The horror franchise The Grudge has three movies and a sequel/reboot as of 2020; here’s the confusing timeline explained. Based on the Japanese film series Ju-On, director Takashi Shimizu returns to create the 2004 American remake The Grudge with Sam Raimi producing. The filmmaker came back on to direct The Grudge 2, along with Sam Raimi, which unfortunately didn’t receive the same good reviews given to the original film. The Grudge 3 gave the series its first official R-rating and also an entirely new crew of producers, writers, and director Toby Wilkins. Finally, the series was rebooted in 2020 with The Grudge. Rather than give audiences a sequel or a reboot, The Grudge‘s 2020 version makes past connections to the previous films and occurs simultaneously.
Though The Grudge has a ton of storylines, the only one that needs to be understood is that of the Saeki family. The movie’s beginning states that if someone dies in extreme anger or sadness, then it leaves behind a curse. Kayako Saeki, the wife of Takeo and mother of Toshio, falls in love with another man. When Takeo finds out, he kills his wife, son, and cat in a jealous rage. He hides their bodies in his home, but Kayako’s ghost kills him. The curse remains in the house, and those who enter can take it with them.
Along with the American films, Takashi Shimizu kept the Ju-On franchise alive in Japan, making five movies in total. Most of The Grudge movies follow a non-linear plot which adds to the mysterious and foreboding tone. Therefore, here’s a complete timeline of the original film, the remakes, and how it all fits together.
1994-2006 – Ju-On: The Grudge
The story begins with the aforementioned events of the Saeki family, with their deaths occurring in 1994. In 1999, the Tokunaga family moves into the Saeki’s old home. The wife Kazumi is the first to succumb to the curse, while her husband Katsuya is greatly affected by Takeo’s murderous spirit. The two eventually die while Katsuya’s elderly mother, Sachie, remains alive. The curse also follows Hitomi, Katsuya’s sister, and Kayako’s spirit kills her.
A social worker named Rika, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character in the remake, is sent to take care of the aging Sachie. Rika catches a glimpse of Toshio’s ghost and then watches Sachie get killed by Kayako. She calls the police, and detectives find Katsuya and Kazumi’s bodies in the attic. Rika continues to be haunted by the spirits and eventually leaves the home, only to be tracked down and killed by Kayako later.
The detectives look up the history of the house and the Saeki family. They contact veteran detective Toyama to take a look as he has previous experience with the case. Toyama and the other detectives decide to burn the house down, but upon arrival, Toyama is plagued by a vision of the future when he thinks he hears teenage girls exploring the house. He watches villain Kayako murder two of the teenagers while one of them runs away (his daughter Izumi in the future). Toyama escapes, but the other detectives don’t.
In 2006, Toyama’s daughter Izumi is in high school. She repeats the flash-forward witnessed by her father and feels immense guilt for leaving her friends to die. She sinks deeper and deeper into paranoia and delusion. Eventually, she is surrounded by the angry spirits of her dead friends, and Kayako slithers out of the woodwork to put Izumi out of her misery.
2001-2004 – The Beginning of The Grudge (2020)/The Grudge
The events of The Grudge and the beginning of The Grudge (2020) happen simultaneously. Though, the Saeki family murders happened in 2001 rather than 1994. In 2001, Kayako (Takako Fuji) is in love with Professor Peter Kirk, played by Bill Pullman of Independence Day. After Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) murders his family, Peter goes to the house and finds their bodies. Shortly after, he commits suicide. Here’s where the original and the reboot timelines collide. In 2004, during The Grudge, the American family the Williams move into the Saeki home along with their dementia-ridden mother, Emma. Husband and wife Matt and Jennifer die quickly at the hand of the curse while Emma remains alive.
During The Grudge (2020), nurse Fiona Landers (Tara Westwood) leaves the Saeki family and Emma. She contacts coworker Yoko to explain why she’s going back to America. Fiona inadvertently takes the curse with her to Pennsylvania. She becomes possessed by Kayako’s spirit and kills her husband and daughter Melinda, whose ghost basically becomes Toshio’s replacement. Investigating the murders are detectives Goodman and Wilson (William Sadler). Wilson is the only one to go into the house and catches the curse. He unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide but instead ends up with his face disfigured. Real estate agents Peter (John Cho) and Nina (Betty Gilpin) attempt to sell the Landers house, only to succumb to the curse.
