The Grudge

The opening sequence of The Grudge is approximately three minutes and within this time zone, we are exposed to a lot of plot hints, settings, as well as some shocks and scares; for example when the male character of whom we are introduced to suddenly plunges off a balcony to his death.

Within the course of this three minute introductory piece, we are introduced to two characters, one male and female. The female, we see, is seemingly rather young and is lying in bed in what seems to be a small apartment located somewhere in Japan. The other character we are introduced to is a middle-aged male character, Peter, played by Bill Pullman, who I mentioned earlier, who we find overlooking the apartments surrounding area shortly before plunging of the balcony he is leaning against and falling to his sudden, untimely death.

The costume work in this introduction is fairly basic. The woman we find in the bed is typically wearing bed clothes in the form of a white nightie-type gown. The male character is wearing basic clothing.The choice to give the characters simple clothing is to emphasis their innocence as to the events that are about to occur, by doing this making the scene far more graphically shocking.

With reference to the cut rate and transition use, the cute rate is very slow and the transition between each cut is steady and calm. This, I feel sets the mood for the film and unnerves the viewer in a clever attempt to lure them into the film and immerse them.

Now, moving onto camera work. There are a wide variety of shots used within this segment of film. The most noticeable and longest used is the over the shoulder shot. The camera starts it’s filming with an over the shoulder shot. It is used to show over Peter’s shoulder and gives us the impression that we are seeing exactly what he sees. He is initially looking over the balcony at the busy streets and surrounding area, and that is exactly what we, the viewer, is seeing. The implementation of the close-up is also used to give the viewer a clearer, more defining view of both the female and male characters of whom we are introduced to. Another shot that is very cleverly used is the point of view shot. This is use as peter is falling to his death and thoroughly adds effect and highly cranks up the shock value and suspense that is struck into the viewer; a cracking piece of camera work. Other shots such as the pan shot and tilt shot are also used towards the end of the introduction when we are exposed to Peter’s dead body lying on the street floor and the locals flocking around him.

The mise-en-scene is very overall very calming and ‘realistic’, something of a rarity in the horror field. The setting takes place in Tokyo and we are exposed to the bustling streets and busy roads. We can hear the sounds of cars hooting and people nattering as well as the fateful wind crackling. This mise-en-scene is actually rather deceiving as it is not something commonly seen in a horror film and really tricks the viewer into feeling calm and relaxed, leaving them vulnerable to scares and shocks. This is a clever piece of film making.

The text used in this introductory sequence such as titles, names etc. is used to great effect. Perhaps the most iconic and profound use of text is the beginning explanation of curses. We are exposed to a black screen with red text appearing which tells us that curses are the result of a rage-filled death and how that curse remains in the place of death. Because this message is given in text form rather than speech, it makes the reader concentrate more and perhaps give them a better, more concise understanding of curses and maybe even hint them as to what the film to follow is all about. Text is also used towards the end of the introduction in which the title of the film is exposed after a mysterious is shoved into a pool of red, blood-like water. This also adds to the scare factor of the film and begins to take the viewer out of their calm state of mind that they were once in.