The American version of The Grudge made a few adjustments to The Grudge series, but there's also a lesser-known fact: the American version actually has an even newer production called The New Grudge. Back then, driven by curiosity and anticipation, Edward went to watch it. After finishing it, all he wanted to say was: refund my money.
The plot of The New Grudge barely had any real connection to The Grudge. If he had to say there was anything related, it was simply that Kayako appeared for a moment, showed her face, and then the movie immediately shifted into a typical American-style horror film.
The entire plot of The New Grudge could only be described with one word: nonsensical.
The story began with a caregiver. This unfortunate female caregiver went to Kayako's house. Realizing something was off, she quickly stepped out, but by the time she turned around, Kayako was already behind her. Then, from a garbage bag on the side, Kayako's hand stretched out and grabbed her. The woman let out a tragic scream—
And that was the end of Kayako's role in the movie.
After that, the scene shifted. The caregiver had returned to her old home back in the United States, happily reunited with her family. Her house, coincidentally, was numbered 44.
The next part introduced a classic single mother, this time a female police officer raising her child alone. The protagonist was assigned to a new police precinct, and her superior informed her of a car accident, bringing her to the scene.
Upon arrival, they found a wrecked vehicle in the woods, and inside was a rotten corpse. The corpse's expression was extremely twisted, as if the person had experienced unimaginable terror right before dying.
This case then led directly into the main storyline of The New Grudge.
After running some background checks on the corpse, the protagonist's superior discovered that the deceased had visited the 44-number house—the home of the caregiver who had returned from Japan. The superior clearly did not want to get involved in this case.
He sternly warned the protagonist not to investigate anything related to House 44.
But as everyone knows, in horror films, the more characters are told not to do something, the more they absolutely insist on doing it. It's as if all their brains are waterlogged; they can never stop themselves from poking around. And people who know secrets—without exception—never explain anything clearly the first time.
Thus, the protagonist began investigating House 44 on her own. Through online news articles, she learned that a family massacre had occurred there. The caregiver had killed her own child, stabbed her husband to death, and then died herself.
Naturally, a bold protagonist would continue courting death. She went directly to House 44, intending to question the current occupants. After knocking, she found that the door wasn't locked, so she walked inside and found an elderly woman in the kitchen, a frequent visitor to the room. Edward recognized her—this actress appeared in countless American horror films, always as some unsettling figure.
The old woman was chopping something. Curious, the protagonist leaned closer, only to realize the woman was chopping her own fingers. Shocked, the protagonist turned her head and found another resident, a man already dead behind her, severely decomposed and crawling with maggots. The old woman began screaming hysterically. Horrified, the protagonist ran outside and vomited.
Naturally, she wasn't giving up that easily. She immediately went to her superior's house to ask about House 44. From him, she learned that a veteran investigator who once handled the case had gone insane and was now admitted in a mental hospital.
Everyone else involved had also either died or met terrible ends. Some people didn't even go inside even just delivering milk to the doorstep or walking past the house—yet they were cursed and eventually died.
The superior once again sternly warned her: absolutely do not go inside again. Do not get involved in anything related to House 44.
Of course, she didn't listen. She had already entered the house anyway.
Her investigation revealed that before the caregiver returned, a real-estate agent had also died because of House 44. After entering the house, he murdered his pregnant wife and then killed himself.
As the protagonist dug deeper, the film shifted into the real-estate agent's segment. He encountered ghosts in the bathroom and witnessed supernatural events in his home. Realizing something was wrong, he tried to cancel the contract, only to run into the now-spectral caregiver's family. Possessed by the ghosts, he carried out those killings.
Watching this part, Edward felt extremely bored. This so-called New Grudge only used a small bit of The Grudge at the beginning, tossed in Kayako for a cameo, and then reverted straight into a formulaic American horror flick. The story was painfully ordinary and cliché.
While watching, Edward constantly felt like he was watching any other American exorcism film. There might not have been an exorcist, but the structure was exactly the same. The scares were all cheap jump scares and gross-out attempts.
After the real-estate agent's segment, the protagonist visited the mental hospital and found the unfortunate veteran investigator. When he saw her, he told her bluntly: once you enter the house, your death is inevitable. The female ghost would eventually come for her. He also told her the one method to escape the hallucinations:
Dig out your own eyes.
Terrified, the protagonist continued her investigation, and the film finally explained how the corpse in the car accident came to be.
That woman worked in assisted euthanasia. She went to House 44 and met a man, the homeowner who begged her to euthanize his wife. But because the wife's mental state was unstable, it was illegal. With no other choice, she stayed at the house for a few days per his request.
At the supermarket, she saw the little ghost girl and fled back home. On her way, she encountered a not-yet-completely-insane police officer who was screaming about ghosts. Panicked, she drove back to the house.
Only then did the homeowner reveal the truth. The woman tried to leave, but the old wife stabbed her husband to death, cut off her own fingers, and terrified the woman into fleeing.
On the road, seeing ghosts in her rear-view mirror, she crashed and died.
