Grudge, The MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +1 Content: -1 1/2

The Grudge is a Japanese fright flick, recently adapted for an American audience. American exchange student Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives with her boyfriend (Jason Behr) in Tokyo. She is sent as a substitute caregiver to the home of a catatonic American woman, Emma Williams (Grace Zabriskie). Karen senses that something is not right about this disheveled and eerie home. Strange creaking and scratching sounds come from various places. Upon further investigation, Karen finds a little Japanese boy locked in a closet. Emmas daughter (Kadee Strickland), son (William Mapother) and daughter-in-law (Clea DuVall) are rendered petrified and dead by the evil presence that drains the life of those in the home. Through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns the history of this house and the apparent curse born from rage the grudge that has been passed from resident to resident through the years.

As far as horror films go, The Grudge is fairly uneventful but refreshing in its use of psychological fear instead of the excessive gore more typical these days. There is not a lot of dialog and building of rapport between characters. But there are troubling depictions of demonlike characters as they seek to inflict their rage. One such character is a small boy with a demon voice who apparently was locked up in the past inside a dark closet. While he appeals to caring adults as an innocent child, he quickly unleashes his hostility on them. An eerie, annoying sound emits from the mouths of the spirits as they attack their petrified victims. The child appears nude in a scene that adds no value to the storyline. It is disappointing that such child nudity would get by the governing bodies of the film industry. The violence and the supernatural evil of The Grudge earn it a negative rating from Preview. Its moral is that its best not to hold grudges.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor: Columbia