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MAR29010

With Comparative
(2009), R [Hard R*] (1hr 27min)

Final Score
Analysis Date
Date Posted
Influence Density
MinMax
May 15, 2009
May 19, 2009
21
2.01
-100

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Christian Long Distance

SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)

If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary.



(2009), R [Hard R*] ... that grudge spawned in Tokyo moves to Chicago.


Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database
Production (US): Ozla Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Stage 6 Films, Unified Film Organization (UFO), Vertigo Entertainment
Distribution (US): Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Director(s): Toby Wilkins
Producer(s): Jeffery Beach, Doug Davison, Joseph Drake, Takashige Ichise, Nathan Kahane, Roy Lee, Andrew Pfeffer, Sam Raimi, Phillip J. Roth, Takashi Shimizu, Robert G. Tapert
Screenplay: Brad Keene
Cinematography/Camera: Anton Bakarski
Music: Sean McMahon
Film Editing: John Quinn
Casting: Sunday Boling, Meg Morman
Production Design: Bobby Michaels
Viewed on Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD



This film analysis is sponsored by E&HP.

As the story goes, when someone is murdered in the grip of a powerful rage a curse is spawned in that place of death -- a grudge is born -- and those who enter that place of death will be touched by the curse and consumed by its fury. They who survive the fury will carry the curse with them ... And so on.

Some years ago (The Grudge - 2004) in Tokyo, Japan an irate father, who discovered the unfaithfulness of his wife Kayako (Takako Fuji), brutally murdered her and their son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) ... and the family cat ... and himself. A grudge was born.

Somehow, that grudge which spawned in Tokyo moves to Chicago. Mother Kayako (Takako Fuji then, Aiko Horiuchi now - Fuji was better) and son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki then, Shimba Tsuchiya now) span the ethereal Big Pond to terrorize America, starting in apartment #305 on anystreet, Chicago.

Max (Gil McKinney) and his two orphaned sisters, promiscuous teen Lisa (Johanna E. Braddy) and asthmatic adolescent Rose (Jadie Hobson), manage to manage the apartment building in which they reside. But Max may lose his job because people keep moving out of the building. No one wants to live in an apartment building in which a family was mutilated. The family of preteen Jake (Matthew Knight) was recently killed ... by the grudge ... in apartment #305. Jake is taken under the wing of Dr. Sullivan (Shawnee Smith) and moved to a care facility, but that does not stop Kayako from getting the last member of that family -- Jake himself. Within a locked padded room Kayako mutilated Jake.

In a land far, far away -- Tokyo -- lived a woman named Naoko (Emi Ikehata) whose sister was forced during childhood by their shaman mother to drink a drop of a grudge victim's blood in a ritual to cast out the grudge. Naoko has since been following this grudge, learning her mother's ways. Naoko learns of the grudge moving to Chicago and relocates to Chicago with it ... to kill it if she can.

Naoko enlists the help of Lisa and Rose to destroy the traveling grudge but becomes destroyed herself. Along with Max. After the possessed Max "kills" Naoko, she comes back to life possessed and kills Max. One is led to think the grudge is now dead. But the grudge never dies ... So we are led to believe.

Names and places (and some levels of extremes of assaults on morality and decency) have been changed but the rest of the story is essentially the same as in the previous installments.

Note that this is an R-rated film and rightfully so if for no other reason than the plethora of sexually immoral deeds -- expressed, implied and planned -- between Lisa and her boyfriend, Andy (Beau Mirchoff). Mirchoff and Braddy are introduced by making out standing, stumbling through the hallways of the apartment building, he putting his hands as close to her breasts as he possibly can until they enter yet another empty room (apartment #305 in this case) to strip and have sex ... again ... figuratively checking off another of the rooms they have used as a "play" room. In another case, a teen girl named Brenda (Mihaela Nankova) is seen, intimately seen, as she falls into a bathtub fully nude.

At least the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) got it right this time. Each of the previous Grudge installments (The Grudge and The Grudge 2) was rated PG-13 but each earned a CAP final score equivalent to R-rated films (54 and below out of 100). But this 2009 installment earned a final score of 21, making it a hardcore R film. In other words, all three versions should have been rated R rating but only this third installment was.

I cannot imagine why this third film in the Grudge trilogy would be engineered to garner a R rating when both of the previous two versions were PG-13. The implications are bold as to why a sequel to two films, each "approved" for 13 year old kids, is rated R but to voice the implications would be subjective and conjecture. You do the math. The following scoring data comparative of all three versions should help you in your calculations.


Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100
Matters of violence include brutal attacks resulting in graphic mutilations, mutilated bodies and other forms of gore. The film also capitalized on flashbacks of the brutalization of Kayako and Toshio from the first Grudge. While some connectivity to previous installments are certainly necessary to flow, the extreme extent was unnecessary. Yes, this is an R-rated film but that it is "R" does not excuse the influence of which God warns in 1 Cor. 15:33, Prov. 16:29 and many other verses.

Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100
Atypical of R-rated films (and PG-13 films), this version projects profanity of one form or another (including the most foul of the foul words) 13 times, this is not to include the use of God's name in vain both with and without the four letter expletive discussed in the Offense to God investigation area below. Massive tattoos are noted once.

Note that hatred is shown viciously by the father who murders his family but the CAP analysis model will not permit "double dipping" of scoring. Specifically, the scene is of the father murdering his family violently out of hatred/rage. Thus, the matter could be incorporated into the Wanton Violence/Crime, the Impudence/Hate or the Murder/Suicide investigation area. Since these cinematic assaults were incorporated into the Murder/Suicide investigation area, they cannot be incorporated also into the Wanton Violence/Crime or the Impudence/Hate investigation areas.

While into which investigation area an observed assault on morality and decency is incorporated will affect the investigation area scoring distribution, it will have no effect on the final score. For example, I could move the above issues of hate-borne murder to the Impudence/Hate investigation area. If I did the Murder/Suicide investigation area score would increase and the Impudence/Hate investigation area score would decrease but the final score would not change. Little would it matter in the case of The Grudge 3 since the Impudence/Hate area score is already zero.

Sexual Immorality (S) - 4 out of 100
As noted in the Summary/Commentary section, sexually immoral deeds and desires are rampant. Lisa and Andy plan to move to New York and live together ... to cohabitate with no mention of marriage. They seem to play a "check-off" game with the many empty rooms in the apartment building, trying to have sex in as many of them as possible. [Hebr. 13:4] While one normally takes off his/her clothes to bathe, they do not normally do so in front of millions of viewers. Not morally anyway. [**]

Let me "resurrect" a common argument I have received from uncounted teens about nudity. No, it is not sinful to take your clothes off to bath or for a medical examination or other such necessary deeds. Neither would it be a sin on you for you to, by chance, encounter nudity or teases of it or pictures of them on the streets, but it would be sinful to stare or take delight in the sight. But it is sinful if you take off your clothes to display your nakedness OR to use your nakedness (or teases of it) to entice. By the way, display of nudity in the flesh, in stone, clay or mortar or with paint in the name of "art" does not excuse it.

The nudity painted by Michelangelo atop the Sistine Chapel and other forms of nude art are still displays of nudity. Pictures of nudity shown in some Bibles were put there by man, not God, long after the Bible was inspired. Even the statues of nude men in Rome are displays of nudity. If you do not agree that such "art" is sensual, let me recall a cartoon I once saw about two girls intending to meet two guys "by the big clock." The foursome did not meet. The guys went to a big clock. The caption below the panel with the guys in it read "I'm sure [the girls] said 'the big clock" while the panel with the girls in it had them standing by the huge statue of a nude man. Art is not sin and sin is not art, but art becomes sin when art uses sin.

Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 100 out of 100
The only instance of drugs and/or alcohol noted in the entire 87 minutes of this film was the consumption of prescription drugs. Since there was no presentation of illegal drugs, their consumption or of abuse of prescription drugs, this investigation area was free of assaults on morality and decency.

Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100
Seven times someone uses God's name in vain, two of them with the four letter expletive. I wonder how many of you know that God in Man spent three days in Hell so you and I would not have to spend one moment there? Is He not worthy of the respect to speak His name only in responsible and reverent ways? God thinks He is ... and will not hold guiltless anyone who does otherwise. [Deut. 5:11]

Murder/Suicide (M) - 23 out of 100
Murder is brutal and vicious ... repeatedly. A father drowns his son and beats his wife nearly to death then breaks her neck by a head twist. A woman bites the throat out of a man. A man shoves a sheetrock saw through a woman's neck. And more. Not at all consistent with the two previous versions of this trilogy.


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SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S)
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CHAPTER/VERSE

