Ju-on 2

So you sat through the first "Ju-On : The Curse" and thought it was pretty creepy. Your only complaint was that the ending left you confused and wanting more. Well, be careful what you wish for because here we have "Ju-On 2 : The Curse" and it may leave you wanting less.

For whatever reason, "Ju-On 2" starts off with teacher Shunsuke Kobayashi visiting the home of one of his students. It appears Toshio hasn't shown up in a while. Sound familiar? It should. Because for the first 30 minutes, you are simply watching the last 30 minutes of the first "Ju-On" - shot for shot.

But the real question here is how does this supposed sequel stand up against the original. Well, for starters, it is less confusing. Once you move into the new footage, the movie stays in a linear time frame right up until the end. It even helps in explaining some of the more confusing elements from the first movie.

As for the scares, you get more of the same here and this only serves to make them less effective. When we first saw a ghostly Kayko crawling around in the original, it was totally unexpected and genuinely creepy. However, in the sequel, you would've thought she'd entered the walking stage by now ala a toddler. But no, she's still hugging the ground and moving slower George Romero's dead.

And here is one aspect of these movies, particularly this one, that I find curious. When approached by these ghosts, every character seems to be frightened to the point of where they can no longer at even the most basic level. Running away? Out of the question. Walking away? I don't think so. Screaming for help? Only if you can stop your whimpering to belt one out. For the most part, these scenes do work, and are punctuated with some incredibly effective jump cuts. But there are times when watching a man slowly crawl away from an even slower ghost just seems plain silly.

So, with all that being said, should you give "Ju-On 2 : The Curse" a look? Absolutely - but only if you can somehow seamlessly merge the two movies together and cut out the half hour of repetition.

Rating for "Ju-On : The Curse" [on a 5 star system] : 3 1/2 stars

Rating for "Ju-On 2 : The Curse" [on a 5 star system] : 2 1/2 stars

Rating for both movies combined as one [on a 5 star system] : 3 1/2 stars

It's been over a year since I started searching for copies of the JU-ON films, and thanks to a few wild dealings with proxy bidding services for Japanese auction sites I was able to track down a copy of part 2. It was well worth the effort!

Although the copy of JU-ON 2 I viewed did not have an english-language option, a skeletal understanding of the story was easily discerned and was all that was needed to enjoy the proceedings. The film is a series of lightly-connected vignettes about the various inhabitants of a cursed apartment and the myriad of horrible fates that befall them.

After my initial viewing, I felt the film started very slowly and didn't really offer much until its final 20 minutes. The second time around however, I really found myself drawn in from the get-go. While the last 20 minutes do pack the strongest punch, the first 50 minutes build on each other quite well and set you up for what amounts to multiple drop-kicks to your psyche in the final sections. Director Takashi Shimizu conjures up some of the most frightening images yours truly, a fear film vet and the sort of person who scares none too easily, has EVER seen.

I recommend this film highly, and wish you luck in tracking down a copy. As for me, I'm off to find the original JU-ON...

I enjoyed the foreign horror film 'Ju-on' and the remake that was made by Tackashimi Shimzu, the man who directed the American remake.'Ju-on 2' isn't nearly as good as the first or the remake.Sure, it was worth watching, but the fact that almost half of the movie is the same footage from the first movie makes it seem like one of those movies that you have already seen before.The movie is also short.It runs in at 76 minutes, but really runs at 74 minutes if you take out the end credits.Yeah, it's a pretty short movie.I can't guarantee that if you liked the first movie that you'll like this one.Still, I found 'Ju-on 2' to be an enjoyable sequel.

The first TV movie of Ju-on is one of the creepiest movies I've I've seen. This is considerably less so.

This film begins with a half an hour of material from the first film. While its good, it slows the forward momentum of this film especially if you watched the previous film in close order.

When the new material comes it picks up literally where the first leaves off and follows it to a new end. Some of this is good, but much, like the end, is good looking but rather confused and far from scary. Worse, the now linear story is too literal and doesn't leave enough to the mind.

If you need to know what happens after the first film ends, then by all means pick this up for viewing, however if it were up to me I'd just leave the first film be and forget this as a well intentioned mistake.

5 out of 10

I'll get straight to the point; a little more than half of Ju-On 2 is footage from the first movie. That is a very, very big problem. If it was all original footage, then Ju-On 2 would easily outshine the original. What new material there is is stronger than the first one, and more original, too. But as it stands, Ju-On 2 is mostly just a rehash of the original, which is a real shame. SOme of the many questions from the convoluted story of the original are answered here, but not to a satisfying degree. I get that they were trying to make it so that you didn't have to watch the original first, but it is absolutely absurd to expect returning viewers to sit through the same stuff. Why couldn't there have been a simple opening exposition scene about the previous occurances in the house? That would've been shorter and less annoying, and we would've gotten more time for the great original content.

Honestly, I would reccomend just completely skipping over the first forty minutes if you're hot off the heels of Ju-On: the Curse. If you haven't seen the original, then I would reccomend this movie even more. Just go in with the knowledge that the movie's first half is ripped straight from the first half of Ju-On, and you'll have a good time.

Final Score: 47/100.