The Grudge Director Confirms Reboot Is Directly Connected to the 2004 Movie

In 2004, popular Japanese horror film The Grudge was remade for American audiences with Sarah Michelle Gellar taking on the lead role. The character found herself in a haunted house in Japan, trying to escape the terrors of a deadly creature, similar to the one featured in the original Japanese version of the movie. The franchise is now being rebooted once again in January, this time moving the story here to the United States. While it looks and feels much different than the first reboot, the two films will actually be directly connected.

The trailer for The Grudge was released first thing on Monday morning, starting off everyone’s week with a pretty solid scare. Along with the debut of the trailer, director Nicolas Pesce talked with IGN about the vision of this reboot, revealing that it has more in common with the 2004 movie than you may realize.

“In my head, the American movies are not divorced from the Japanese ones, and this is not divorced from the greater canon. It’s all one big thing, and so similarly important to me was that we’re not just nodding to the American remake,” Pesce said. “It’s not super clear in the trailer, but this curse that has been brought to America is connected to the one in Japan, so it’s not like we’re totally divorcing the worlds. We’re just showing you more of the impact that that story has had.”

Pesce went on to explain that the first scene of the new movie takes place in Japan, showing how the curse traveled across the globe.

“I will tell audience members to pay particular close attention to the dialogue of a conversation that happens over a phone that seems like it’s a throwaway conversation, but if you really know the other movies, the conversation that they’re having is loaded with a ton more information,” he teased.

What did you think of the first trailer for The Grudge? Do you think this reboot can hold up to the quality of the original Japanese film? Let us know in the comments!

The Grudge hits theaters on January 3, 2020.