Image: tmdb
About This Quiz
When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage ... a box-office hit is born! This 2004 chiller was part of a wave of Japanese horror movie remakes, and one of the most successful. Revisit the terror with our quiz!
In which city did "The Grudge" take place?
Beijing
Kyoto
Seoul
Tokyo
"The Grudge" was about terror among American expatriates in Tokyo. Karen Davis followed her exchange-student boyfriend there.
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Who played the doomed college professor, Peter Kirk?
Bill Paxton
Bill Pullman
Pullman has a shocking, if low-key, suicide in the film. He's standing on his balcony, when he just leans forward and pitches right over. It's shocking for being so simple, sudden and undramatic. And, of course, for coming only about 40 seconds into the film.
Cary Elwes
Jason Patric
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Who played Karen Davis?
Michelle Trachtenberg
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Gellar was, of course, a star from her days on "Buffy." If only her superpowers had transferred to Karen!
Jennifer Connelly
Kristen Bell
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Where does Karen volunteer?
at a soup kitchen
at an English-as-a-second-language school
at a nursery school
as a home caregiver
Karen, who is studying social work, is getting her first solo assignment for the center. She goes to a Tokyo home to take care of an elderly woman with dementia.
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Who played Alex, the care-center supervisor?
Joan Allen
Jerry O'Connell
Ted Raimi
Sam Raimi was executive producer of "The Grudge." He often finds a role for his brother, Ted.
CCH Pounder
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What is the name of the previous caregiver at the house?
Michiko
Tomei
Sadako
Yoko
"Yoko" means (among other things) "sun child" in Japanese. Our Yoko doesn't have a very sunny future; she becomes a victim of the killing curse.
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What happened in the house, that a curse was left behind?
an old woman died alone and uncared for
a teenage boy killed his entire family
a man killed his wife and child, then himself
It's hard to tell whether husband Takeo hanged himself or was killed by the newly-created curse. Either way, the film's opening frames explain that when someone dies in a great rage or sorrow, a killing curse is left behind, consuming all those who encounter it.
no one knows
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What was the name of the murdered wife?
Kayako
The family name was Saeki. We see this briefly in a Google search that Karen does.
Sadako
Tomei
Yukiko
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How does the curse kill people?
drowning them in the nearest water
strangling them with black hair
shocking them into heart attacks
it isn't always clear
Some victims appear to have simply been frightened to death. But others come to a more violent end.
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Who was the curse's first victim outside the Saeki family?
Yoko
Emma
Peter Kirk
Peter Kirk found the bodies at the house and killed himself the next morning. Then the detectives on the murder-suicide case either died or disappeared, as their colleague Nagakawa later explains to Karen.
detectives investigating the case
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What does the real estate agent find in the bathroom?
the little boy Toshio
the body of the wife, Kayako
a bathtub full of black water
Like any good real estate agent, he quickly tries to drain the tub before his clients can see, but a mysterious hand grabs him from underneath. Hey, isn't this a disclosure issue?
a bunch of cards from other real estate agents
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What does Karen find in the closet?
the cat
the little boy, Toshio
Yoko's body
both #1 and #2
The typical "it was just the cat" scare has an added bonus here -- Toshio. Later, we'll learn that Toshio makes very realistic cat sounds himself.
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Is Toshio still alive when Karen finds him?
yes
no
Toshio and the cat seem alive, and Karen calls her boss Alex to report that the boy is alone and in some kind of shock. Of course, this isn't really the case.
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What are the only words Emma, the woman with dementia, says?
"Get out now."
"Who is she?"
"Where is Matthew?"
"I just want her to leave me alone."
Karen doesn't realize at first who "her" is. But that creepy black hair is already starting to flow from the ceiling.
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Who played Jennifer Williams?
Clea DuVall
Jennifer Williams is a bit overwhelmed by life in Tokyo. Don't look now, Jennifer, but things are about to get a lot worse.
Neve Campbell
Alicia Witt
Heather Graham
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Who played Matthew Williams?
Nathan Fillion
Stephen Baldwin
William Mapother
Mapother's cousin is Tom Cruise (whose real last name is also Mapother). Maybe a similar name change would have benefited William, who's nowhere near as famous.
Jeremy Sisto
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In addition to Matthew and Jennifer Williams, what do detectives find in the attic?
Toshio
the black cat
a jaw
We'll catch up with the jaw's owner a little later in the film. It's a scene every bit as disturbing as you'd expect.
some rolls of insulation and old tools
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While showering, what does Karen feel in her wet hair?
blood
teeth
a hand
This was excellently parodied in "Scary Movie 3," in which Cindy (Anna Faris) feels the hand. While she's still in shock, it reaches around and helpfully shaves her armpits.
excess growth of long black hair
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How does Alex die?
he's pushed down some stairs
he's thrown through a high window
he hangs himself while under the curse's influence
we never learn this
Alex is working late when he encounters the missing Yoko. He sees her jaw-less face with a protruding gray tongue and yells in horror, but that's where the scene ends.
