‘The Grudge’ director clarifies reboot will explore “different ghosts”

Filmmakers behind the upcoming The Grudge have come out to clarify that the movie will explore a new realm of characters and monsters. 

We have known that the beloved horror movie was getting revamped in 2020 in a new film for a bit now, but many people have been referring to it as a reboot of the 2004 film. 

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The 2004 film and was a remake of 2002 Japanese horror thriller, Ju-on: The Grudge, which was written and directed by Takashi Shimazu. 

The 2004 remake, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, had a massive response. As Deadline reports, the remake cost around $10 million to make, but grossed $187 million worldwide and spawned a sequel. 

While that film took place in Japan, the new movie will take place in America, but it will be set in the same time as the 2004 movie. 

Now, we’re getting a new film, but it apparently is not a reboot of the original story or a sequel, according to the film’s director Nicolas Pesce. 

“The Grudge is an anthology series,” Pesce said to Den Of Geek. “The movies are (about) different characters, different stories, different locations, different ghosts. Aside from the second and third American remakes, it’s all been very contained to Japan.”

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He also talked about why they chose to set the upcoming film in the U.S. 

“The Grudge is like a virus; it’s super-contagious. So the fact that it would stay in the tiny city of Tokyo is unrealistic. It exists in Asia, Europe, Africa, in America, because it has spread. I know a lot of people think this is a remake of a remake, which is isn’t… this movie exists in the same world as the Japanese movie, we’re just adding a chapter,” he also said. 

The upcoming film centers around a cop named Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) in a town that has a mysterious case that she just can’t figure out. It leads to her a house that “has been grudged,” Pesce says, and all hell breaks loose. 

“We follow her, as well as two other storylines, that are all interacting with this grudged house in small town America,” Pesce said. “Like the old films, it’s a tapestry of three different stories that interweave and all take place at slightly different times, centered around this one house that’s at the center of this case that this cop is working on.”

The Grudge will release in theaters on January 3. You can see the trailer for the 2004 film below. 

How excited are you to see the film? Sound off in the comments down below!

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