Night 1: Ju-On: The Grudge

"A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides."

Let me tell you, this first night was already complicated and confusing.

I want to start by explaining why I picked this movie to start this grueling journey. Way back in 2004, I went to see The Grudge in theaters. It was one, if not THE, most memorable theater experiences I've ever had. Here is what I remember:

My sister and I travelled an hour away from home to see this; our hometown, which we were both visiting, did not (and still does not) have a movie theater. The closest one is in the next town, and while historically beautiful, it's really a dump. I wore a hoodie. The movie started and I decided to wear the hood, for extra protection of course. I watched the majority of the movie through the opening, which I had closed to the size of a baseball. My sister on the other hand, did not watch the movie, but watched my reactions instead. There was one moment, a sudden action by a character, when everyone in the room gasped! All together! Then we all laughed. All together! What camaraderie. And then this movie scared the SHIT out of me. Now... on to this experience.

The main reason I chose this movie as #1 was because the American version scared me and stuck with me. I still don't ever want to look under my covers. I absolutely hate things that crawl and stark-white faces. So folks, I decided to face my fears and watch the Japanese version that was said to be so much scarier... Basically, I wanted to get it over with and the images out of my head as soon as possible!

Complications: I KNOW this was on Netflix like, yesterday, but today it was gone. So I had to search around and decided to just rent it on iTunes. I have no intentions on fully purchasing this and having it stare at me for the unforeseeable future.

Confusions: I only remember watching The Grudge that one time (never wanting to again), so I couldn't really remember the plot. When Ju-On was about 30 minutes in, main story lines were so confusing, some research had to go into this. Ju-On: The Grudge is the third in a series; the first two being Ju-On: The Curse and Ju-On: The Curse 2. I thought I had invested in the wrong one, but this is the version that led to The Grudge. If I am wrong, let me know, but it won't matter because it will be at least another year until I attempt that again. The crawling, man.

Overall, I was creeped out. I can see where people would think this was the scarier version, but I think I was distracted by subtitles. Also, the plot has a lot of time jumping and interweaving of story lines from the first two movies. It took more brain power and puzzle solving than I was expecting, but I suppose if I had watched the other two, I would have enjoyed it more. Maybe? I really want to like this version, but I have to give it more credit for inspiring the visions that haunt my soul, rather than it actually scaring me.

Applause goes to Takako Fuji for once again, bringing my nightmares to life with her body contorting. Ugh.

If you watched it, or have previously watched Ju-On: The Grudge, let me know what you thought! Tomorrow is It Follows! It's currently at RedBox, Netflix DVD, and of course Amazon & iTunes. I've heard good things, so I'm excited! Good night!