3. Takashi Shimizu - Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) / The Grudge (2004)
Japanese director Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On series proved so popular in his homeland that the third instalment, The Grudge, was picked up for an American remake, despite Shimizu's reluctance. Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Bill Pullman, and produced by horror maestro, Sam Raimi, The Grudge focuses on just one of the six stories in the original series, the remake also going on to spawn two more entries in the American version of the franchise, neither of them worth naming. Far more linear that the original, the '04 version is markedly different, incorporating a romantic subplot into proceedings and generally messing with the chronology of the Ju-On series, the first two of which were straight to DVD jobs in Japan. Naturally, the remake is the more polished film, especially in its depictions of the ghosts (?) which haunt Gellar and co., but, honestly, neither are worth that much of your time, especially considering the superior Ring franchise performs the same basic function far more effectively.
