'Grudge' Reboot Director Compares The Film To David Fincher's 'Seven'

The Grudge reboot recently got bumped to next year, so we're going to have to wait a while to see it. But when we finally lay eyes on this thing, it's going to be much different than any Grudge film that came before. According to Grudge reboot director Nicolas Pesce, the new film is more like a police thriller akin to Seven rather than your standard ghost story.

Pesce, whose indie horror film Piercing is now playing, spoke with EW about his Grudge reboot, and offered up some new details. "It's a very different take on The Grudge than you know it from the past," the filmmaker said, adding:

"We see what's doing well now and it is these kind of smarter, more nuanced horror stories, and that's what this is going to be. We're trying to update it for contemporary sensibilities, and we have an unbelievable cast, and I think it's going to be something very different. There's a thousand Grudge movies out there, and we wanted to figure out a way to kind of put a new, fresh spin on it, and it's going to be exciting."

Just how different will it be? Well, for starters, the plot involves a cop drama:

"The movie is set up a lot more like Seven, that sort of movie. There's a cop drama that drives the whole thing, and Andrea [Riseborough] is the lead detective on this new case that they've come upon and is the driving force through the movie. She's incredible. She's in absolutely everything and, when you see her act, you know why."

This definitely sounds like a new approach to the series. The Grudge originated with the Japanese horror film Ju-On. In 2004, an American remake, titled The Grudge, starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as an exchange student living in Japan. While there, she runs afoul of a curse surrounding a haunted house where a man murdered his wife and son (and cat), and then killed himself. Anyone who comes in contact with the house ends usually ends up dead. It was okay for what it was, and it spawned two forgettable sequels.

I don't think the world is in dire need of a Grudge reboot, but I'm a fan of Pesce's work. Piercing is good, but his debut film, the black and white The Eyes of My Mother, is an absolute nightmare – and I mean that in the best possible way. Adding Andrea Riseborough into the mix certainly doesn't hurt, either. This might just turn out to be surprisingly good.

Grudge opens January 3, 2020.