‘The Grudge’ Reboot Taps ‘The Eyes Of My Mother’ Director Nicolas Pesce
The Grudgewill be resurrected once again.
DirectorNicolas Pesce, whose directorial debutThe Eyes of My Mothermade a big splash at 2016’s Sundance Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, has been tapped to helm a reboot ofThe Grudgefor Ghost House Pictures.
Pesce is set to direct the reboot ofThe Grudgeand rewrite the script fromMidnight Meat Trainwriter Jeff Bulher, according to a report byDeadline.
The reboot has been in development since 2014 underSam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures production company. Raimi produced the 2004 reboot ofTakashi Shimizu’s J-horror film,Ju-on: The Grudge. The 2004 film, also directed by Shimizu, starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as a nurse in Tokyo who is plagued by a vengeful curse and helped kick off a wave in low-budget genre adaptations of Japanese horror films.
The Grudgereboot will be produced by Raimi,Rob TapertandTaka IchisewithRoy Lee, Doug Davison, Joe DrakeandNathan Kahaneexecutive producing.Erin WestermanandRomel Adamwill oversee for Ghost House.
Here is the plot synopsis of 2004’sThe Grudge:
This American remake of director Takashi Shimizu’s popular Japanese movie franchise The Grudge puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Sarah Michelle Gellar back into the line of supernatural fire. When Karen (Gellar), an American student working with a Japanese health center for college credit, comes across a mysterious curse, she quickly finds herself embroiled in a fight for her own sanity, and, ultimately, her very survival. Known as a “grudge,” the curse was born inside of a house after its inhabitants died while consumed by rage — according to legend, the curse touches all who come into contact with it, and will torment those unlucky individuals until they, too, become part of the grudge . Each time the curse finds a new victim, it is, in a sense, reborn, and will continue on its path unless Karen can free herself from its control over her. This version of The Grudge is also directed by Shimizu, and features Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, Kadee Strickland, William Mapother, and Bill Pullman in supporting roles.
ThatThe Grudgeis being rebooted is not a surprise, with the original J-horror adaptation phenomenon,The Ring, returning in 2017 asRings— but with amodern day update by making the object of the curse a viral video instead of a video tape.The Grudgemay or may not get such a modern update, as the curse hinges on a family-centered curse rather than a technology-based one.
Pesce seems like a reasonable choice for aGrudgereboot, having made an impact with his directorial debut, his arthouse horror filmThe Eyes of My Mother(our own Jacob Hallreviewed it here). He is currently in post-production for the psychological thrillerPiercingstarring Mia Wasikowska and Christopher Abbott.
