History Characters / TheGrudge

The BigBad of the series, Kayako was an ordinary {{Housewife}} who has an obsessive [[StalkerWithACrush crush]] on a teacher Peter Kirk. Unfortunately, her husband Takeo found out and [[LoveHurts brutally killed her]], along with her son Toshio and the family cat Mar. Brought back by her family's rage as a {{Curse}}, Kayako appears as a StringyHairedGhostGirl, [[UncannyValley crawling about to hunt down]] and kill anyone who enters her house to consume them in the curse. She is most iconic for crawling her way down the stairs, and lets out a [[HellIsThatNoise chilling death rattle]] whenever she appears.

* IllGirl: A rare unsympathetic example. It's never stated exactly what kind of illness she has, but it leaves her with a [[IncurableCoughOfDeath nasty cough]] and breathing difficulties.

* CreepyMonotone

Karen's boyfriend, who attends the University of Tokyo. He does not play much of a part in the film until the very end where Karen finds him wandering the Saeki House, both at the mercy of Kayako.

%%* NiceGuy
%%* UnderstandingBoyfriend

!!Allison Fleming, Vanessa and Miyuki

* NotNowKiddo: Averted, while it's unclear if Lacey believes Jake about what he's been seeing, she doesn't outright dismiss him and lets him seep in her room.

%%* CruelAndUnusualDeath]]

%%* IncurableCoughOfDeath

%%* {{Jerkass}}

* JerkWithAHeartofGold: Vanessa. Despite being an AlphaBitch who vilely bullied Allison and Miyuki, cruelly pranked and scared Allison and got several people killed with her dangerous and careless actions she seemed genuinely concerned when she found out Miyuki was missing, trying to contact her and seemed genuinely remorseful of her actions, which may Imply she was not a bad person but just your typical Insecure and misunderstood teenager who wanted to make people think she was cool and fit In.

* NotNowKiddo: averted, while it's unclear if Lacey believes Jake about what he's been seeing, she doesn't outright dismiss him and lets him seep in her room.

-->'''Played by:''' Jason Behr

-->'''Susan played by:''' [[Creator/KaDeeStrickland [=KaDee=] Strickland]]

-->'''Played by:''' Amber Tamblyn

-->'''Trish played by:''' Jennifer Beals

-->'''Played by:''' Takashi Matsuyama

* FanDisservice / {{Fanservice}}: Vanessa goes from a major source of fan service to one of disgust. Vanessa looks gorgeous in her school uniform, which she rolls up the skirt very high to [[ShesGotLegs show off her incredible legs]], which receive frequent attention from the camera, and strips down to her lingerie in the locker room to [[ProudBeauty flaunt her beauty over the other girls]]. However, [[spoiler:her uniform no longer looks sexy when she is disfigured by the curse, and looks especially grotesque when her horrifying ghost continues to wear it. The shots of Vanessa's legs and short skirt no longer look titillating when Toshio grabs them to trap her, and Vanessa's triumph of her beauty in the locker room and the erotic effect of Vanessa in her lingerie are ruined when she pees herself after being haunted at her locker.]]

%%* StringyHairedGhostGirl

* InfantImmortality: Played straight in the second film, where Jake survives the events of the second film. [[spoiler:Then he gets slapped with SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome ''hard'', therefore averting this trope in the third film.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Vanessa starts as a [[AlphaBitch vain, haughty school beauty and queen bee]] that likes to lord her good looks over her friends and has a penchant for bullying certain targets. She loses her haughtiness after being terrorized by the curse [[spoiler:and loses all her beauty as an effect of the curse.]]

-->'''Susan played by:''' KaDee Strickland

%%* AlphaBitch: Vanessa.
%%* AssholeVictim: Vanessa.

%%* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Allison.
%%* BreakTheHaughty: Vanessa.

%%* BeautyToBeast: Vanessa and Miyuki when [[spoiler:they are transformed into horrifying onryōs by the curse. Vanessa also loses her good looks while she is still alive, as, at the start of the movie, she is considered by her classmates to be the prettiest girl in the school by far but, by the time she enters the principal's office, she is no longer beautiful and is less attractive than many of her classmates. This process is accelerated in a delete scene, in which the curse has significantly disfigured Vanessa and she becomes distraught in the hallway when she realizes she has become ugly.]]

%%* WomanInWhite

-->'''Played by:''' {{Creator/Takako Fuji}} (''The Grudge'', ''The Grudge 2''), Aiko Horiuchi (''The Grudge 3''), Anna Moon (''Tales from the Grudge'' shorts)

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: [[spoiler:The ending shows that she too has become an onryo.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: [[spoiler:Becomes the new Kayako.]]

* FusionDance: [[spoiler:It's possible that by dying the same way as Kayako, not only she becomes the new Kayako, but has somehow assimilated with Kayako herself into one onryo entity, similar to what Kayako would do with another protagonist and [[Sadako Literature/TheRing]] in the ending of Kayako's later crossover outing ''Film/SadakoVsKayako''.]]