Review The Grudge 2

Review: The Grudge 2

Sequel to the re-make of the sequel of the original Japanese film Ju-on. Or something like that. Better than most of these remakes because, although the original director has also directed these films he has also made enough concessions to Western preferences that this is neither as weird nor as tedious as I’ve found previous Japanese horror films in this vein. Indeed, although there is little to distinguish this film thematically or plot-wise from The Ring and so on there is much better use made of the plot. Sometime in the past something bad was done to a Japanese woman and she’s become some kind of freaky ghost that kills people who were nothing to do with her suffering but are unlucky enough to cross her path. In this case by entering the house where she was murdered.

What is different from The Ring films is that this actually manages to create some tension and some real jump-in-your-seat moments. It is an effective and truly creepy film, but is marred by being somewhat confusing for most of its length. It’s not until most of the way through the film that it becomes clear the events we are seeing take place not only thousands of miles but several years apart. Since the curse has now followed one its victims to Illinois, we can safely assume that any future sequels will be firmly set in America thus saving budget and depriving it of any cultural context which might confuse the more Xenophobic of the Peoria audience.