While the ongoing success of the new Halloween movie makes it clear that the filmgoing public is more than willing to give the time of day to old horror properties, The Grudge still seems like a strange choice for a reboot, but given the acclaim that director Nicolas Pesce found with 2016’s The Eyes of My Mother, there’s reason to think that this upcoming remake of the 2004 remake of 2002’s Ju-on: The Grudge could yet yield some intriguing results.
With that in mind, we turn our attention to this ominous new still shared by Sony on Halloween. It may be a while before we find out what’s happening on the other side of that door, but you can imagine that this person isn’t having the best of days.
For all we know, that could be Lin Shaye pressed against the glass, with the Insidious actress set to star alongside the likes of Andrea Riseborough, Demian Bichir, and John Cho. Given Shaye’s experience in horror, you might take it as a good omen that she made the bold claim a few weeks ago that Grudge is undoubtedly the scariest movie she’s ever been in, attributing this success to the prowess and vision of the film’s director:
“What will make it really different is Nicolas Pesce, who is the writer/director, who is extraordinary. I mean he’s a real visionary. I had a phenomenal time working with him. He was very open to my ideas, which he told me he never is. He said, ‘I don’t usually let actors do what they want.’ He said, ‘But in your case, there were no rules.’ I was inspired. The ideas I came up with were inspired by what he was creating. And he acknowledged that and allowed it.”
By contrast, reactions to the flick’s recent test screening painted a far less flattering picture of a scare-free work that relies on generic jump scares. But seeing how the film still has a pretty lengthy journey to release, perhaps it’s best not to despair quite yet.
Grudge is coming to us in a time where Hollywood has long got over its obsession with remaking popular J-horror movies, but we’ll find out if Pesce can resurrect an old trend when the film hits theaters on June 21st, 2019.