The Grudge 2 Analysis

(0:00 – 3:11)

In order to analyse the opening sequence of The Grudge 2 (Takashi Shimizu, 2006) I will look at the different micro elements and try and establish how they are used to set up character, narrative and genre. When the film begins, we see a black background with white text appearing, telling a story, introducing the audience to the film, this builds suspense and it gives the audience a slight idea on what the film is about. The word 'curse' changes to red and fades after the other text, leaving it remaining alone on the screen, allowing the audience a small insight into the nature of the film, we then know that in this film, there is a theme of isolation, lonliness and evil, it also specifies that the genre of the film is haunting or horror. 'Fury' also changes red and lingers on screen, this lingering and changing colour reiterates the importance of the words. Non-digetic soft high pitch ambient sound is playing in the background to add to the unnerving feeling of the film, this is later found to be the signature theme tune. We see an aerial establishing shot of a city to set the scene, location and period, Tokyo, roughly estimated to be early 2000’s . The camera then cuts to a low angle shot where we as the audience are looking up at a flat or apartment to show in more detail the location, asynchronous sound is used as we hear the birds squawking but do not see them. We see a close up shot of a woman cooking food in the kitchen whilst a man sits at the table connoting a sexist patriarchal scene with male dominance, later challenged by the presence of a female monster with male victims. The kitchen where the two characters are sitting has low lighting which sets an intense mood and atmosphere in the room, there is no noise other than digetic background noise of the frying and birds, this is synchronous sound, the sound of the hot oil in the pan has been synchronised and projected so we can hear it and it gives us an idea of how hot the oil is so we can then identify that the oil is going to play an important part in the scene. The combination of these things makes the audience feel that the two characters have had an argument and that there is friction between them. This is appropriately followed on by sarcastic comments made by the male to the female, she then serves the man his breakfast, but just before she moves away she hovers over him with the frying pan with an angry expression on her face. The audience then can identify what is going to happen. The man is shown dead on the floor while the woman calmly sips a coffee, accompanied by low eerie music. The man is lying on the floor with blood pooling around him. This scene is unnerving and odd to the audience as the woman is so calm, it builds tension and creates intrigue and enigmas for the audience. We as the audience can now expect that the narrative will be scary and demonic, perhaps even  with possessive and evil themes. The scene fades to white and a spot of blood, or what we as the audience believe is blood, appears accompanied by tense music, more blood appears and fades as the names of cast and directors appear in red writing. As the blood droplets fall they are escorted by a sound, almost like rain, the pace of the music increases as does the sound of the falling droplets, this then speeds up and the blood falls to form a Japanese symbol, assumingly translating to ‘The Grudge’. The number two then appears and fades to form a red area to the right of the symbol, in which the English for ‘The Grudge 2’ appears. This then fades and spirals accompanied by a water like sound form black lines,  almost like hair, a popular theme used in Japanese films, especially of this genre.  A red background appears and the audience can hear a low rumbling sound of water and perhaps thunder, accompanied by low music. The black ink like lines create different patterns as the names of cast and crew appear in a liquid style background.  We can then assume that this style of black lines and ink type writing will be echoed in the film, along with the signature theme tune.