'The GRUDGE' rebot trailer breathers new life into a classic ghost film sage

“The Grudge” franchise is back, and ready to terrorize John Cho and Andrea Riseborough with a vengeance. Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for the 2020 reimagining of the legendary J-horror franchise, which is directed by “The Eyes of My Mother” breakout Nicolas Pesce and produced by “Evil Dead” horror icon Sam Raimi. The supporting cast includes Demián Bichir, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, and Jacki Weaver.
Pesce’s “The Grudge” is not a reboot or a remake but a continuation of the English-lanague horror series that started with the 2004 movie starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. The team behind the 2020 horror film are calling this new “The Grudge” a continuation of the series rather than a direct sequel. Sony’s synopsis reads: “A single mother and young detective, Muldoon (Riseborough), discovers that a suburban house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death. Now, she runs to save herself and her son from demonic spirits from the cursed house in her neighborhood.”
When asked at New York Comic Con how his “Grudge” would be different from all the previous movies in the franchise, Pesce promised Sony’s openness to an R rating would result in the most disturbing “Grudge” yet. “The movie’s way more fucked up,” the director said. “Not that the wave of J-Horror in the early 2000s wasn’t fucked up — but this is really fucked up.”
“As far as the imagery, it was finding that balance between [old visuals and new visuals],” Pesce added. “We’re finding the key elements that are just how the grudge expresses itself. So much of this movie is about the fact that this can happen anywhere and that it happens everywhere. It can spread like wildfire. Having certain touchstones was important. Obviously with a franchise we don’t want to throw everything out. There is certain stuff that is fun for the fans to see again in a new context with a new spin.”
Sony Pictures will release “The Grudge” in theaters nationwide January 3. Watch the trailer in the video below.