I like scary movies. I've been watching scaries for years and years, since childhood. Gore and terror - the more the better. So when I heard there's a new movie called "The Grudge" which is essentially a Japanese horror flick with American actors, I went for it.
Last Friday the 13th (not long ago) we had a bunch of friends over at a relative's house to watch the movie on a big screen with surround sound. My impression: It is by far one of the scariest movies I've seen in my life. I've personally "jumped" a number of times and to this day I still get small "fears" of various dark places at our apartment when it's night time. For the record - I don't do that. I don't get all scared and frightened from flicks. But this one was good enough to make me think about it more and more as time goes by.
As far as a bunch of friends go, we were not going to be intimidated by this movie, yet throughout, people were giggling and throwing jokes around like we were 2nd graders, if only to try and ease the anxiety of various scenes in the movie (it's not gory - it's big on making you jump though...).
Since it's Japanese, you won't find everything you're expecting from it (happy ending? don't make me laugh. Only people who deserve it die? Ha. Is there a way to vanquish the ghosts? don't count on it.) There is no such thing as "closure" in this flick, which makes you wonder and kinda feel weird about it at first. But once you get into it's groove, you start to see various "plots" uncovered as the movie progresses. Some of them are never finished, some of them are not explained. It's just ... different.
In any case - if you wanna see something really scary - watch The Grudge.