Peter Kirk is a character from The Grudge, portrayed by Bill Pullman. Kirk was a teacher and the secret love of Kayako Saeki, to whom she became obsessed with. Through her letters and her diary, Kirk discovered that Kayako was murdered because of her feelings for him, which filled him with guilt.
History
One of the several pictures featuring Kayako that Karen finds, hinting Kayako's obssession for Kirk.
Peter Kirk was a teacher living in Tokyo with his girlfriend/wife Maria. At some point, Kirk started receiving letters from an unknown person, and was by the adress led to the Saeki residence. He only found a young boy in the middle of a generate mess, and attempted to help him as he was covered in bandages and bruises. Kirk then found a notebook in which were registered the mother's obssession for him. Guided by an occult presence, Kirk then discovered the body of Kayako, the diary's owner, dead in the attic, and then her husband's hanging corpse at the boy's bedroom, running out of the house disturbed and feeling guilty.
The following morning, Kirk commited suicide in front of Maria, by throwing himself out of their apartment's balcony.
Aftermath
Following his calling, a group of investigators entered the house to cover the Saeki murders, and were all taken by the curse. Karen Davis was led to the curse's origin and Kirk's relation to it through a report of his suicide. She visited Maria and spotted Kayako in every of the couple's photographs. At the Saeki house, Karen received a vision of Peter's discovery of Kayako's corpse.
Notes and trivia
- Bill Pullman himself portrays and parodies the same character in Scary Movie 4, in which The Grudge is one of the main spoofs.
- It is implied that Kirk was killed by guilt rather than the curse. Differently from Kobayashi, Kayako's spirit is never seen to haunt, disturb or attack Kirk on screen. It can be concluded that the ghost may have demonstrated some affection towards him even after her death, or that Kirk's sight of her corpse was disturbing enough to cause his death and satisfy Kayako's grudge.
- Also, differently from Manami, Kirk's wife Maria was not pregnant and Takeo did not murder her as well.
- Kirk being American/caucasian, it is implied that Takeo murdered Toshio in his intense anger/insanity only, rather than suspecting that he was not his son.
- The Unrated Extended Director's Cut version of The Grudge features a shot of Kirk's fallen body from above, with his blood and one popped eye on the ground.
- Kirk is shown to be a Tokyo university professor, differently from his Ju-on counterpart Kobayashi, who was Toshio's first grade teacher.
- Kirk was likely named after The Grudge co-producer Michael Kirk.
Gallery
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