‘The Grudge’ Reboot Scores a Director

Hot off the success of last year’s The Eyes of My Mother, director Nicolas Pesce has signed on to rewrite and direct the latest incarnation of The Grudge. Jeff Buhler, who had written Midnight Meat Train, wrote the most recent draft of the film’s reboot.

The film upon which the remake is based, Ju-on: The Grudge, was written and directed by Takashi Shimazu. The 2002 film told the story of a man who murders his family when he discovers that his wife has fallen in love with another man. The spirits of the household are so powerful, they return from the grave to kill the man responsible for the horrific crimes. Birthing a curse that extended well past familial connections, the spirits would go on to kill anyone who inhabited the house.

Despite being one of the most popular entries into the franchise, Ju-on: The Grudge is technically the third film in the series, with the two previous installments only being released on video. Ju-on: The Grudge became so successful, in fact, that it spawned an additional nine sequels.

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In 2004, Ju-on: The Grudge received an American remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, which Shimazu also directed. The Grudge, which cost a reported $10 million to make, went on to gross over $180 million worldwide and earned itself a theatrically released and a straight-to-video sequel. The remake followed the plot of Ju-on: The Grudge, albeit with a different ending, while its sequel embraced the ending of its Japanese predecessor.

In 2002, another prominent Japanese horror film, Ring, received the American reboot treatment in the form of the Gore Verbinski-directed The Ring. With The Ring and The Grudge being released so close to one another, both being remakes of J-horror films, both being a success, and both featuring supernatural entities with stringy black hair and pale complexions, the American horror film market became flooded with J-horror remakes that all hoped to be the next big thing.

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Dark Water, One Missed Call, The Eye and Mirrors are only a few of the American remakes that flooded the market in the ’00s, all of which failed to resonate as strongly as The Ring and The Grudge.

Pesce is currently in post-production on the psychological thriller Piercing, which stars Mia Wasikowska and Christopher Abbott.

The Eyes of My Mother made a name for itself on the film festival circuit, being lauded for its gripping cinematography, disturbing subject matter, and unconventional characters.