In the movie The Grudge, a young woman named Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar), an American exchange student living in Japan, is assigned to check up on a mentally ill woman when the girl who usually attends the woman doesn’t show up for work. While there, she discovers that there is more to that house than meets the eye.

It starts when she finds a young boy with a cat taped up inside a closet.

The boy won’t say anything, except his name. She calls her boss to come and help her, but when he gets there, he finds the woman dead and Karen in a shocked stupor.

When the police get involved, the story begins to take shape, especially when they find the actual owners of the house dead in the attic. What happened in that house three years ago? What does the little boy have to do with everything? Why is it that everyone who goes into that house meets with a tragic end?

This movie is a remake of a Japanese movie that goes by the same name.

The story is shaped around the idea that when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage or immense sorrow, a curse is born. And anyone who enters the place of death is affected by that curse.

While the movie is indeed frightening, especially with something spooky popping out every few minutes, and is a delightful break from the slasher films that predominates the big screen around this time of year, the ending is a bit of a disappointment as it does not quite explain everything. Still, it’s definitely worth seeing. Just remember to leave the lights on.