The Grudge Film Analysis

The Grudge: Film Analysis

Paige Crossland

The film that I am going to analyse the first ten minutes of is The Grudge, a supernatural horror film. I have chosen this film because the plot for the two minute film my group are making in Media Studies in some way relates to The Grudge. This is because our film is about an evil spirit which kills the person who receives “the gift”.

The Grudge starts with slow, eerie non-diagetic music playing, which immediately gives the impression that this is a horror film. Text appears on the screen to explain the curse that the film’s plot revolves around. Every last word of the text turns to red before fading off screen, signifying death or rage, a big part of the film.
Each text fades off screen, showing the text is telling a story. Before the title sequence begins, a pan shot shows the setting of urban Japan, where the film is set.

There is then a close up of a male character on his balcony, to show his emotions and also to give the impression that he is worried about something. The camera cuts to the male character’s wife and shows a medium close up of her, which shows how happy she is to see her husband first thing in the morning.
Things then change once her husband jumps from their balcony and a close up shows her reaction to this. A high angle shot shows the eye line match on the male characters dead body and shows the height from which he has jumped. Straight away, a character has been killed, showing this is definitely a horror film.

The opening sequence then begins with red writing on a black background, which again signifies rage or maybe fear, relating to the film genre. The screen becomes red and a hand touches the screen that turns the screen to water, relating to the film plot as a boy was drowned. The black writing in the opening sequence morphs into flowing black hair, relating to the main evil spirit in the film, who has long black hair. 

Once the opening sequence is over, the film cuts to the next scene to keep the action going.

A dolly shot follows a Japanese girl on her bike, which shows that she is travelling somewhere.
The girl is wearing a red scarf; this may signify danger. Once she arrives at her destination, a medium full shot introduces a new character into the film, an old woman, who is spoken to by the girl in a friendly tone and is wearing more casual, layabout clothing compared to the girl.
 A medium close up of the old woman shows her intimidated expression, signifying she may know that something is wrong or about to happen. A low angle shot follows the girl upstairs, implying that the girl has more ability or power than the old woman as she can go upstairs, but because it is a horror film, it may create the impression that she is going to be harmed or killed. 

The synchronous sound of a creek is heard, then a cut shows the girl go into the room where the creek came from, where non-diagetic music which sounds like an eerie shriek plays briefly, indicating that danger is looming. The creek becomes more prominent, implying whatever is making the noise is close. As the girl looks up, a low angle show followed by a tracking show shows her moving her head around and also shows her worried reaction to the louder noise.
The lighting becomes more darker when the girl goes into the crawl space that will lead her up to the attic, which shows the film is about to become more darker and more gloomy. The dark lighting also relates to the film genre. As the girl tries to get into the attic, a high angle shot looks down on her, indicating that she is now vulnerable and the lighting is now even darker. 

A medium close up of her shows how scared she is as she looks around the attic with her lighter. This is typical of horror movie characters as they always go to investigate noises, despite how scared they are. The non-diagetic music becomes tense and eerie but also quiet and cuts out once an extreme close up of the ghost is shown and the sound of her croaking voice is heard.
The music becomes screeching and intense as the shot cuts straight to a low height angle of the girls feet as she is dragged up into the attic while the verisimilitude sound of her screaming is heard. The shot shows speed of motion, as the girl has been killed quickly but brutally. The next shot is a wide shot of the room, while the threatening music slows down, indicating the action is over, which is typical of a horror film, as when something happens, it just cuts to something else.

A cross-cut then goes straight to a cheerier setting of a young couple waking up, which is happy because of the natural, sunny lighting and the diagetic sounds of some birds tweeting. The young woman is shown in a medium close up, indicating that she may be the film’s heroine. A medium full shot shows the couple’s setting of the small flat they live in, which is typical of horror movie student characters. 

The couple are shown together in a long shot, also typical of a horror film, as most of the time, they have a young couple in them to create a romantic element so the film is not all doom and gloom. A jump cut then shows them outside, indicating some time has passed and builds up to the story as it goes on. A medium full shot shows what the couple stop to look at; two Japanese people leaving flowers at a shrine for them to send prayers to deceased loved ones. This relates to the cultural setting of the film but also to the storyline, as the storyline centres on a Japanese curse placed upon two people who die in a fit of rage.