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The Grudge (The Untold Chapter) (2020) is the latest film in the 15-year-old The Grudge franchise, which is based on the Japanese Ju-on franchise. Read on to find out more...


The Grudge (The Untold Chapter) (2020) is a "soft reboot" of the franchise, connected to the original (the 2004 American remake) and taking place in the same universe, but with a new curse now active in America. This now means that there are TWO curses out there in the world: one in Japan and one in America. If it keeps spreading, we're gonna have a global pandemic on our hands. Anyway, the film tells one story involving multiple characters set in three successive time frames, jumping back and forth between them.

• 2004 - Fiona Landers (Tara Westwood), Sam Landers (Dave Brown), and Melinda Landers (Zoe Fish) - Fiona leaves the Saeki house in Tokyo while talking to Yoko, who was Karen's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) co-worker at the care center in the original film. Fiona brings the curse back with her to America, where it now resides in a suburban house in Cross River, Pennsylvania thanks to her murdering her family after arriving back home.

• 2004 - Peter Spencer (John Cho) and Nina Spencer (Betty Gilpin) - They are the real estate agents who sold the house to the Landers. Nina is pregnant with their first child, who may be born with a disability.

• 2005 - Faith Matheson (Lin Shaye), William Matheson (Frankie Faison), and Lorna Moody (Jacki Weaver) - Interracial couple Faith and William buy the house after the Landers family murders. She is suffering from dementia, and her husband calls in "exit guide" Lorna to provide assisted suicide efforts to ease their pain and suffering.

• 2006 - Detectives Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) and Goodman (Demian Bichir), Muldoon's son Burke (John J. Hansen) and Goodman's former partner Wilson (William Sadler) - Muldoon and Goodman find a dead body, which reopens the Landers murder case, which Goodman had thought he left in the past when it caused his former partner Wilson to be committed to a mental institution after trying to kill himself.


I have no idea why anyone thought that they needed a new Grudge movie after all these years. The original came out in 2004, the second in 2006, and the third in 2009. I don't think anyone was clamoring for a new Grudge film 10 years later. While the film is good, and certainly watchable, it's also unnecessary. Maybe that's why it sat on the shelf for a year and a half! (Filming was completed in June 2018, reshoots supposedly were done in 2019, and it had a short theatrical release in January 2020.) More frustrating than that is that they decided to title the movie The Grudge. Yes, a "The Untold Chapter" subtitle was added to the cover art, but it wasn't also added to the film itself. Since it takes place in the same universe as The Grudge (2004), why the Hell would you give it the SAME TITLE as a previous film in the same series?!? Why not call it The Grudge 4? Were they ashamed to point out that they've now made that many films?!?


Writer/director Nicolas Pesce includes many references to the other films in the American and Japanese series, including a scene in a police station pulled right out of the Ju-On: The Grudge Wii video game. Whether these could be considered "rip offs" or "homages" is up to you. The original Grudge was my first experience with Japanese horror, even if it was an Americanized version of it. It scared me because I was not used to it, and jump scares always get me, even though I think that they're extremely cheap. There are lots of jump scares in this film. Even though they are this franchise's MO, this 2020 film over does it, in my opinion.


The Grudge (The Untold Chapter) (2020) is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:33:44. Audio languages include English, English Descriptive, French, French Descriptive, and Spanish. The film includes English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. The first print run includes a beautiful slipsleeve.


Here's a list of all of the bonus features that can be found on the Blu-ray disc. The bonus features play automatically after the film, but can also be accessed through the menus.

• Designing Death (3:03) - From a slightly paler version of themselves to being completely mangled and rotted, to the incredible death scenes; like Faith Matheson's (Lin Shaye) epic leap off of the staircase, explore the character make-up design process and the film's visual look involved in creating the myriad of ghosts caught in the grips of the Grudge!
• The Cast of the Cursed (3:44) - Take an inside look at the evil that lurks behind the doors at 44 Reyburn Drive, as key creatives and cast members explore The Grudge characters and discuss their experience working with writer/director Nicolas Pesce.
• Easter Egg Haunt (4:47) - Join writer/director Nicolas Pesce as he brings to light the plethora of hidden Easter Eggs throughout the film which are homages to the previous works in the Ju-On franchise.
• Deleted Scenes (30:07 total) - Seven scenes include: "Who's Watching The Kid", "Just Let It Go", "Muldoon Shoots at Sam Landers", "That's Sam Landers", "Peter in Attic", "Faith Suicide Attempts", and "Alternative Ending".

I don't usually mention the boot-up ads included on a disc, but in this case I must list them: Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2:31), Blumhouse's Fantasy Island (2:31), Bloodshot (2:35), Brightburn (2:40), Searching (2:30), and Black and Blue (2:51). In additional to being shown on disc boot-up, all are also accessible from the "Previews" option on the menu. To my knowledge, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer (from December 9, 2019) is making its physical disc debut with this release.


A digital copy code voucher is also included in the standard Blu-ray case.


The Grudge (The Untold Chapter) (2020) is available on Blu-ray, and DVD. Also available are The Grudge (2004) (Unrated & Theatrical) Blu-ray, The Grudge 2 (2006) (Unrated Director's Cut) DVD, and The Grudge 3 (2009) DVD. Sony has not released the second and third films on Blu-ray in the United States, so you're stuck with DVDs or importing from other countries.






All images were taken from the IMDB gallery of the film. The item was provided by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for review on this site.