Faith Matheson is a main character in The Grudge (2020) played by Lin Shaye. She is the sick and dementia-stricken wife of William Matheson.
Faith eventually committed suicide after being repeatedly tormented by the ghosts.
Biography[]
In 2005, William and Faith had purchased the cursed Landers home. Terminally ill with deteriorating mental health, William cared for her on a daily basis by feeding her and helping her do menial tasks.
Infected by the curse, Faith’s condition began to decline further as she’s being haunted by the Landers family, and seems to form a bond with Melinda Landers, whom she considers a friend. With no other options left, William had contacted assistant suicide consultant Lorna Moody for an appointment.
Lorna arrived and started to evaluate Faith, who had been showing increasing signs of dementia and mental instability. Faith starts playing peek-a-boo with Melinda’s ghost, unnerving Lorna and William. Lorna ultimately decides that she can’t assist Faith in a suicide as she cannot consent to it. Despite this, William allows her to stay in the guest room for a few days to keep an eye on her condition.
One night, Lorna went to check on Faith to see if she’s sleeping well but found her being tormented by Fiona Landers. When Lorna confronts William with the possibility that the house is haunted, he reveals that he bought the house, knowing that it was haunted. He hoped that if Faith were to die in the house someday, that her spirit would remain and be with him even in death.
A hysterical Faith after killing her husband
At some point in the following morning, Faith had stabbed William to death with a fork, under the influence of the curse, and began to mindlessly chop vegetables on a cutting board, and kept going until she started to sever her fingers. This horrific sight sent Lorna packing, leaving Faith behind who started to laugh hysterically.
Faith had apparently remained in the now disheveled house for a few months after Lorna ran off, with William’s corpse left to rot in the living room.
The discovery of Lorna’s corpse led Detective Muldoon to investigate the home, and she came across Faith, still dressed in her pink nightgown and dress which have now been reduced to rags. Her injured hand had also noticeably turned black with gangrene. Faith, now completely catatonic and covered in dry blood, starts to repeatedly ask Muldoon to feed her like William used to do. Once she see’s Fiona’s ghost sprint across the room, she starts asking Muldoon to help her, before she’s reduced to screaming hysterically once Muldoon discovers her husband’s corpse.
After Muldoon had called for backup, Faith had been taken away and institutionalized in a mental hospital, the stumps of her missing fingers having been bandaged. Faith, traversing the hospital grounds in a wheelchair, is being haunted by Melinda which drives her to jump over a stairs banister, breaking her neck as she’s falling, before her body splatters as it hits the floor.
Trivia[]
- The character was dubbed by actress Takako Fuji, as she herself revealed on Twitter.[1] Fuji-san also provided voice work for Fiona Landers, again the spiteful ghost.
- Faith is among the few characters who died before the curse could claim them, the other being Peter Kirk.
- Faith’s character is inspired by Ju-on: The Grudge character Saitô. Both were elderly people stricken with dementia and dependent on others, and began playing peek-a-boo with a child’s ghost.
- Faith’s death is a reference to Masashi from Ju-on: The Grudge 2, who also committed suicide by jumping off a building, after being cursed and wheelchair bound.
- Faith is played by Lin Shaye, a horror veteran and scream queen, best known for her roles in film franchises such as the Insidious series, the Critters movies, the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the Ouija films.