The events that follow the beginning of The Grudge (2020) is the rest of The Grudge‘s plotline. Fiona’s coworker Yoko goes to take care of Emma and is killed. Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) gets sent in and sees Kayako murder Emma, paralleling the events of Ju-On. Investigators begin researching the house, as does Karen, and when she finds out about the house she confronts Detective Nakagawa (Ryo Ishibashi). Nakagawa tries to burn the house down, but Takeo’s spirit murders him. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Karen returns to the house because her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr) went in looking for her. Kayako kills Doug, but Karen finishes Nakagawa’s task and burns the house down. She goes to the hospital, only to discover that Kayako’s spirit is still haunting her.
2004 – The Beginning of The Grudge 2
The Grudge 2 picks up right at the end of The Grudge. Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn), Karen’s sister, goes to Japan to bring Karen home. She gets to the hospital, and Karen immediately panics herself into a fit. Later, Aubrey and journalist Eason (Edison Chen) watch her sister die at Kayoko’s hands. Eason reveals to Aubrey that he pulled Karen out of the fire and has been exploring the curse ever since. The two go to the Saeki home to look for Kayako’s diary, and Aubrey gets pulled into the curse by Toshio. Later Eason is killed by Kayako after she jumps out of a photograph he took. Aubrey contacts Kayako’s mother, who tells her the curse can’t be broken. She goes back to the house and discovers Kayako’s infidelity, then gets killed by Takeo.
2005 – The Grudge (2020), The Matheson’s Story
Circling back to The Grudge (2020), the elderly Matheson couple move into the Landers house. Faith Matheson, played by horror icon Lin Shaye, has severe dementia. She starts seeing Melinda’s spirit around the house and becomes increasingly inconsolable. Concerned about her sanity, her husband William (Frankie Faison) hires an assisted suicide consultant named Lorna (Jacki Weaver). Lorna becomes aware of the ghosts and suggests that the family leaves, but William disagrees. Faith, possessed by the curse, ends up killing William. Lorna is attacked by a ghost and dies in a fatal car crash.
2006 – The End of The Grudge 2 and The Grudge (2020)
The Grudge 2‘s timeline picks up again in 2006 when a couple of school girls break into the old Saeki house. Teen Allison (Arielle Kebbel) encounters Aubrey’s ghost, and the group flees. The curse eventually overtakes her friends, and she runs back home to Chicago, bringing the curse with her. The Kimble family moves into an apartment in Chicago, and their son Jake (Matthew Knight) starts experiencing the curse’s effects. His parents quickly succumb to the evil presence, and as Jake attempts to escape, he runs into Allison, who reveals that she brought the curse with her. Once again, Kayako seizes her prey, and Allison is no more.
Back into The Grudge (2020), Detective Muldoon, played by Andrea Riseborough from Birdman, partners with Detective Goodman (Demian Bichir), and the two find Lorna’s deceased body in the woods. Goodman tells Muldoon that he thinks the Landers house is cursed, and Muldoon is unbelieving. She finds the Matheson couple dead in their home and witnesses Melinda’s spirit throw herself from the staircase. She visits former detective Wilson in the asylum, where he confirms the curse and then gouges out his own eyes to stop seeing ghosts. Muldoon decides, what several have done before her, to burn down the house. She seems victorious until the end when Fiona’s ghost gets her.
2006 – The Grudge 3
The series truly ends with the events of The Grudge 3; any fans who want more should watch Ju-On: Origins on Netflix. Jake Kimble is in psychiatric care under Dr. Sullivan (Shawnee Smith), and Kayako attacks him. Coverage of the Kimble family makes it to Naoko (Emi Ikehata), Kayako’s sister, and she goes to Chicago. People in the Kimble’s apartment building start getting picked off one by one, and Sullivan gets consumed by Kayako as well. Naoko moves into the building and quickly learns that resident Max (Gil McKinney) is possessed by Takeo’s spirit. She attempts to do a ritual with Max’s sister’s Lisa (Johanna Braddy) and Rose (Jadie Hobson). The two refuse to drink Kayako’s blood, and Max kills Naoko in the process. The spirit begins chasing Lisa, and before she can be caught, Rose drinks the blood, and Kayako disappears. Unfortunately, the 2000’s era horror film ends with the revelation that Naoko’s murder has started a new curse. Kayako possesses Rose, and her sister’s vengeful spirit murders Max.
