Pitched as a “reimagining” of the cult horror classic, Sony is starting to piece together their remake of The Grudge, and from everything we’ve been hearing, we’re beginning to get a bit excited about it.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, Nicolas Pesce is directing from his own script, and in a recent interview with Dread Central, writer Jeff Buhler had nothing but praise to offer up for the filmmaker, telling the outlet that Pesce is bringing his own vision to the project.
“He’s really brought his vision to it, and it’s really become his movie. He’s an auteur, and his films are so very specific and beautiful, and that’s what he is bringing to the table.”
The Grudge is also bolstered by some serious film pedigree behind the scenes, given Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert have agreed to produce the movie on behalf of Ghost House. If that banner sounds familiar, it should; Ghost House last collaborated with Good Universe and Sony for Fede Alvarez’s spooky domestic thriller Don’t Breathe, so their involvement certainly bodes well here.
In front of the camera, things are looking equally as good, with a cast that includes Andrea Riseborough, Demian Bichir, John Cho and Lin Shaye. It’s that last name which has fans particularly excited and when asked about how he felt having her involved, Buhler was quick to shower praise on the genre icon.
“I could not be more excited to have her involved in The Grudge… I just feel like every now and then, there are iconic personalities that come into the genre, and they stay there, because people want to see more of them, and they live in this ecosystem, and Lin Shaye is one of the personalities.”
Finally, when Dread Central pressed the scribe for confirmation that The Grudge will be R-rated, Buhler said:
“I will shocked if I am involved with a PG-13 movie ever. It’s not by choice, but even if you cut out gore, there are often conceptual ideas or psychological ideas that are not appropriate for children in certain storytelling, and that tends for me to be the place in which I live.”
As for when The Grudge will be with us, we’ve been told that the studio’s pegged it for August 16th, 2019. Little is currently known about the plot, of course, but it’s safe to assume that Ghost House Pictures’ reimagining of The Grudge will chronicle the titular entity as it moves from one grief-stricken victim to another, leaving a trail of dead bodies and nightmarish terror in its wake. Plus, as Sam Raimi’s already told us, they’re going back to the original source material, which sounds like the right move.
That being said, it’s not like anyone was really asking for a remake of The Grudge, but based on the name recognition alone, we’re sure it’ll bring in more than enough money to justify producing it. We just hope that it’s as good as Buhler is promising it’ll be, as we’ve seen far too many crappy horror remakes lately, wouldn’t you say?