U.S. Remakes of Foreign Blockbusters

There is something almost fascinating about watching the same filmmaker haunt his own house twice. Takashi Shimizu directed Ju-On: The Grudge in Japan and then returned to direct The Grudge for American audiences, which is not the usual remake story at all. That gave the U.S. version a strange advantage because it was not simply a studio imitation made from a distance. The source of the fear stayed in the room. Even so, the results are different. Ju-On has a rawer, more fragmented unease, and its structure leaves you feeling as though the curse is moving in irregular little waves.