Der Fluch - The Grudge 2

In Pasadena, Mrs. Davis (Joanna Cassidy) sends her daughter Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) to Tokyo to bring her sister Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who is interned in a hospital after surviving a fire, back to the USA. After their meeting, Karen dies and Aubrey decides to investigate what happened to her and gets herself cursed in the same situation, being chased by the ghost of the house. Meanwhile in Tokyo, the three high school mates Allison (Arielle Kebbel), Vanessa (Teresa Palmer) and Miyuki (Misako Uno) visit the famous haunted house and are also cursed and chased by the ghost. In Chicago, Trish (Jennifer Beals) moves to the apartment of her boyfriend Bill (Christopher Cousins), who lives with his children, the teenager Lacey (Sarah Roehmer) and boy Jake (Matthew Knight). On the next door, weird things happen with their neighbor.

"The Grudge 2" has scary sound and visual effects, with the creepy woman and boy, and I have startled a couple of times while watching this movie. However, the complex screenplay with three subplots is totally confused, making the entwined story a complete mess. There are too much characters and situations, and in a certain moment I was completely lost with the disconnected and fragmented narrative. In the end, I was completely disappointed with this confused, but also spooky film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Grito 2" ("The Scream 2")

Shoot me if you must. Shun me if necessary. But I actually really liked this movie. It kept me entertained for 102 minutes and provided some great scares. I never keep my hopes up for sequels and this movie was no different. This was atmospheric and despite what some people say, it did have a plot, although it was all over the place (so it's kind of hard to explain). The acting was good from all. Takashi Shimizu is a great director, he knows how to create suspense and keep it for the duration of the movie. He also knows how to keep an "all over the place plot" very easy to follow. I'm also glad he introduced some new elements into the plot which made it much more interesting. (Can't wait until the final installment)! And finally, the curse (Kayako and Toshio) is still as scary and creepy as ever. There were many scenes that had me very creeped out.

3½/5.

I was very excited about seeing this, as I love the original series, I didn't think the first remake was that bad, Takashi Shimizu directed it, and I have gradually become a fan of Amber Tamblyn. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as good as I had hoped. Of course, given the genre, and the fact that it was a sequel to a remake and not really a remake of a sequel, it was exactly what I expected. (Yes, I have high hopes, but realistic expectations.)

I prepped myself for this by watching the unrated DVD of the previous film just a few short hours before heading to the theater, which, in hindsight, was probably a mistake. While the first film relied heavily on cheap scares and "gotcha" moments, the second toned it down a little and aimed at being a little more suspenseful. The end result is a chaotic mess with a convoluted storyline that weaves through time without ever indicating it (slightly confusing at the start, as there is a two year difference between the events we see throughout the film, but I will refrain from spoilers).

The attempts at building suspense fall flat, as every significant event is telegraphed and, therefore, incredibly predictable even when you're not trying to think ahead of the film's pace. The kills themselves are far from satisfying, as they are simply more of the same that we saw the first time around. I'm sorry, but even if you have never watched the Asian originals, the creepy girl with the hair in her face and the hitch in her step fails to frighten after two Ring films, Dark Water, Pulse, and, of course, the previous Grudge film.

I had seriously hoped that Takashi Shimizu would bring some of his style to the film. Alas, we are the real victims here, not those portrayed on the screen, as we have to pay hard-earned dollars to witness (yet another) American Cinema (read: Hollywood) bastardization of a quality film. When will they learn that the true appeal of Asian cinema lies not with the creepy girl and the cheap scare, but with the overall feel of the film? The "boo!" moments may work for the casual viewer (and the target PG-13 audience), but it is the oppressive aura that haunts the viewer and keeps them awake at night.

This sequel now shows the infamous curse in more power and a greater range. But it does not improvise in any manner to its predecessor. The story remains the same. People are getting affected and dying the same deaths. Every thing that is going to happen can be pretty much well known in advance for a seasoned movie goer.

There are three parallel story lines that shift in ways that further reduce the fun in the movie and does not allow you get involved. Kayako's past is explained in more detail but the again the explanation does not seem too buy-able. All in all there is nothing much this sequel has to offer. It could be subjected to one watch, but on a rented DVD or VCD. But I would definitely not choose to buy the Grudge movies 1 and 2 for collection purpose.

I did enjoy the movie for the Ghost attack scenes as well as the story in general. I do think the movie had some very poor acting in it. Now the bad acting was obviously not present during the scare scenes but every time any of the characters spoke a line I cringed, especially in the first scene with the 3 school girls. I also found that Amber Tamblyn gave a bad performance. The only performance that didn't suck was Sarah Michelle Gellar. I think the bad performances can be attributed to the language barrier between the Japanese director and the English speaking cast. And here is what bothered me the most about the movie... How is it that a 70 year old Japanese exorcist who has lived in a very rural area of Japan her whole life and has gone quite crazy learn to speak perfect English?