Yoko (洋子 Yoko) is a character from The Grudge, portrayed by Yoko Maki. Yoko is a social worker hired by the Williams family to take care of Emma, a dementia-ridden elderly woman.
Yoko was also the last social worker to watch Emma before Karen Davis.
Biography
Encounter at the Saeki House
Yoko encounters the ghostly figure
One morning, Yoko went to the Williamses newest house and found Emma alone, in the middle of a complete mess. While cleaning the place and talking on the phone, Yoko went upstairs and was attracted by thumps coming from the attic. Already scared, Yoko climbed there to check what was causing such noises, and was surprised by a ghostly figure, who grabbed and pulled her while Yoko screamed.
Aftermath
Yoko returns to haunt Alex.
Yoko was reported missing and replaced by her employer Alex with Karen Davis. Karen went to the house and found the phone missing and Yoko's bicycle left outside. Karen called Alex and informed him about a boy she had found trapped inside an upper closet. Alex went to the house and found the bicycle, Emma's dead body and Karen paralyzed in fear. He was later interrogated by Detective Nakagawa, who followed the phone's message sound and was led to the closet, where the phone was, with some dark hair strands. In the attic, he found Yoko's ripped jaw. Alex was later haunted by Yoko in a bloody, gruesome look, snapping her neck and with a pendulum tongue.
Notes and trivia
The "Yoko" prop used in the film.
- If counting with Peter Kirk, Yoko is the second victim of the curse seen on screen in the Grudge films (It is implied that Peter commits suicide due to guilt rather than a consequence of the curse).
- Yoko's fate is reminiscent of Kanna's. The scene in which Yoko lights her lighter in the attic and is surprised by Kayako's ghost mirrors Yuki's scene in Ju-on: The Curse.
- Yoko is the second character in both Ju-on and The Grudge films to have her jaw ripped.
- Yoko in her infamous gruesome look is parodied in Scary Movie 4, where The Grudge is one of the main spoofs.
- In an alternative sequence unused in the film, Yoko is forced to enter the closet as she is haunted by a dark wraith that becomes Mar. She climbs to the attic and is then taken by Kayako's ghost.
- In the Unrated Extended Director's Cut of The Grudge, Yoko takes a blood smeared reel of adhesive tape from Emma as she meets her in the house.
- Yoko's apparition scene is several seconds longer in the Unrated Extended Director's Cut of the film. Her bloodied jaw in the attic also appears for more time in this version.
- Her male counterpart in Ju-on was a man named Takashi who was assigned to take care of Sachie but was taken by the curse. However, Yoko's background is significantly larger.
Gallery
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