I have never seen any Grudge movie or experienced any related media. This manga is my introduction to the franchise, so I can give you the point of view of someone not familiar with the story at all. After reading the manga, I have also watched the movie (the 2000 Japanese version), so I can also give you a comparison to the movie.

This review might contain what some could consider a spoiler, but it's nothing specific, just the basic story outline.

I am a fan of horror manga. I am however not much of a fan of regular horror movies, so I was interested in how a manga based on a horror movie would turn out. I can't say that I was disappointed as my expectations weren't exactly high, but I certainly wasn't surprised. This manga feels just like a mediocre horror movie.

The basic story is exactly as expected, without nothing out of ordinary. Family moves in a haunted house, ignoring the warning that it might possibly be haunted. Angery evil spirit is angery and spooks it's victims few times before ultimately killing them off. Why must this evil ghost do this? Fuck if I know, the manga doesn't exactly bother to explain how the spiritual system actually works, but it's fairly common for basic horror works to not do that. It's angry and it needs blood, what more do you need? Duh.

The characters don't really have much of a personality and exist there just to fulfil their role of victims. I kinda liked the hint of "motherly" nature of Kayako (even though I had to google what even was her name). Sadly it doesn't get much expanded upon as the whole manga feels quite rushed. It is, after all, a whole movie put into just one volume.

The art is okay at best most of the time, but is does actually shine when illustrating the gorey parts. Especially one certain part which I would say is the only part in the manga that actually works as a horror. Too bad it lasted only few pages.

Finally, a comparison to the movie. The manga doesn't seem to be a 1:1 adaptation, at least not of the version that I've seen. I cannot say that the manga is a botched adaptation though, as I had the similar experience when reading it as I had when watching the movie - just a typical horror b movie. I might check the other versions of the movie later, but this didn't really piqued my interest for this franchise much. I'd say this manga is more of a miscellaneous point of interest for the fans then something that can stand on it's own.