Review of The Grudge 2 (2006) by Bradley F — 13 Jan 2009

The Grudge 2 was mildly entertaining, but it was a poor follow-up to one of the best Asian horror films I've seen. Of course, The Grudge 2 is actually an American made follow-up to the American remake of Ju-on (The Grudge). As with any remake, there's something lost in the translation. I've always been a big believer in dealing with subtitles and getting the full effect of the writer's and director's original vision.

That aside, the story for The Grudge 2 seemed more like an attempt to cash in on a popular movie title than an actual attempt to entertain. The movie seems choppy, and it's confusing. There are actually 3 distinct storylines that tie together in the end, where you still have to puzzle it out a bit to get it all to make sense. There's one set of events, directly following the end of the first movie that takes place partially in Pasadena, California and Tokyo. There's another set of events that takes place two years after that in Tokyo. Then there's the third set of events which takes place in Chicago. Bits of pieces of these three storylines are told at a time, all mixed in, and not even in chronological order in some cases. Watching this movie is like watching soup boil.

On top of that, the story is more confusing than enlightening, which is what you generally expect from a sequel to a mysterious movie that leaves loose ends. You learn more about Kayako (the ghostie girl) and her childhood, but then the information you learn turns out to be worthless to the storyline. There's a little thrown in about things being made worse by the fire from the first movie, and comments about how the curse would spread, but we already knew that. I got the feeling that these bits of information were tossed out like treats to a dog to keep it following.

The tactics used by the ghosts are standard fare in regards to the first film. The effects are decent. The acting is fairly poor for all but Sarah Michelle Gellar and Edison Chen (the reporter, Eason). In fact, it feels like a cheap teenie bopper horror flick. It's great for a cheap thrill, but doesn't have any real entertainment value.