The Grudge

The Grudge is a 2004 supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu, written by Stephen Susco, and produced by Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Takashige Ichise. A remake of Shimizu's 2002 Japanese horror film Ju-On: The Grudge, it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Clea DuVall, and Bill Pullman, and is the first installment in The Grudge film series, which is based on the Japanese Ju-On films. Takako Fuji, Yuya Ozeki, and Takashi Matsuyama portray the characters Kayako Saeki, Toshio Saeki, and Takeo Saeki from the original films. The plot is told through a nonlinear sequence of events and includes several intersecting subplots. After the success of American remake The Ring (2002), Sony Pictures had green-lit an American remake of Ju-On: The Grudge. Shimizu, the writer and director of the original film, was hired to direct the film from a screenplay written by Susco. Principal photography on the film began on January 26, 2004 and wrapped in July 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. The Grudge was released in North America on October 22, 2004, by Columbia Pictures. The film was a commercial success, grossing $187.3 million against a $10 million budget, but received mixed reviews from critics, who found it illogical and barely scary. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $39 million, becoming the first horror film since House on Haunted Hill (1999) to top the Halloween box office and, until the Friday the 13th remake in 2009, had the highest grossing opening weekend for a horror remake. The film was followed by two direct sequels, theatrically-released The Grudge 2 (2006) and straight-to-video The Grudge 3 (2009). A stand-alone sequel, titled The Grudge: The Untold Chapter (2020), takes place concurrently with the events of this film and its two sequels.