Ju-on 2 - La maledizione

"Ju-on:The Grudge 2" is the sequel to the smash-hit "Ju-on:The Grudge", and is the fourth installment into the "Ju-on" series. Like it's precursor, it is told in chapters. All the chapters are somehow connected to the curse of the grudge.

Were you disappointed by "Ju-on:The Grudge"? Well, if you were (like me), you'll be surprised. This sequel was MUCH better than the original in almost every aspect. The scares were more scarier, there were more scares, tenser scenes, a LOT better acting, a much better story, and a more solid plot. I was really surprised by how good this sequel was. Ever heard of the old sequel rule? "Sequels are never as good as the originals"? Well, I' happy to say that that doesn't apply here.

So to sum it up, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a major improvement on the original film. If you're a fan of the Ju-on series, you have to watch this.

I Start of with the The Plot: As driving, the pregnant horror-movie actress Kyôko Harase and her fiancé are in a car crash caused by the Toshio's friend. Kyôko loses her baby and her fiancé winds up in a coma. Kyôko was cursed together with a television crew when they shot a show in the haunted house where Kayako was brutally murdered by her husband years ago. While each member of the team dies or disappears, Kyôko is informed that she has a three-and-a-half-month-old foetus in her womb.

The first Ju-on-The Grudge was the creepiest movie I have ever seen.

It scared me for two days,Just when you thought The Grudge couldn't get any scarier then Ju-on-The Grudge they bring the Spine-chilling Ju-on-The Grudge 2.

This is one hell of a scary movie, From the start to thr end you will be left confused by some scenes,

the more confusing it gets, the more it creeps you out!

This movie has some very creepy scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat but then the last ten minutes of the movie was just petrifying,

it scared the living daylight out me! Acting from the whole cast was great!

This sequel was more creepy then the first movie but less scary then the first but It's one of the best horror sequel EVER! I give 9/10

I always get kind of agitated when producers feel a need to make sequels. I have never seen one that actually mattered. This one didn't either.

Having said that I do feel a need to actually recommend this Ju-On part. Besides the obvious rerun of old tricks, some of the new material is actually quite interesting and well-thought of. For example the thuds on the wall (that the couple hears every night around 12.30)are later explained in an eerie way. The wig-on-the-floor-thing was nicely done.

Finally, I thought the birth was original as well as the ending of the movie.

All in all entertaining (for a "Part two" movie) but not a MUST SEE.

I was disappointed by the original but this sequel was much, much better. Everything about it has been improved - the plot, the character development, the direction, the mood, the fear factor. The over all feeling of this film is very very creepy. It's exactly how a ghost story should be. It doesn't give you the kind of scares that make you jump out of your skin like some movies do but what it does give you is a very uneasy and haunting feeling.

The arrangement and fragmentation of script was excellent. It's broken up into separate stories or chapters like the first one but they've played with the time line in this one in a very wonderful way which contributes to the ghostly feeling of the film as a whole. The story with the banging on the wall was a particular favourite of mine, and, I think, pretty genius.

I am so glad I watched this! It has now become one of my favourite Japanese horror films.

Smart Far Eastern horror uses chills, psychology and subtle intelligence to place itself a cut above many of its peers.

Ju-on 2 is obviously a sequel to Ju-on (The Grudge), a fairly reasonable if perhaps not brilliant chiller from the Orient, in which a murder had caused the house it occurred in to host a curse as a result of the slaying.

Following on from this, Ju-on 2 uses the same trick as seen in the likes of Magnolia whereby a bunch of victims, related to one another in some way, suffer at the hands of said curse.

Indeed, this is much like a compendium of tales, focusing on around 6 victims whose lives becomes inextricably linked as a result of circumstance, all of which harks back to the original house.

However, rather than outlining the finer details of the plot, it seems fairer to explain *why* this is such a good effort from Asia compared to so many of its really rather derivative kin such as Phone, Eye etc.

Certainly this also has more than a homage to Ring, and could be tenuous accused of slight plagiarism given many of the utterly blatant similarities, so what makes it a cut above the others?

Well, one of the main strengths here is some fantastic psychological trickery. The direction itself is fantastically conducive to it, and without giving away the exact nature of the manipulation of the viewer going on here, it's fair to say that it does a pretty good job of conveying the same kind of 'wrongness' that Ring exuded. There are plenty of moments here which create a genuine chill such is their effective defying of how we believe the laws of physics and biology work. When an event goes against all the worldly beliefs you have set in stone, it makes you take notice. Furthermore, given the distinctly psychological nature of much of Ju-on 2, it truly comes across as utterly twisted like some kind of awful nightmarish trip (Unlike Audition's frankly baffling last 3rd) but one which doesn't leave the viewer confused.

There are also a number of subtle tricks in evidence, many of which don't become apparent till later, all of which genuinely gathered an impressed reaction from me.

I am not going to pretend this is a terrifying movie, because to me, while there were certainly moments which got the adrenaline going a little, it is not exactly all that scary if you're a fan of these movies. Basically, we've seen it all before.

Nonetheless, as critical and harsh as that sounds, it still manages to entertain extremely well despite it, because it uses its own unique brand of originality to compliment the obvious nods to other movies.

Certainly one of the best Eastern horrors I've seen.