creepy

* Personal Experience - No Spoilers *

I saw The Grudge with a friend. We went in with the sun not quite set. There were some really good previews for some upcoming movies. I think 2005 may be a very good year for film. The Grudge started and the audience was nearly screaming in terror for the next two hours. I think I had a big smile on my face the entire time for some reason. I remember thinking to myself that I refuse to close my eyes at any point. I really wanted to experience the entire film as it was meant to be. My friend had her head in my shoulder for most of the movie. Did I mention the movie was scary? So, here's the really funny part. When the movie ended, that theater cleared out so freaking fast. I don't know if there was anything during or after the credits but no one in the theater saw it. We bolted out of there, my heart was pumping very fast. I felt like I just spent two hours on a roller-coaster (literally). We drove across the street to McDonalds because it was open and really well lit. The place was nearly empty and we were standing around waiting for our food, looking over our shoulders and at the windows to see the reflections, just all sorts of stuff like that. Anytime a door opened we both bolted an eye in that direction. I'm sure the workers thought we were going to rob the place or something. It took me many days to get the images out of my eyes. Still today, sometimes I get a little nervous to open the closet or something. More friends and I are going to go watch it again this week. It won't be as good the second time around, but I will keep an eye on my friends because that can be just as entertaining.

* Fin *

I FIGURED IT OUT! I know what the lost highway is about. Now, here is the real plot of the movie: SPOILER ALERT!!! Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) is a depressed blues musician in an unhappy marriage. He finds out that his wife, Rene Madison (Patricia Arquette) has secretly been doing porno movies with Dick Laurent (Robert Loggia) and Andy (Michael Massee) after someone mails him a video tape of her in a sexual act. Fred looses it and kills his wife. He is convicted of murder and goes to jail. He escapes his prison cell through the ceiling and breaks out of jail. He tracks down Andy at his porno pimp pad, and kills him. Then he finds Dick Laurent in a motel room having sex. He captures him, drives him out to the desert and shoots him to death. Now, the big thing is, the movie isn't supposed to be about the real plot, it is about what the murderer, Fred, thinks in a split second. The movie actually takes place all in a fraction of a second, that is why "Dick Laurent is dead" is at the beginning of the movie and the end. Fred has a mental problem that has put him in a state of confusion. He's gone insane, and so he keeps seeing all these different "possible" realities about what happened. Fred states that he doesn't like video cameras because he likes to remember things in his own way, not how they actually happened. That is why the video of him is him killing his wife, where at that point in the movie, he hadn't killed her yet. And at the end, The Mysterious Guy goes after Pete (Fred's imaginary identity) with a video camera, and when he does that, he turns back into Fred. I thought of all this while I was in the shower this morning. Tell me what you think about it? (Oh, and to be totally honest, I guessed at the character of "Andy." If that wasn't the guy, please excuse me. It might have been "Al" or "John Doe" or whatever.)