Grisly ghost story has lots of violence, scares. Read Common Sense Media's The Grudge review, age rating, and parents guide.

In its quest to appropriate global filmmaking trends, Hollywood has honed in on a series of Japanese cult horror pics most notable for bad acting and pedestrian direction. First came DreamWorks' profitable redo of director Hideo Nakata's "The Ring" (its sequel will arrive next year, along with a remake of Nakata's "Dark Water") and now there is helmer Takashi Shimizu's "The Grudge." Pic is a woeful Americanization of a creaky haunted-house story Shimizu has filmed four times in Japan. While press notes say pic's titular curse never forgives or forgets, viewers of this Sam Raimi-produced, sub-"Amityville" scarefest are likely to hold the real grudge.

"The Grudge" has a great opening scene, I'll grant you that. Bill Pullman wakes up next to his wife, greets the day from the balcony of their bedroom, and

The ghosts of Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On series return--again--in The Grudge