List of The Grudge characters

This is a list of characters from the American "Grudge" film series.

The Grudge

Karen Davis

Karen Davis (portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar) travelled to Tokyo, Japan with her boyfriend "Doug" (Jason Behr) as a foreign exchange student. During her studies in Tokyo, Karen decided to volunteer as a house maid for a social worker program. When Karen gets a position for looking after Emma Williams (Grace Zabriskie), Karen is exposed to the supernatural curse from Kayako (Takako Fuji) and Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) after going through Kayoko's Diary which expresses her love to Peter Kirk (Bill Pullman). After witnessing Kayako's ghost, Alex (Ted Raimi) enters the house to find Emma dead in her sleep and Karen petrified. When she wakes up in the hospital, Karen tells Doug that something else was in the house. After telling Doug about what happened, the chief of police Detective Nakagawa (Ryo Ishibashi) arrives and questions Karen about the boy Toshio and her experience at the house.

The next day Karen discharges herself from the hospital and tells Doug more information about her experience in the house. She makes a personal vow to learn more about what happened in the house by gathering various information. After looking up information about Toshio on the Internet, she comes across newspaper articles about the Saeki family being murdered by the father Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) who committed suicide after. After reading the article, Karen finds another article regarding Peter Kirk's suicide. Karen decides to interview Peter's wife Maria (Rosa Blasi) and goes through his personal belongings to find all his photographs contain Kayako in the background. After learning the revelation, Karen heads over the Detective Nakagawa to explain the situation and is told "When someone dies in deep sorrow or a powerful rage, the emotion is left over and a curse is born" and explains everyone investigating the murders were found dead later.

Karen upset by Detective Nakagawa's comments arrives home to find a recording from Doug explaining he went looking for her at the house. Karen runs back to the house to prevent Doug from entering the house. As Karen enters the house, she is exposed to Kayako's curse but reveals the cause of the Saeki family massacre through flashbacks. After Karen learns about the murders, she finds Doug lifeless as Kayoko drains his soul. Karen frightened by the situation pushes over a fuel canister left by Detective Nakagawa and sets alight the house as Kayako approaches her.

Days later, Karen still shaken is walked to the morgue to identify Doug's body. As she looks at Doug's body, Kayako materializes behind her and makes the infamous death rattle.

After being sent to the psych ward at the hospital, Karen tried to get away in order to find a way to stop Kayako Saeki, but instead fell to her death from the roof of the hospital building, being pushed by Kayako, and witnessed by her sister Aubrey and Hong Kong photojournalist Eason, who rescued her from the house's fire.

Kayako Saeki

Kayako Saeki (portrayed by Takako Fuji) was, in life, an ordinary housewife, married to Takeo Saeki and mother of a little boy called Toshio. When she was a child, her mother performed unorthodox exorcisms, and passed her clients' curses to her instead of herself. Before her death, Kayako studied at the university, under a man named Peter Kirk. She eventually fell in love with him, and started to write about her love in her journal. Kayako and Toshio were later killed in a fit of jealous rage by Takeo after he found her journal and discovered that Kayako had feelings for another man. Her cursed spirit now haunts the house, along with that of her husband, her son, and her son's pet cat. It is later stated by Detective Nagakawa that "If a person dies in an extreme rage or sorrow, the emotion is left over and a curse is born".

Toshio Saeki

Toshio (portrayed by Yuya Ozeki) was the son of Kayako and Takeo. He enjoys drawing, and owns a pet cat. After he witnesses the death of his mother at the hands of his father, Takeo drowns Toshio in the bathtub, before killing his cat. Now Toshio's cursed spirit inhabits the house, along with those of his parents and that of his cat.

Takeo Saeki

Takeo Saeki (portrayed by Takashi Matsuyama) is the husband of Kayako. Takeo finds Kayako's personal diary entries, several of which detail her love obsession with Peter Kirk. As a result, he murders her and Toshio in a fit of jealous rage.

Doug

Doug (portrayed by Jason Behr) is Karen's boyfriend who is studying at University of Tokyo. Karen followed Doug to Japan as a foreign exchange student. After Karen is exposed to Kayako's curse, Doug supports her by agreeing to listen to her experience. One day after awaking from his sleep, he becomes widely suspicious of Karen's obsession with the house after noticing articles spread across Karen's desk about Saeki family . He then calls Karen and tells her that he's heading to the house to find her. After entering the house, he attempts to call Karen for the last time before Kayako kills him. Karen who attempted to stop him found his corpse. Although he is presumed dead, he is now under the influence of the curse. Unknown to this, Karen tries to protect him while Kayako climbs down the stairs, but Doug promptly sits up as Kayako approaches him. He dies soon after, and Kayako then disappears. Grief-stricken, Karen then clutches Doug's body close to her, but she fails to notice his mouth beginning to open and a croaking sound emitting from it, similarly to Jennifer when she was captured by the curse.