  • 1 Cor. 15:33 (KJV) Be not deceived: evil [kakov: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be] communications corrupt good manners. (NIV) Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.
  • Prov. 16:29 A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good. [The issue is the violence, no matter how "small" it might seem, and its effect on an observer. "A violent man" can be a man, woman OR the men/women/characters demonstrating the violent behavior/action on the screen whether for good or evil. Knowing of Prov. 16:29 you now know why violence, especially in and as entertainment, can embolden the viewer into aggression, especially youth. See Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children: Congressional Public Health Summit for more information. Further, God speaks darkly of violence 56 times in the Old and New Testament of the KJV.]
  • Hebr. 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure [which includes before AND during marriage AND gender], for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. [Whether we believe it or not. Whether we like it or not. Whether we care or not.] ** "Nakedness" (display of nudity) is spoken of as dark, restricted, undesirable, shameful, etc. 47 times in the KJV from Genesis to Revelation. For example, Ezek. 16:36 "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers,..." thus associating display of nakedness with ill repute. What makes display of nudity okay in entertainment/art if it is not okay in flesh? God even advised the priests not to climb the steps to the altar lest the wind expose their nudity to the people below in Exodus 20:26 "Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon." The display of nakedness is not good in God's eyes.
  • Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. [Vain is shav' {shawv}: emptiness, nothingness, vanity, such as an expletive. With or without the four letter expletive, the use of God's name in any way other than respect, reverence or responsible discussion is in vain. That includes the popular three syllable sentence with His name trailing it AND the misuse of Jesus' name or title.]
  • Isa. 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
  • Deut. 18:10 - 12 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination [witchcraft], or an observer of times [soothsayer, sorceress, conjurer], or an enchanter [diviner, interprets omens], or a witch [one who practices sorcery, magical arts], 11 Or a charmer [user of magic charms, casts spells], or a consulter with familiar spirits [one who communicates with/invokes the dead], or a wizard [one who has a familiar spirit], or a necromancer [consulter of gods]. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. [God sounds so serious about embracing evil that it seems He would include embracing evil even in and as entertainment since it has been proven in so many ways that entertainment can and does influence deeply and contaminate values. Even God agrees with that. (see 1 Cor. 15:33).]

    ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry***
  • Jer. 37:9 This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, 'The Babylonians [the destroyers from within] will surely leave us.' They will not!
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences and present it to younger and younger audiences every year] when what is vile is honored among men [when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, enjoy it, want it, submit to it. I call attention to Ps. 12:8 to warn of the creeping desensitizing power of "entertainment."]
  • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man [by his influence] spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 Be not deceived: evil [kakov: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be] communications corrupt good manners.
  • Rom. 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Jude 1:4 For there are certain men* crept in unawares [secretly slipped in among us], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [whose condemnation was written about long ago], ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [a license for immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
  • Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. [Offend: skandalizo {skan-dal-id'-zo} - scandalize; to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away.]
  • Ps. 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me [let no sin rule over me].
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. ["Evil" includes all things that are sinful.]


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    As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:
    (The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)


    The Grudge 3 (2009) CAP Thermometers

    Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100
  • images and script of terror, repeatedly
  • graphic images of appendage deformities, gore and a boy's body being thrown about
  • brutal assault of wife
  • sequence of repeat images of unholy terror, murder and assault
  • torment
  • drawing of terror
  • attack by undead girl, repeatedly
  • tale of gruesome and graphic murders
  • undead little boy terrorizing little girl
  • attacks/assaults by undead boy and girl
  • woman dripping blood into a young girl's mouth
  • graphic images of mutilated bodies with gore, repeatedly
  • physical assault on many levels, repeatedly

    Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100
  • 8 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary
  • 5 uses of the most foul of the foul words
  • massive tattoos
  • adult coercing little girl to drink blood as part of a ritual

    Sexual Immorality (S) - 4 out of 100
  • two teens making out, repeatedly
  • teens co-stripping to underwear
  • girl on boy in underwear with comments of lust
  • much talk of sexual desire, intercourse and planning of it
  • admission of repeated instances of immoral intercourse and references to them
  • inappropriate touch
  • sexual innuendo re: intercourse, repeatedly
  • flash nudity; female, intimate, full body
  • teen pair planning cohabitation
  • teen boy pressing for sexual intercourse with a teen girl
  • camera angle/pose to force viewer o private parts
  • dressing to maximize the female form and/or skin exposure, repeatedly
  • sensually placed tattoo

    Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 100 out of 100
  • none noted

    Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100
  • text of unholy tale
  • script of evil
  • unholy/evil presence, repeatedly
  • unholy ritual, repeatedly, calling it "prayer" [Isa. 5:20]
  • parasitic attachment of undead girl on girl
  • little girl entertaining the undead
  • unholy disappearances, repeatedly
  • portrayal of an undead boy and woman, frequent
  • unexplained trashing of property
  • flash of evil images, repeatedly
  • evil manifestation in a painting (a bleeding painting)
  • unexplained movement of objects
  • ability to communicate with the dead [Duet. 18:10 - 12]
  • evil possessions of humans, repeatedly
  • unholy control of humans
  • dead body coming to life
  • possession of dead body, with gore

    Murder/Suicide (M) - 23 out of 100
  • graphic murder by the unseen with gore and deformities
  • script of evil and murder
  • murder by neck twist with sounds of breaking bones
  • murder of son by drowning
  • murder of woman by undead girl, graphic with gore, twice
  • impalement murder, graphic with gore
  • attack by resurrected body, murder with gore















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    There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings.



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