Meanwhile, the protagonist returned to House 44. She had been seeing ghosts at home repeatedly and realized she was already targeted. Desperate to survive, she decided to burn down the haunted house. The scenes were filled with reenactments and more jump scares. At one moment, her son appeared, begging her not to light the fire. But the protagonist saw through the illusion and set the house ablaze.
However, this raised a long-standing question familiar to The Grudge fans:
Does burning the house stop Kayako?
In the original The Grudge, characters tried to burn the cursed house, but Kayako always stopped them, so it was never destroyed. Many fans therefore believed that burning the house might break the curse.
But in Shimizu Takashi's American version, additional lore was added. In the first film, the protagonist did manage to burn the house—yet the curse persisted. In fact, it even seemed to become more dangerous and easier to spread.
So, burning the house does not stop Kayako. The protagonist simply didn't know that.
In the final scene, the protagonist hugged her son and encouraged him to go to school. But her son's voice suddenly responded from behind her. He happily walked away with his backpack.
The protagonist realized the one in her arms… might not be her son.
She slowly turned her head—and saw the little ghost girl. Instantly, a female ghost grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away.
The film ended.
After watching it, Edward's strongest impression was that it was a less scary, inferior sequel, a classic case of "dog tail pretending to be a mink." Despite borrowing the name The Grudge and having Kayako cameo, the entire film was basically an American horror story wrapped in a The Grudge skin. Replace Kayako with any generic American ghost and nothing would change.
He wondered if the director thought The Grudge was simply a messy, nonlinear timeline story, because the film tried to mimic that chaos. But that wasn't the essence of The Grudge at all.
What made Japanese The Grudge terrifying was the meticulous linkage between timelines, the oppressive atmosphere, color composition, and emotional progression. This movie captured none of it—just a clumsy imitation.
After finishing it, Edward silently removed the film from The Grudge series in his mind. To him, despite carrying the franchise name, it was essentially just another American horror film. Swap Kayako for any demonic entity from a haunted house movie, and nothing would change.
…
"Action!" With the directing assistant's command, the entire set came alive. They were currently filming the scene where Kayako's younger sister performed an exorcism.
To make the exorcism look more authentic and respectful, Edward had consulted several religious organizations in this world and received many suggestions. Thanks to that, the ritual felt far more believable.
The actress in white focused on her performance in the dim corridor. Kayako clung to the ceiling, her face twisted, silently watching. Edward glanced at her, his mouth twitching slightly.
This scene didn't actually require Kayako herself. Edward wasn't sure whether Kayako simply couldn't defeat her sister, or whether there was another reason, but in the story, Kayako didn't face her sister directly. Instead, she sneakily manipulated an unfortunate bystander and had him possessed by Takeo Saeki's rage.
Edward suspected it was because Kayako couldn't win a direct confrontation. His evidence: in previous scenes, other victims possessed by Takeo suffered prolonged torment, reliving Kayako's own death in gruesome detail before finally dying.
But here, Kayako's sister was killed instantly.
Of course, maybe it meant she loved her sister too much to let her suffer.
Possessed by anger, the unlucky host wandered out. Kayako's sister sensed something wrong, but he had no rationality left. Ignoring the beautiful exorcist's warnings, he brutally and directly killed Kayako's sister. Only after the rage dissipated did he realize what he'd done, trembling in horror.
But by then, Kayako's sister had already transformed into a newborn curse and staggered toward him. The scare in this scene was intense.
After all, the possessed victim sat beside her corpse, overwhelmed with regret, only to watch the person he killed crawl toward him in an unnervingly twisted posture. Worse, there was nowhere to run—he could only sit and watch the new curse close in.
"This posture is a little stiff," Kayako commented beside Edward. He twitched again. He wanted to tell her, You can't use your standard to judge others. They're humans—they can't bend like you.
"How would you perform it, then?" Edward asked curiously.
Kayako smirked proudly and demonstrated on the spot.
She even stepped out, shouted "Cut!", and then performed the scene herself.
Her ability was undeniably terrifying. There was no background music, and many people were present, yet an eerie, suffocating atmosphere spread instantly. Everyone's hair stood on end.
As Kayako twisted her body unnaturally and approached the actor playing the unlucky victim, his neck made a few cracking sounds—and he fainted on the spot. Edward stared in disbelief.
Good lord. Edward mentally exclaimed good lord again.
Were these people always this timid? Then again, judging from Kayako's grotesque movements, maybe fainting wasn't unreasonable. She really didn't look human at all.
"Teacher, how do you move like that?" While the fainted actor was being carried away, Kayako gained an enthusiastic little fan. The actress playing her sister gazed at her with admiration. Kayako happily offered some pointers.
Watching this gentle, warm exchange, Edward felt a strange emotion.
Kayako, like this, didn't look like an evil spirit at all. If anything, ever since following him, she'd been becoming more and more like a normal person.
But that was good. Perhaps this really was the kind of life Kayako wanted.
When the actor finally woke up, Edward resumed filming. He could hardly wait to see the audience's reaction.
(End of Chapter)