The Grudge, a remake of a Japanese film of the same name, finds Sarah Michelle Gellar as an exchange student in the Land of Rising Sun who accepts a babysitting gig. Little does she realize that puts her in a whole heap of trouble.

It seems as though there was a murder in that house of a woman and baby a few years earlier and the spirit is restless. Anytime anyone goes near the place and that includes the Japanese police something dreadful happens to them. The vengeful spirit kills indiscriminately and it has taken on a life of its own and is called, The Grudge.

Gellar sure could have used the martial arts skills from Buffy The Vampire Slayer though I'm not sure how much they would have helped against the undead.

The Japanese version apparently has gotten considerable acclaim, but for me this is just another slasher flick.

After the success of the American remake of THE RING, I guess it was inevitable that Hollywood would start producing more versions of Asian horrors. This is their second effort, a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the previous year's JU-on: THE GRUDGE, itself a remake of an earlier film simply titled JU-ON. Confused yet? You will be – as far as I make it, no less than six films have been built around this premise so far, with a seventh (and possibly eighth, knowing Hollywood) on the way. Really, if you've seen the original Japanese version, you have absolutely no reason to see this movie. It's inferior in every respect, and the decision to use sub-par CGI effects in some scenes makes them laughable rather than frightening – the appearance of the ghost hovering above the bed just looks atrocious.

The good news is that Sam Raimi produces under his Ghost House banner, which means things are a little less insipid than they would be otherwise. This film is an old-fashioned horror effort that mixes the plots of JU-ON and JU-ON: THE GRUDGE to a sometimes confusing effect. I liked the fact that the focus was on the scares throughout – no padding or time-wasting here, just straight into the fear factor. The inclusion of scenes from JU-ON (which I hadn't seen) kept me on my toes, although everything else was pretty much reproduced from the original, shot-to-shot. This may be because the Japanese director came across, but even so I'd have liked a little more loosening of the apron strings, a little greater variety. Maybe that's just me.

The cast isn't great. Japanese actors have a great way of portraying realistic subtlety, so when you see Sarah Michelle Gellar sweating and acting with wide-eyed fear, it doesn't really have the same impact. She's always just acting. The other cast members are pretty bland, and Clea DuVall is STILL awful, ever since I saw her in THE FACULTY. Bill Pullman was pretty good though, while the inclusion of Japanese actors from the original, playing the cursed family, is a nice touch. Being a Sam Raimi production, Ted Raimi inevitably shows up, here playing the head of a care agency, and it's great to see him in a larger supporting role than usual. One thing I did like a LOT was that the film becomes more serious, and more scary, as it progresses. Scenes such as the 'jaw' scare are spot on, while the full-blooded climax doesn't disappoint – it may be that the film actually becomes scarier than the original at this point! So, all in all, this isn't a great film, but it is a pretty good one – better still if you haven't caught the Japanese version.

When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage... A curse is born. The curse gathers in that place of death. Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury.

Peter Kirk (Bill Pullman) kills himself jumping off his apartment balcony in Japan.

Yoko visits elderly Emma (Grace Zabriskie) living in a Tokyo house. She is attacked by a spirit. Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a student nurse living in Tokyo with her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr). Karen takes over Yoko's job with Emma after she disappeared. Karen finds little boy Toshio trapped in a taped up closet.

The movie flashes back to when Emma is first shown the house with her kids Susan (KaDee Strickland) and Matthew (William Mapother) and his wife Jennifer (Clea DuVall).

The only interesting thing in this movie is Japan. Sadly, it doesn't even take full advantage of that since most of this takes place inside the house. The spirits aren't that creepy and not scary at all. The kills aren't gruesome. It's just very tame. There really isn't anything to this movie. There is also a problem with all these tangentially connected characters. They have no emotional relationship with SMG's Karen. The disconnected nature really lowers the stakes of this movie. The spirit chasing KaDee Strickland in Japan is the most compelling sequence but again she has no real connection with Karen.