I saw “the messengers” and I thought it was pretty good! The ending scene though, goodness gracious, that was so cheezy. I think this film is far better than any of Sam Reimi’s(sp?) other films. Like the Grudge? Have you seen that one? Its scary as all heck but its got an awful plot that makes no sense.

thoughts?

The ending (on messengers) was such crap. Ohhh the family is all coming together. Barf. It was horrible. And they made the handyman the bad guy?! He was the ONLY one who I even sort of liked. You could tell that they watched The Shining. And The Birds. That was more than just a nod to Hitchcock, they practically mugged him.

See, I *LIKE* the Pang Brothers. The Eye is one of the most interesting horror flicks I’ve ever seen. It’s scary and well done. But The Messengers? Come on guys, go back to Hong Kong and start making good films again.

I saw the Grudge, but I’m biased because I’ve seen all of the Juons (even the first “demo” ones). They’re all scary and all well done. But throw in Buffy and Bill Paxton and you’ve got yourself a snoozefest. You know, I can’t even remember if I saw Grudge 2. I think I did, but who knows.

One great thing about The Grudge is that Rifftrax (x-MST3K folks) did a commentary for it. It’s brilliant and makes it all so so so worth it. Here is a sample video of it. Brilliant stuff.

Seriously, I mean, they all come together and the family is laughing and the Mom is passing out lemonade, it seemed like one of those endings where everything is great but not really, like something bad should happen at the very very end. But it doesnt. What would have been great is if they packed up and left because, hell, if i saw all that stuff i wouldnt live in that house either.

I had the feeling that the handyman was the bad guy. He seemed nice enough, sure, like he would be helpful to the family during the climax of the movie, but something about men with facial hair makes me believe otherwise.

I think you and I are looking at this movie in two different ways. You are comparing it with movies from the past, from which I couldnt agree more on, but Im comparing it to his other movies. The RIng, The Grudge, etc. Those movies to me, have no plot at all. Not just that, but there is no logic. For example, the grudge will kill you if you enter the house, in fact, it will follow you everywhere until it gets you. It takes on a variety of forms to get you and will even tickle your feet under the blankets of your bed to get you. Why? Why does it want you so effin’ bad? And how can a ghost leave its “zone of bitterness” (ie the house) and chase you down the street, across the country and to the other side of the earth and not only attack you but people who have no idea what the deal is with the grudge? Jesus H, there needs to be boundaries on this thing like, “it’ll get you in the house, solve the problem by doing xyz and the ghost will go away” but you cant have it attacking people who havent even been in the house, that doesnt make sense. But then, perhaps its a monster. If it is a monster, how did it gain these monsterly powers? You cant just be dead and bitter and suddenly you become a monster. That doesnt make sense.

So, comparing my confusion with the grudge to that of the messengers, where they had a defined place of bitterness, there was a definite plot and resolution, I thoguht it was pretty good.

I saw the first Juon, hoping that it would clear it up for me, and it didnt. I havent seen the second or the third. So now, Im begging you. Please tell me what happens in the end! I cant figure out how to get rid of the grudge and its bothering me.

Oh, I don’t believe you can get rid of the Juon. It’s there in the house. If you have anything to do with the house, forget it, you’re toast.

It’s simply rage. It doesn’t have a logic or a reason (apart from its origin), it just is.

The ghost (grudge) attaches itself to you. It sort of possess you. It’s with you, you’re carrying it like a virus. Same with Ringu.

It’s a very Japanese idea. Their idea of the supernatural is a bit different from ours. It makes a lot of sense to them (and to me, I guess).

The opening of Juon explains it. Juon is a curuse of those who die in the grips of power rage (in this case, the husband killing the wife and child because he believes the wife is cheating on him). It’s not fair or really logical, but neither is rage.

Have you seen Ringu?

But what you REALLY should see is Tale of Two Sisters. One of the most brilliant movies I’ve ever seen. And one HELL of a plot twist. So much so that I had to rewatch the movie to suss it all out.

But you should also see the first Juons. Juon: The Curse. They were VERY low budge, shot on videotape and made for Japanese TV. They’re far from perfect, but they explain a lot and honestly, I dig them.

They’re weird because there are two of them. They’re about 60ish mins long each. But the second one’s first half is a rehashing of the first “episode.” It’s weird and sort of dumb, so I edited them together (and cut out an amazingly crappy CGI effect). If you like, I could hook you up. These are pretty hard to come by.

But what if you have nothing to do with the house? In the Grudge 2, that family had nothing to do with the Grudge but somehow the Grudge got all of them. It just doesnt make sense! Aack! So what happens if it never goes away? It’ll just randomly jump from person to person until what? I understand the whole thing about rage but as much as I would enjoy seing The Grudge 12, I would much more appreciate a resolution. There’s got to be a way Eric!!!!

I saw the first Juon but it didnt really resolve that much either. I mean, Japaneese school-uniformed zombies? I think you and I need to sit together and watch these movies so that you can explain these things to my slow slow brain.

I would love for you to show me your edited version. :)

I don’t think there *is* a resolution.

Are you talking about Grudge 2 or Juon 2? I don’t know anything about Grudge 2. Honestly, I don’t count either of the US made Grudge movies as important.

Amber Tamblyn played the sister of Buffy (she’s also the real-life daughter of “Riff” from West Side Story). Which family? I keep getting my movies mixed up. Did they move it back to Chicago or something? I sort of remember that. Ugh. Anyway, it’s crap, don’t worry about it.

Ok.. curiosity got the best of me and I read up on Grudge 2. The family (frying pan hit from the beginning) were exposed to the curse via Amber Tamblyn’s character. That’s all it takes. It’s “unleashed” as the tagline tells us. They unleashed a bunch of crap.

Stick with the Juons.
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