Online No One Can Hear You Scream: Week One

Hello!

So if you follow me on Twitter etc you will know that I am planning a little blog challenge for October.

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year so it's only right that I celebrate it some way. So for all this month I will be watching as many horror films as I can and at the end of each week, I will do a little recap/review of them.

From classic to newer one, I am looking forward to all the sleepless nights.

Why Horror Films?

 Well, it's almost Halloween of course but mainly because I'm a big fan of the genre. I blame my mother. I grew up watching films like Evil Dead, Alien, Poltergeist etc and naturally I just fell in love with those films. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big chicken but that's the fun of horror films. The best ones are the ones that scare you! The ones that make you leave the light on at night.

I do have love/hate relationship with them. Like alot of films, you have your good and bad ones but the horror genre seems to attract alot of rubbish. Sometimes they are the best ones though.

During my little reviews, I will go into more detail about what, for me, makes a good horror film!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no film expert or critic. I'm just someone who enjoys films. So don't expect any insightful points or 'what does it all mean' statement. I'm just here to and give you guys a recap of what I enjoyed or hated!

Now, I'm hoping to watch a few films during the week but since this is the first week and I will be away for the weekend, I just have the one for now.

So let's crack on shall we:

The Grudge

• Year: 2004
• Director: Takashi Shimizu 
•  Staring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland, Clea DuVall, Bill Pullan

Okay okay... I know the original Japanese version is better but this was one of the films that really got me into the Horror genre. Plus who doesn't love watching 'Buffy' get terrorized by creepy ghosts?!

 Here is short synopsis of the film:

A family are torn apart by the husband finding out his wife is in love with another man. He murders his wife, son, cat and lastly himself. These violent deaths created a curse which brought the family back as onryō (not really explained in the remake)

An onryō is traditional Japanese belief of a vengeful spirit.

Years later, a husband and wife move in along with the husband's mother. Due to the mother suffering from deminta, a care worker is appointed to look after her. Shortly after moving in, the family suffer from the curse inflicted on the house and the Yoko (the careworker) goes missing. This brings Sarah Michelle Gellar's character into the story. She is also a careworker and is appointed to the mother after Yoko is not seen or heard from. 

She finds herself haunted by this curse, as anyone who enters the house is affected and doomed by it.

The Grudge was rated a '15' in the UK, so you know it's not going to be mega gory or violent. Which some may thing is bad but personally I'm not a massive fan of gore. This film relies more on 'jumpy' scenes rather than grossing you out.

Don't get me wrong, it has very violent undertones to it and there is one scene that involves a missing jaw which is a bit disgusting.

The interesting thing about this film is that it is directed by Takashi Shimizu, who did the original one. So if you have seen both, there is a lot of similarities. It doesn't exactly bring anything new to the story.

Visually it is a striking film and weirdly makes me want to go to Japan. I just need to avoid any scary hours that contain creepy ghosts..

Buffy would have kicked that ghost's ass. 

My pain problem with this film is the lack of character development. I don't find myself caring about any of them so it makes it hard for me to be shocked by any of the deaths (there is a lot by the way)

It contains such a great cast of actors but they are all very two dimensional.

Being a massive fan of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', I love Sarah Michelle Gellar but sadly her character of Karen spends a lot of the time looking wide eyed and terrified of everything. Don't get me wrong, I would be the same but it doesn't make for an interesting 'hero'.

See if you heard a creepy noise coming from the attic in your house, would you go investigate?

NO.

No should always be your answer. Also don't say "Who's there?"

If horror films have taught me anything, it's that. It always means death is coming for you!

By far one of the scariest scenes in the film.

As I said, The Grudge doesn't exactly bring anything new or ground breaking to the horror genre but it's a pretty good film. If you want to something that will make you jump then it's a good film to go for. Plus, like me, it made me more interested in Japanese horror films. 

So here is a list of my pros and cons of The Grudge:

PROS:

• Rather jumpy at points
• The 'villains' are pretty darn creepy
• Good cast
• Doesn't rely on gory scenes to be scary

CONS:

• Brings nothing new. Very similar to the original film
• Hard to care about the characters 
• You maybe see the 'ghosts' too early into the film. I prefer a build up.
• Predictable ending.

There you go!

The first film in my 'Online No One Can Hear you Scream' series. As I said I'm no film critic or expert, this is all for fun!

Next week, I will be talking about a few more films. So if there is anything you think I should watch, let me know in the comments!

In the words of Ghostface

"What's your favourite scary movie?"