This was an alright remake imo, but I can see why it got bad reviews. It doesn't do anything fresh, and is not as good as the Sarah Michelle Gellar remake. That one freaked me out. I started to get bored towards the end with this, kept checking the runtime. They could have done SO much more with it. Honestly first hour I was enjoying it decently fine, then it started dragging. The parts with John Cho in it were pretty creepy and well done, most probably my highlights. Lin Shaye was good as she usually is too. I'd say William Sadler is the real stand-out from the cast by far, he absolutely owned his role as the detective losing his sanity over the case. Easily the best character and acting performance in the film. Andrea Riseborough was fine in the lead role, but I found her character a bit bland overall, I didn't really care about her character or what was happening around her.
The real best moments of this film is when they go back in time, and look at the rest of the characters. Who I was far more intrigued by, I didn't care about anything going on with the 'main' characters.
I personally felt as though it was lacking legitimately creepy moments compared to the other Grudge movies which terrified me. The jump scares didn't even get me honestly, except for a couple and that might be because I was distracted. I will say that death rattle still gets me, creepy as hell. Yea, just not as scary as I was hoping, felt a bit safe and kinda just trudged along as it went further on. Okay one time watch, but only if you're absolutely out of things to watch. Even then, I'd recommend just watching Ju-On: The Grudge or The Grudge (2004).
I guess I'll just have to pull out the trusty Blu-Rays if so.
