Despite the most critically acclaimed horrors of the past few years – It Follows, The Witch, The Conjuring, Get Out – being original productions, studios still seem reluctant to give directors and writers full reign to create something horrific. Instead, they’re sticking with reboots.
Despite the abysmal one-two punch Rings received recently – a critical bashing and a hugely disappointing box office return, which led to Paramount cancelling their Friday The 13th remake – Ghost House Pictures are still moving ahead with their own new J-horror remake, this time with The Grudge.
The Eyes Of My Mother director, Nicolas Pesce, has signed on to direct the film, which revolves around a curse which begins when someone dies while gripped by extreme emotions such as rage or sadness, withg the curse being passed on to those who encounter it. Pesce will be rewriting the script originally penned by Jeff Buhler (Midnight Meat Train).
The 2004 American version of the film starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, which itself was a remake of the original Japanese film Ju-On.
While the J-horror craze has been and gone, and it feels like we’ve moved into a period where the most successful horror films are mixing scares with dark social commentary, studios are never going to be above reboots. Alongside The Grudge, we’ve got another Saw film coming, and last year saw the release of Blair Witch.
Let’s just hope this reboot has some intrigue to it and isn’t simply a cash grab. We saw what happened with the Rings debacle.
#Peace.Love.TheGrudge
