"Okay." said the tough looking guy behind me in the movie theatre to his equally tough looking companion, "Is it okay if I just go ahead and piss myself right now?"

This was at the end of "The Grudge" a haunted house story Japenese style.

"That's the scariest damn movie I've ever seen in my life!" The Hub said.

"What was in the shower?"

"I don't know. I had my eyes closed too." he said.

It wasn't gory...but I wouldn't take a kid to see it. Of course, there are a lot of PG-13 movies that are too scary for me! But still - for The Hub to watch most of it through his fingers that's really something.

Jeepers.

The main characters of the story are Americans living in Tokyo, and it has the feeling of a "modern" ghost story featuring sterile, up to date areas full of the things that mildly creep out modern people. Deserted office buildings, empty stairwells in large buildings, ghostly voices crackling on electronic devices...and, most of all, that sense of being alone in the midst of a crowd. The way the story unfolds is very non-traditional, at least to American audiences, so the level of suspense is high. This is not one of those movies where you know how it's going to come out half way through it, or even a quarter of the way through it. At least for tonight I am now scared of my cat, my phone, my attic, my clients, and Japanese people in general.

Man, I wonder if I have anything in the cupboard to help me sleep?