Matthew Williams

Matthew Williams (portrayed by William Mapother) is an American businessman who gets a job in Tokyo, Japan. After consulting his wife Jennifer, Matthew and his family move to Tokyo and begin looking for a house. When Matthew finds a perfect house (The Saeki House) for his mother Emma and himself, they move in. A few days after moving in, Matthew comforts his wife after she states "that she feels like she doesn't fit in". One day as Matthew returns from work, he finds his wife struggling to breathe with Toshio beside her. Matthew backs against the closet and notices Toshio behind him who snatches him in.

Notes

During the test screening of The Grudge, it was revealed that after Toshio attacks him, Takeo possesses him and kicks out Susan after she attempts to visit. This same scene takes place in the original but was cut from the remake. [ cite web | author= IMDB| year=October 1, 2006| title= Possession Of Matthew| format= | work=IMDB| url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391198/trivia | accessdate=2006-10-01]

Jennifer Williams

Jennifer Williams (portrayed by Clea DuVall) is the wife of Matthew Williams. After moving to Japan, Jennifer begins feeling like she doesn't fit in after getting lost and not being able to speak Japanese. One day after waking up from a loud thudding sound, she notices wet footprints on the floor and follows them upstairs where she approaches the door that lead to the room where Toshio's body was dumped. As she opens the door and walks in, a loud noise is heard as the door is slammed shut.

When Matthew arrives later that evening, he notices that the house has been wrecked (as if they had been burgled). He calls for his wife and follows the stairs into their room. He finds her lying on the bed struggling to breathe. She is making a croaking (death rattle) sound. She then dies.

Emma Williams

Emma Williams (portrayed by Grace Zabriskie) is the mother of Matthew and Susan Williams. After arriving in Tokyo, Emma is assisted by her son Matthew to find her a home. When inspecting the Saeki house with Matthew, Jennifer and Susan, Emma begins feeling uneased as she wanders off into a separate room. A few days after moving in, Emma begins receiving assistance from Yoko, the housemaid. When Yoko disappears, Karen is sent in to replace her and help Emma. When Karen finds Kayoko's mysterious diary, she hears banging on a closet door. Emma later dies as Karen witnesses Kayako's summoning.

usan Williams

Susan Williams (portrayed by KaDee Strickland) is the sister of Matthew Williams (William Mapother) and is a businesswoman working in Tokyo. Susan helps out her mother Emma (Grace Zabriskie) by settling in and finding a home. After calling up to check up on her, Susan leaves work and experiences several supernatural events in a hallway. In order, Susan leaves the office and as she is walking down the corridor she begins to hear Kayako's croaking. In a panic she heads for the nearest staircase. As she does so her phone rings, but in answering the call, she continues to hear the infamous croaking sound. She hangs up and hears some banging on a lower floor level. She looks over the ledge and sees (unknown to her) Kayako climbing the stairs in Susan's direction. Susan quickly heads back to the corridor, Kayako pulls her bag in the door and takes away a rabbit decoration from it. As she lets it go, Kayako is seen staring at her as the door closes. After experiencing these frightful events, Susan then informs a guard to check out the tenth floor. When watching the video surveillance tape she notices a ghostly, disfigured character form heading it's way (presumably) in her direction. Susan flees the building, she arrives home. Everything seemed 'normal' for a just few seconds until the house phone rings. She reluctantly answers it. It is Matthew who asks to let her in, but within a blink the door bell goes. Susan cautiously peers though the spy-hole and sees that it his really him but when she opens the door, he had suddenly disappeared. Her cell phone rings again, the croaking is heard once again, Susan throws the phone to the floor and takes refuge in her bed. As she hides in her bed, she finds what Kayako had taken and notices something moving under her duvet, she feels a sudden pull, the movement draw near. Susan lifts up the duvet and Kayako is staring at Susan who she then pulls under into the underworld.

Peter Kirk

Peter Kirk (portrayed by Bill Pullman) was a lecturer at one of Tokyo's university. He was the object of Kayako's unrequited love and was partially the cause for the Saeki family massacre. Kayako secretly followed him on his dates with his wife Maria, appeared in the background of all of his photographs and sent him several love letters. On the day of the massacre, Peter visited the Saeki house after receiving another letter, only to discover that the family was already murdered because of Kayako's diary entries that expressed her love to Peter. Whilst he was at the house, he accidentally found the body of Kayako when it fell on him when he opened the closet where her corpse was. Soon after, he discovered Takeo's body and saw Toshio's ghost. In shock, Peter staggered towards the front door and left the house.

