Deprecophobia, or the fear of being cursed, is the subject of our latest experiment. First up, is The Grudge (2004), a supernatural horror remake of Shimizu’s 2002 Japanese horror film Ju-On: The Grudge . With Sam Raimi producing and a cast of familiar faces, the film is recognized as the second-highest grossing horror remake of the past 40 years behind The Ring. Find out if our test subject, who suffers from a fear of evil spirits, cursed her decision to be hooked up to our heart monitor.
Where to Watch:
SYNOPSIS:
A house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death.
Test Subject: Kim
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Fears: Evil Spirits
Resting HR: 60-65bpm
Walking HR: 80-85bpm
ANALYSIS:
Within the first ten minutes, The Grudge (2004) was off to a heart-racing start. A character’s unexpected decision within the first two minutes of the film caused a minor blip in our subject’s vitals. But it was a jumpscare at 7:30 that produced our first major spike of 84bpm. In fact, the film relied heavily on these jump scares. Fortunately, a decent amount of tension building preceded most of these jolts. This allowed our subject’s heart rate to elevate quite nicely throughout the film. Case in point, our subject’s peak heart rate of 95bpm came during an incredibly stressful bedroom scene that ended with a shiver.
But as pieces of the film’s mystery began to fall in place, scares began to lessen. An almost too quiet finale began to drag her pulse back to resting, luckily a few more fun surprises were in store leaving her pulse much higher than where she began.
CONCLUSION:
The Grudge (2004) is a jump scare-a-thon that delivers memorable imagery within a tangled storyline. But even though our subject had to peek through her blanket at times, only a few eerie scenes lifted her heart rate into the nineties. Still, a steady dose of ghostly characters and that famous haunting sound effect will have her double checking the tub.
If you’re looking for more scares within The Grudge franchise, be sure to check out the new series JU-OH:Origins streaming now on Netflix.
The Grudge: Burns an average of 222 Calories
Fudge : 70 Calories
How many Fear Calories did you burn watching The Grudge? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
