The newest addition to the Japanese-American horror classic series, The Grudge (2020), has finally been released after nearly nine years.

     Director Nicolas Pesce took on the project back in 2017 after the project had been in the beginning stages of production for six years. This is now the fourth installment to the horror series, and was originally meant to bring new life to the series.

     The film begins with meeting one of the three main families mentioned in the film, the Landers. In 2004, Fiona Landers is seen frantically calling her assistant while standing outside a home in Tokyo, Japan. She begins to hallucinate and imagines a figure moving around in a trash bag. She arrives at her home in Pennsylvania where she is back with her husband and young daughter. Unbeknownst to the audience at the time, Fiona is cursed and ends up committing a murder-suicide of the entire family.

     That is when Detective Muldoon is introduced to the audience. Muldoon is now a single-mother who moves to the small town to restart her life with her son. She works as a police officer for the town and upon arrival, she begins working on a supposed homicide. That case has a connection to the house where the Landers familicide occured, sparking Muldoon’s interest in its dark history. 

     As Muldoon dives deeper into the house’s story, she discovers the second family linked with the house: the Spencers. The Spencers are dragged into the evil when Peter, a real estate agent, enters the home and discovers the spirits (and eventually the bodies), is consumed by their evil nature, and ends up killing his wife and then himself.

     Lastly, Det. Muldoon is introduced to the final inhabitants to the home on Reyburn Drive, the Mathesons. This elderly couple moved into the home back in 2005, after one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness. This is where the spirits again consume the inhabitants and lead to another murder. This time, Faith Matheson is still alive and is committed to a hospital after being found by Muldoon. The curse of a “grudge” comes to life and follows Muldoon, until the end of the film. 

     This film was a nice refresher to the series, and would be a favorite for any horror-movie lover. The film is long overdue, but does justice to the series, also leaving the ending as a perfect set-up for another addition to the franchise. The movie definitely puts the atmosphere on an all time high, with the classic fear factor that all great horror films possess. Overall, the film deserves a nine out of ten rating. Although the film was well done, there are some discrepancies in the film’s odd timeline and missed some marks that could have made the film better. If you are interested in the franchises dark twists and turns, head to a theater near you.