The next morning, Peter woke up and without saying a word to his wife, he approached the balcony of the apartment and committed suicide by throwing himself over the top. It is later implied that he may have been under the influence of the curse at the time.

Notes

* Bill Pullman played the role of Toshio's stepfather in the 2006 parody film Scary Movie 4.

Yoko

Yoko (portrayed by Yoko Maki) is a young Japanese nurse volunteering at the Care center ; she is Karen's predecessor as Emma Williams's caretaker. While she is cleaning the house, she hears noises coming from the attic and, despite her obvious anxiety, climbs inside to investigate. She is immediately attacked by Kayako's spirit who pulls her inside and rips her jaw off in the process (police later find the disembodied jaw). Yoko's blood-soaked, possessed body is later seen in the office, staggering down the stairs. She is found by Alex, who calls her name. She turns around to face him, revealing her mutilated face, causing Alex to scream in horror. Alex's body was later discovered, murdered by Kayako.

Maria Kirk

Maria Kirk (portrayed by Rosa Blasi) is the wife of Peter Kirk. After waking up one morning, she witnesses her husband's suicide. Maria was later questioned by Karen regarding her husband before his death. She was also unaware of Kayako's love/obsession for Peter but is yet untouched by the curse as she has not herself entered the house.

The Grudge 2

Aubrey Davis

Aubrey Davis (portrayed by Amber Tamblyn) is Karen's younger sister. Aubrey and Karen haven't spoken to each other in years after a fight, and Aubrey isn't close to their mother due to her always favoring Karen, and suffered verbal abuses from her. After Aubrey receives news from her mother, (Joanna Cassidy) telling her of Karen's accident, Aubrey travels to Japan where she intends to uncover the origins of the curse. With Hong Kong photojournalist Eason, she found Kayako's mother, who performed unorthodox exorcisms and transferred every curse she encountered to Kayako. Kayako's ghost finally killed her mother after years of being mistreated.

Aubrey goes back to the house, demanding answers, only to witness Karen (it is a mystery as to whether it is a flashback, a ghost, or an illusion) walking upstairs. Aubrey calls Karen to get away. Aubrey follows her up the stairs, however Karen seems to have disappeared. Aubrey continues to walk until she sees Takeo in the room (just as Kayako found him when he was reading her journal). The curse is now replaying and Aubrey is now in the same place Kayako was. Takeo kills Aubrey in the same fashion as Kayako was. A flashback occurs where Kayako is seen lying, paralyzed on the floor which is exactly how Aubrey now lies. As Takeo walks off to find Toshio, a dark figure looms towards the motionless Aubrey. As the figure drawns closer, it is in fact Kayako but looking decidedly more human than she usually does. Kayako bends over Aubrey and glares in her eyes as she dies and becomes the new Kayako. Two years later, an American exchange student, Allison, was trapped in the closet, and Aubrey's wraith was trying to reach her the same way as Kayako was to her victims, and passed the Saeki's curse to Allison and two of her classmates (soon to be ghostly tormentors).

Allison Fleming

Allison (portrayed by Arielle Kebbel) is a new school girl from Chicago who attends "Tokyo International High School" in Tokyo. She is shy, unpopular and seriously lacks self-confidence. Arielle Kebbel describes her very simply : "She's kind of the one who you see in the back of all the pictures; she wants to be part of everything, but never really is." Hoping to improve her social position, Allison tries to hang out with two popular classmates, Vanessa and Miyuki Nozawa. However, the two of them have nothing but contempt for her and even decide to humiliate her more. They lead her to the Saeki house and trap her inside the closet leading to the attic after telling her of the Saeki's bloody story; but the prank backfires when the spirit of Aubrey emerges from the attic and tries to grasp Allison, who luckily manages to escape. But not for long. Trying to get away from the curse, she returns to her parents apartment in Chicago and is followed by the ghosts in the process. There, she starts losing her sanity, covering her windows and mirrors with old newspapers and cutting her hair with her scissors. Because of her, the curse starts spreading throughout the building, killing its residents; in the end, after her parents death, Allison attempts to escape again but is unable to, as Kayako finally gets to her and kills her in front of Jake. [ cite web | author= Movie Web| year=October 3, 2006| title= Allison is befriended|format= | work=Movie Web| url=http://www.movieweb.com/news/92/13992.php | accessdate=2006-10-03] .

