MovieChat Forums > The Grudge (2004) Discussion > How to not be so scurred of this damn mo...

How to not be so scurred of this damn movie?!

posted 9 years ago by summer_wine7
35 replies | jump to latest

I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. Though some movies make me jump or creep me out, nothing really scares me and as soon as the credits roll I am usually over it (unless it was also a sad story, in which case I usually think about it for a little longer but not much). I've seen the very vast majority of horror movies that would be listed as scariest and don't have an issue with any of them.

The Grudge however is different. I saw it in 2004 when I was 17 - I saw it three times actually - and it scared the absolute *beep* out of me to the point of leaving the light on when I went to sleep and barely sleeping at all as I covered my ears the whole night. I was terrified. I didn't know why. I just couldn't shake the images and creeps it gave me.

Three years later I watched The Grudge 2, with my dad, TWICE in a row - he suggested I watch every single scene (no looking away!) which I did and cracked jokes about it to help me get over it. It didn't help. It may have made it worse.

Fast forward another 3 years and I watched The Grudge again with my then boyfriend... I knew exactly what was gonna happen... I screamed every time... I could hardly sleep that night.

I keep wanting to rewatch it because I can't stand that it scares me this much. But rewatching doesn't seem to fix it.

Does anyone have any tips as to how to get over this ridiculous fear/fixation (i.e. recurring dreams, can't stand the rattling sound, keep going back to think if I should rewatch it)? I just want to be able to watch this movie, be like 'lolz good scare' and go to bed unafraid and get normal sleep. I can't stand that it scares me.

Also I know where I am posting and fully expect trolls and insults... but it's a leap of faith maybe another person who had a similar fear browsed over here too.

[–] gladys-lillian 8 years ago

So glad i am not the only one. this scared the crap out of me :) I love horror films, but this one for me was one of those ones that left me feeling edgy.

The noise she makes just freaks me out and the hair, the way she walks (screammmmm) Just FREAKY......

After watching i still jump out of bed of night after watching to run to the toilet and back and fast as i can.... God knows what my children think if they hear me hahaha.... Oh well i just cant help it, this one gets me every time.

[–] boom_e85 8 years ago

Can there be a movement to form a support group for people who've been traumatized by this movie?

Growing up, I used to LOVE horror movies. I watched the original Exorcist when I was in kindergarten and wasn't that affected by it, along with all the hundreds of other US and Asian horror movies, but when Ju-On came along and I unwittingly watched it, Kayako's pale face and rattling throat sound has since been the basis of all my nightmares and paranoias. It's been over 10 damn years since the original movie's first release and I still can't stand to hear that sound or look at a picture of her wide-opened-eye-between-split-bangs poster without immediately worrying about how I'm going to sleep that night.

This movie was the one movie that broke all horror movies for me, to the point now where I can't even watch American horror movies (which, in my opinion, doesn't have the same degrees of scare as Asian movies).

I do not know how to get over my fear of Kayako.

I've woken up screaming a few times because she popped up into my nightmares. The worst nightmare I had of her was in college, where I dreamed I was walking under a bridge. Chained to the brick wall of the underbridge was a young girl with long black hair, who was looking down and sobbing. When I went closer to ask if she needed help, she looked up and it was Kayako's eye, and she was making that creepy-ass sound while grabbing my ankle. Woke up screaming and fell out of bed because I was trying to run away in my dream lol.

I slept with the lights on for 6 months after watching that movie.

[–] TearTheStarsOutFromTheSky 8 years ago

The only movie this happened with for me was Darkness Falls. I couldn't sleep without a light on until I was 19. I watched it a few weeks ago and thankfully I was fine.

[–] Akira-Takahashi 8 years ago

Go watch Buffy, then go watch Xena. When you go back to watch The Grudge, bear in mind that it's basically Buffy being conquered by the supernatural instead of vice-versa, and remember to sing Joxer the Mighty every time Ted Raimi appears.

[–] Gd5150 (11750) 7 years ago

Seeing it in a nearly empty theatre weeks after it came out made it scarrier. That damn sound they used went right through you.

The promotional website they made was just as freaky. I remember trying to go through it one night in my office and I couldn’t. Damn Grudge! That crab walking Asian chic was just so damn freaky.

[–] Nicko's Nose (1651) 7 years ago

The original is scarier.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

It is just how it is, even watching the behind the scenes didn't help for me. Still the scariest film I've ever seen.

[–] Gd5150 (11750) 4 years ago

Saw it in the theatre. Still gives me a few nightmares a year. Even the website was freaky AF. It was hard to get through the entire site. That damn grudge sound.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Is that website still around?

[–] Gd5150 (11750) 4 years ago

I found this on archive. I’m on an iPhone though so it may not be working because of that.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090212132200/http://thegrudge-lefilm.com/

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Oh, nice. it requires the Flash plug in to play.

[–] Drusilla (560) 3 years ago

I wish it had that effect on me. I am watching it again now after many years. Maybe I missed something.