10 Horror Remakes You Didn’t Know Were Coming In 2019
6. The Grudge
The Original: Takashi
Shimizu’s creep fest Ju-On: The Grudge was released during the J-Horror wave of
the early noughties and already got the American remake treatment – by the
director himself, no less – in 2004 with a rather pointless rehash that retained
the Tokyo setting but chucked in a few Yankee actors including Sarah Michelle
Gellar and Bill Pullman for a bit of Western recognition.
The Remake: There seems to be a bit of confusion over what the latest Grudge movie will actually be. Is it a remake of the original J-Horror or a remake of the remake? Or maybe a reboot?
The last word from scriptwriter Jeff Buhler was that The Grudge Version 3.0 would be neither a remake of the Ju-On film nor the first Grudge remake but rather something that introduces a whole new mythology. Although last year it was announced that newly attached director Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of My Mother) would be rewriting the screenplay so whether that’ll change is anyone’s guess.
Regardless, rebooting The Grudge so soon after the last remake seems kind of unnecessary and with only producer Sam Raimi’s word that it’ll be a “relentless supernatural thrill ride” to go on we can only assume there’s a reason everybody’s being so vague despite the looming release date – they know it’s not such a good idea.