What actually happens
A souvenir from Tokyo
The story is told in three years. In 2004, Fiona Landers, a live-in nurse, leaves a family's home in Tokyo looking disturbed. She tells a coworker she is heading back to America and briefly sees the ghost of Kayako Saeki. Fiona goes home to a small town in Pennsylvania and her husband Sam and young daughter Melinda, but the curse has followed her. She beats Sam to death, drowns Melinda and then stabs herself in the throat. Soon afterward, Peter and Nina Spencer, a couple who work in real estate, hear that their unborn child will probably be born with a rare genetic disorder. Peter visits 44 Reyburn Drive to look into selling it, sees Melinda's ghost bleeding from the nose and takes her for a lost girl. Fiona and Melinda's ghosts attack him, the curse takes hold, and he kills Nina and their unborn child before he is found dead in the bathtub.
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Two detectives and one front door
The Landers murders are assigned to detectives Goodman and Wilson. Goodman refuses to go into the house, so Wilson goes in alone. Afterward he starts losing his mind, spots Fiona's ghost outside Goodman's car, and shoots himself, surviving with a disfigured face, and he ends up in a psychiatric asylum. Goodman drops the case. In 2005 an elderly couple, Faith and William Matheson, move into the house. Faith has dementia, and once the curse reaches her she starts seeing Melinda. William calls Lorna Moody, an assisted suicide consultant. Lorna suggests they leave the house, but William admits he knows about the ghosts and thinks they mean people get to be with loved ones after death. Lorna later finds that Faith has killed William and cut off her own fingers. She runs out, and Sam's ghost attacks her in her car, causing a crash that kills her.
Visiting hours at the asylum
In 2006, rookie detective Muldoon moves to town with her son Burke after her husband's death. She and her new partner Goodman are sent to the woods, where Lorna's body has been found. Goodman is uneasy when he learns Lorna had been visiting 44 Reyburn Drive, which reveals that he already suspects the house is cursed. Muldoon heads to the house and finds Faith, confused, next to William's body. Faith is taken to a hospital, sees Melinda there, and jumps from a staircase landing to her death. As Muldoon digs further, the Landers' ghosts begin haunting her. She visits Wilson at the asylum, in the middle of the movie, and he tells her everyone who goes into the house becomes a victim. Then Wilson gouges out his own eyes to stop seeing the ghosts, and the hallucinations keep going anyway.
A password between mother and son
Afraid the curse will make her harm her son, Muldoon tells Goodman everything and learns that the curse started with a family in Japan, and that Fiona took it overseas. The Landers' ghosts attack her again, and she goes to the house and pours gasoline over it while visions play out Fiona's murders of her family. The curse produces a figure that looks like Burke, but Muldoon realizes it is fake when it cannot repeat a phrase that she and Burke use all the time. The house burns to the ground, and Muldoon holds her real son outside. Some time later she hugs Burke before school and then watches the real Burke leave the house, which means the one in her arms is Melinda. Fiona's ghost drags Muldoon away, and she becomes the curse's next victim.
The ending, explained
Muldoon pours gasoline over the house and sets it alight after watching visions of Fiona's murders. The curse sends a fake Burke, but Muldoon catches it when it cannot repeat a phrase she and her son always say, and the house burns while she holds her real son. Some time afterward she hugs Burke before school, then sees the real Burke leave the house, so the boy she is holding is Melinda. Fiona's ghost drags Muldoon away, and she becomes the curse's next victim.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Grudge scary?
Yes, The Grudge is a 5 out of 10. The dread level is medium, and the fear comes from a lot of jump scares and a curse that follows everyone who enters the house at 44 Reyburn Drive.
How does The Grudge end?
Muldoon burns the house and embraces her real son, but later the Burke she hugs turns out to be Melinda. Fiona's ghost drags Muldoon away and she becomes the next victim of the curse.
Does the dog die in The Grudge?
No, no dog dies in The Grudge. Detective Muldoon has a yellow lab, and nothing bad happens to it.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Grudge?
Nobody has confirmed whether The Grudge has a scene after the credits.
Where does the curse in The Grudge come from?
The curse started with a family in Tokyo, and Fiona Landers, a nurse who worked for the family, brought it to America. It then passes to everyone who enters 44 Reyburn Drive.
