Japanese director Takashi Shimizu makes a Hollywood remake of his own film Ju-on and its rather like The Amityville Horrors, with a Japanese edge, since all kinds of nasty things have taken place in a modest little property in Tokyo. These evil spirits are out to make a nuisance of themselves until something is done about them. Perhaps they should have called the demolition men in and the raised the place to the ground. It might have been easier.

Instead, we get to watch a supposedly suspenseful film, in which Sarah Michelle Gellar plays exchange student Karen, a trainee social worker, who agrees to cover for a nurse, entering the mad house to look after an elderly American woman, who is in a catatonic state - not surprising, given the weird noises coming from the wardrobe.

Naturally, more folk have to die in suspicious circumstances as they visit the house and Karen has to take on the supernatural elements - well, Gellar is an experienced vampire killer, of course - and break the curse that has made this house such a major source of evil. Whatever happened to Padres and exorcisms, you may ask.

The Grudge could have made an interesting horror film, but feels instead like one from a bygone age, where inexplicable bumps can be heard and nasty spirits get angry and logic takes a back seat in the bid to create suspense. Although this has been a box office success in the States, that is not always a sign of quality moviemaking and whilst it may be interesting to show Americans in a Japanese setting, Gellar's talents are not fully exploited.

All in all, a bit of a disappointment and certainly not the film one might have hoped for, in terms of Hollywood talent taken to Japanese extremes. It's more horror-by-numbers, really.