Vanessa

Vanessa (portrayed by Teresa Palmer) is a popular, arrogant and deceitful American schoolgirl who attends "Tokyo International High School" along with Miyuki, one of her best friends. In an attempt to humiliate their new classmate Allison, Vanessa brings her to the Saeki house with Miyuki and traps her inside the closet leading to the attic, intending to take a picture of her scared face. The joke backfires when Aubrey's spirit acknowledges their presence, making the three girls her new targets. Her plan to humiliate Allison was in vain; Vanessa pees on herself in the locker room. Vanessa is second to die after Miyuki ; Kayako traps her inside a telephone booth while Toshio is holding her in place and consumes her using her hair. Vanessa later returns as a ghost along with Miyuki and follows Allison to Chicago. [ cite web | author= Rotten Tomatoes| year=October 3, 2006| title= Vannessa And Miyuki befriend Allison| format= | work=Rotten Tomatoes| url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=347382 | accessdate=2006-10-03] .

Miyuki Nazawa

Miyuki (portrayed by Misako Uno) is a Japanese schoolgirl from "Tokyo International High School", one of Vanessa's best friends ; she assists her into playing a prank on their classmate Allison Fleming, although she seems to be rather unsure of their visit at the Saeki house. With good reason, since her presence in the house made her one of the curse's victims. She is the first of the three to die : while she is resting in the bedroom of a love hotel with her boyfriend Michael (Shaun Sipos), Kayako emerges from the mirror and pulls her inside. Miyuki later returns as a ghost along with Vanessa and apparently follows Allison to Chicago.

Eason

Eason (portrayed by Edison Chen) is a Hong Kong journalist who is researching the paranormal events created from Kayako's curse. He was the one who rescued Karen from the house's fire. He tries to help Aubrey find out why Kayako is killing people and find out how her background information. He later died in the dark room, inspecting developed photos when Kayako came out of the photo he was developing, in water, and attacked him.

Jake

Jake (portrayed by Matthew Knight) is a young boy who lives in an apartment in Chicago along with his father Bill, sister, and stepmother Trish who has just moved in. His relationship with her is strained, for he constantly wishes for his real mother's presence ( what happened to her is unknown ). Jake is the first to witness the strange events that start happening in the building after the return of the Fleming's daughter, who has apparently gone insane. He leads his own investigation and even enters the Fleming's apartment, where he sees eyes gazing at him through the window. In the end, after returning home from school, Jake discovers the death of Bill, Trish, and his sister Lacey ; horrified and desperate, he violently accuses the Fleming's child - who turns out to be Allison - to be responsible for this massacre. The young girl confirms, but cannot say more as the two of them are attacked by Kayako. Jake is seemingly killed by Kayako at the end of the movie. It was revealed that Matthew will reprise Jake.. He sort of shares the same characteristic's as Toshio.

Lacey

Lacey (portrayed by Sarah Roemer) is Jake's older sister, a young cheerleader. She gets along well with Trish and is friends with Sally, a classmate living in the building. Despite her obvious affection for Jake, she is skeptical at first of his discoveries and is reluctant to believe that anything is wrong. She becomes one of the curse's victims and is drowned in the apartment's bathtub, although her killer is unknown (it might be Toshio though, since he died exactly the same way).

Trish

Trish (portrayed by Jennifer Beals) is Jake's new step mother who seems to have a bad relationship with him. She is a kind, tender woman to begin with, however, she gradually begins to act odd. It is later realized that she is being slowly being possessed by the curse, which, amongst other things, causes her to murder her husband, Bill. After she is fully possessed, Toshio pulls her into the bathtub, drowning her.

Bill

Bill (portrayed by Christopher Cousins) is Jake's father who, in the beginning, is a kind, loving family man. However, over time, he begins to show uncharacteristic rage and jealousy, such as when he sees Trish talking to an associate of theirs on the phone behind his back. It turns out that he has been possessed by the curse, which later kills him when a possessed Trish pours boiling hot grease on his head before violently hitting him in the head with a frying pan. His body was later found by Jake.

The Grudge 3

Lisa Davis

Lisa will be portrayed by Johanna Braddy.It has been revealed that Lisa would be the youngest sister to Karen and Aubrey. It is also rumored that she will be the final girl of the movie.

Dr Ann Sullivan

Played by Shawnee Smith. Appears to be mid 30s, compassionate psychiatrist, beaming with intelligence. Dr. Sullivan is in charge of treating Jake, a terribly disturbed boy following the massacre of his family. He vehemently believes that the woman who killed his family will find and kill him as well. Not a superstitious woman, Dr. Sullivan believes it is all in Jake's mind, until she witnesses the unthinkable. Thus begins her research into his family's death and a Japanese curse that she comes to believe is real and very much alive.

Naoko

Played by Emi Ikehata.Appears to be in her 20s, Japanese woman. Naoko claims to have the knowledge to end the curse of Kayako. She will risk her life to enter the Chicago apartment building to save the endangered family.

Gretchen

"Gretchen will be portrayed by Marina Sirtis."

Andy.

"Andy will be portrayed by Beau Mirchoff."

Andy is a new character set to appear in "The Grudge 3".

References