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What is attached to Susan Williams's cell phone?
a can of mace
a whistle
a rabbit's foot
The ghost of Kayako grabs it while chasing Susan through a stairwell in her office building. It breaks off just before Susan is able to slam the door.
her keyless car opener
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What does Susan see through her door's peephole?
a security guard
Kayako
Matthew
The curse seems to have unlimited resources in killing its victims. It doesn't have to stick to the house, and can imitate who it wants.
nothing
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Where does Susan ultimately try to hide from Kayako?
her closet
her bed
Poor Susan jumps into bed and tries to hide under the covers. This got laughs in theaters, but it's also kind of poignant, if you're inclined to sympathize with horror-movie characters.
the back seat of her car
a crawlspace under the floor
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What does Susan find in her bed when she jumps in?
damp spots, as if from bathwater
a bloodstain
her rabbit's foot
Susan is shocked, of course, to find this item. Then Kayako herself peers out from under the covers, and drags Susan to her (presumable) death.
more of the ever-present black hair
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Where does Detective Nakagawa see Kayako's ghost?
at the house
on security-camera footage
Nakagawa is reviewing security footage when he sees the ghost walk down the hallway. She disappears under the frame line, then peers over, her wide eyes filling the screen. Nakagawa, admirably, doesn't scream like a little girl.
at Susan's apartment
in a photograph
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What does Detective Nakagawa go to the house alone to do?
an exorcism
burn it down
Whether that'll end the curse isn't clear, but Nakagawa believes it will. He arrives armed with two big plastic gasoline cans.
find out the truth about the murders
look for Yoko's body
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Why does Nakagawa hesitate in his plans to burn the house?
he realizes it won't end the curse
he hears Toshio crying
Nakagawa is being set up by Toshio. It works -- the ghost of Takeo appears and drowns the detective in the bathtub before he can set the fire.
he hears the cat meowing
he gets a call on his cell phone
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Why does Karen go back to the house?
she thinks Toshio is still there and alive
to burn it, like Nakagawa intended
to find her boyfriend Doug
Doug goes there because he's "worried" about Karen. Of course, he's only making the problem worse.
to find Detective Nakagawa
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What did Peter find pinned to the closet door?
a suicide note from Takeo
a photo of himself with the face scratched out
the cat
many pictures of Kayako's face, torn from photos
We've already seen the photos without faces. Karen finds them on her first day in the cursed house, along with Kayako's Peter-centric journal.
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What falls out of the closet when Peter opens it?
the cat's body
Kayako's body
The closet leads up to the attic. That's where a lot of bad things happen in this movie, although Kayako's body was right up against the closet door.
Toshio's body
all of these
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Who grabs Karen's foot, as she looks in the mirror?
Doug
Karen's boyfriend is still alive, lying on the entryway floor. Of course, that won't last long.
Nakagawa
Kayako
Toshio
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How does Doug die?
he's hanged in the attic
he drowns in the bathtub
Kayako crawls onto him and scares him to death
While we don't always see how the curse kills, sometimes we do. This is one of those cases -- Kayako crawls down the stairs and menaces Doug up close, as Karen watches.
this is never made clear
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Whose body does Karen have to look at in the morgue?
Alex's
Doug's
Doug's body is recovered from the burned house. Of course, this scene contains a final scare: Kayako appears right behind the traumatized Karen, and the movie ends with a closeup on her wide, staring eye.
Toshio's
Yoko's
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Does Karen survive the ending of "The Grudge"?
yes
no
it's not clear until the sequel
In the sequel, Karen is hospitalized and in shock. But, since the first order of business in a horror sequel is usually killing off the last survivor of the first film, Karen is soon pancaked on a sidewalk just under her hospital window.
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How many sequels followed "The Grudge"?
one
two
The mid-2000s were boom times for Japanese horror remakes. The makers of "The Grudge" capitalized with two follow-ups.
three
none
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Who starred in "The Grudge 2"?
Elisabeth Moss
Chloe Moritz
Amanda Seyfried
Amber Tamblyn
Tamblyn played Karen's younger sister, Aubrey, who comes to Japan to bring her home. Suffice it to say, this doesn't go as planned.
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What technique set "The Grudge" apart from many other horror films?
single handheld camera work
a found-footage storyline
a nonlinear narrative
The timeline of the movie jumps back and forth. In one scene, Karen is exploring the house at night, when the lighting warms up to the color of daylight, and she sees the events of the morning after the murders unfold.
black-and-white photography
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