You'll have a 'Grudge' against this DVD

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Shimizu has built somewhat of a franchise out of the concept of cursed homes and ghosts who, once you've entered their domain, won't leave you alone and want nothing more than to see you dead as disco. Originally incarnated as "Ju-On" and "Ju-On 2" on Japanese television and direct-to-video in 2000, then redone for theatrical release as "Ju-On: The Grudge" in 2003, Shimizu's originals are sufficiently creepy and atmospheric, and filled with enough gore to keep horror purists happy.\nRemakes of Japanese films are all the rage these days, especially after the bloated success of "The Ring" (whose Japanese version, "Ringu," was superior), we had to expect a U.S. version of "Ju-On" at some point, and we have it with "The Grudge," starring "Buffy" stunner Sarah Michelle Gellar and directed, rather uncommonly, by the same man who made the originals.\nGellar plays social worker Karen Davis, sent to the aid of an elderly woman living in a creepy, malevolence-infested home in which a man once slaughtered his wife and son, with the standard horror leading lady reactions of muted curiosity and bewilderment. The rest of the cast does a satisfactory job with the material they're fed, which is mostly moment after moment of overwrought, "what's-around-the-corner?" suspense. There's also Bill Pullman as a college professor we really never find out anything about, and who dies in the first scene but apparently comes back to life later and then disappears with no explanation; just one of the film's many components made confusing by the sheer lack of information we're given.\nExtras include a cast and crew commentary with producer Sam Raimi, Gellar and a few random others; a laborious, five-part making-of doc and "Under the Skin," a mildly interesting medical explanation of fear in response to film, i.e. what makes guys jump slightly in their seats and girls cling to their dates' arms until all circulation is lost.\nIn the end, true horror fans who can handle subtitles would be far better off checking out Shimizu's original feature film, "Ju-On: The Grudge," since the U.S. remake is essentially the same flick de-gored, less spooky and with a modicum of star power to fuel it towards box office profit.