The Grudge 2 (DVD, 2007, Unrated; Director's Cut)

Rather than re-creating something new, the grim Grudge 2 goes to the excess--scare tactics for scare tactics' sake, with little of the original’s dark and terrible mystery.

Story
Gee, that long-haired, multi-jointed dead Asian woman with a rather significant chip on her shoulder and her freaky, white-faced meowing son sure do get around. Although hapless American student Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) tried to burn down the house to stop the ghost lady’s uncontrollable rage in the first Grudge, it has apparently only gotten stronger in the second. Now, just by mere association, one can pick up the two very uninvited guests. Karen’s sister Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn), for example, comes to Tokyo to see why her sis is in the hospital--only to see Karen fall from the roof in one big splat—and immediately gets caught up in the whole deal. Then there are some mean prep-school girls who take another girl to the house to play a prank, and then they all get cursed. But one girl brings the curse back with her to the U.S., where it then infiltrates an entire apartment building. I mean, for all I know, I could be cursed for just watching this nonsense. Wait, what’s that under my desk?


Acting
No one really gets a chance to do much in Grudge 2. In fact, the auditions probably went something like this: “Can you look wide-eyed, haggard, scared out of your mind, with possibly a few tears streaming down? Perfect!” Gellar’s time is short onscreen, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Tamblyn (TV’s Joan of Arcadia), who handles it as best she can. The actress isn’t a stranger to Japanese horror remakes, either: If you remember, she was the first victim to meet Samara, the well girl in The Ring. Then there’s the crop of young stars in Grudge 2, including Arielle Kebbel (John Tucker Must Die) as the poor American teenager who inadvertently brings evil mom and son back with her to the U.S. Even Jennifer Beals (Showtime's The L Word) makes an appearance, as one of the people living in the building affected by the curse. But she walks around looking like she has no idea why she made this movie.


Direction
To be fair, Grudge 2 isn’t a complete waste of time. Helmed once again by director Takashi Shimizu, and based on the popular Japanese Ju-On series, Grudge 2 does have plenty of creepy moments. Let’s just say you might think twice about looking in a closet, drinking milk from the container, or picking hair out of the drain. Yuck. But Grudge 2 unfortunately suffers the same fate as The Ring Two: The element of surprise is gone, and the filmmakers haven’t invented anything more compelling to replace it. What’s left then is just the curse itself--and all the guttural sounds, black-rimmed eyes and popping up out of nowhere gets old pretty darn quick, especially when there is hardly anyone left to root for. Still, it looks like they might be setting up for a Grudge 3--that is, if the box office numbers hold this time around.

Ok so Kayako never went anywhere..but in Grudge 2 she proved she doesn't discrminate against age or gender..everyone has the same shot at death..this movie more then the first relies on flashback scenes that at times seem out of line with the story, if you don't know what's going on you can easily get lost..I had to sit my Partner down and explain to her why things seemed so out of order..but even with that this film is a true horror fanatics dream..how I hope we get a Grudge 3 and soon! Kayako is the perfect female horror legend..in Grudge 2 we find out what made Kayako what she is..who's to blame and why..we also find out a secret about her death..I wont give it away, but suffice it to say her hubby saw things all wrong if you watch the Japanese versions of these two great movies you'll know what I'm talking about!! Buy or rent this movie, you wont want to miss out on it..btw Jennifer Beals you go Girl I'm sure there's alot of Wives out there who would love to do what you did..warning: Ladies, don't try this at home no matter how tempted you are, you could end up in prison!!

The Grudge 2 is a difficult movie to follow. The story is convoluted, many scenes seem to seamlessly [sorry about the tongue twister] bounce from Japan to Chicago and back, and it's often hard to figure out what is going on with all that is going on [especially if you missed the first installment]. None-the-less, what I did like about The Grudge 2 was that it pulls off scary moments without resorting to shock tactics that involve the excessive violence or gore that seems to permeate movies of this genre. I found it entertaining in a 'weird and creepy way.' It's a good date movie for when the significant other is really not a fan horror flicks [because of of excessively graphic material or they are easily spooked], but can be talked into watching one on occasion. This is one movie whose cinematic worth will definitely be up to the eye of the beholder.

I was not a huge fan of the Grudge- it was definitely eerie, but too much about the plot just didn't make sense to me; I believe the directors did an excellent job at portraying very scary and downright haunting scenes, they just didn't explain enough about WHY it was all happening (for my taste). BUT- in fairness- from what I understand, the lack of explanation IS WHAT MANY PEOPLE LIKED about the original movie. The storyline in this sequel explains a lot more about the background of the family that died in the house and the cause of the "curse". These explanations gave me a greater appreciation for the original movie, as well the events that transpired in this sequel. At the same time, however, the sequel does not deliver the same intensely scary scenes that the original did. I think that hard-core horror fans will be disappointed by this. In my opinion the scary scenes in this movie are more psychological. Also, the sequence of events in this movie is out of order in some spots- which was rather confusing at times. You really have to pay attention.

This was a movie our grandkids liked and wanted to see again. Looking through the choices, we picked this particular auction to place a bid on. The movie was pretty good from an adult's point of view - not a lot of blood and gore like some. It had story line that was easier to follow than Grudge 1 had been. There were no dislikes - besides it was a 'dark' movie - not a lot of brightness or color. But then, so was the first one.