The vengeful spirits of Kayako and Toshio return to continue to exercise their deadly grudge against any living person who crosses their paths. Four women’s lives become intertwined and ultimately very badly affected when they come into contact with Kayako and Toshio.
Driving home one night an actress and her husband hit what they think is a cat. It soon becomes clear they have picked up an extra passenger the vengeful blue child Toshio who causes them to crash. The husband is put in intensive care and the wife looses the baby, but there’s a whole lot worse to come.
Takashi Shimizu Japanese sequel to the to his big hit Ju-on, not to be confused with the American Grudge 2 which is not a re-make of this but a direct sequel to the American Grudge. The first US Grudge was how ever a direct re-make of the first movie. The Ju-on series which includes some films that did not hit cinemas has become a huge hit with both fans in Japan and the rest of the world. Personally I did not care for the first film that much and care for this one even less. I’ve had this disc sat on my desk for a couple of weeks now, but I hate writing reviews about films that don’t really interest me. The first movie in the series had some incredible freaky imagery, but for me that’s all it really had, just a procession of freaky scenes which lost their impact as the film went on because it relied far to heavily on that element alone. Ju-on 2 is once again built around similar scares, though not as many. This time the director try’s to build more of a plot the only problem is it’s just not a very interesting one. Having watched his entry in the J-horror series, Rinne (Reincarnation) and with Marebito also sat on my desk awaiting review I can’t say I am very impressed with his stuff. Ju-on-2, Rinne and Marebito all share a common theme of a director investigating evil through film. This seems a very unimaginative and self indulgent plot device to use once, but to use it three times is pretty poor, especially as it’s not that great an idea in the first place. Also there’s nothing like making characters members of a film crew when it comes to breaking suspension of belief and reminding you that you are watching a film.
Basically a schoolgirl, a reporter, a make up girl and an actress become the latest people to cross paths with Kayako and Toshio; if you have seen the first movie there really will be no surprise as to what will happen to them. The acting is good, the CGI is at times a bit patchy and video game like, but does manage to be freaky, as does some of the non CGI work, how ever the plot is not interesting and for the most part you just don’t care what happens to any of these people. The director throws in a kind of premonition twist into the plot, but really it did not add much. At times I found myself thinking stuff like "that looks like a cosy outfit the lead actress is wearing", which pretty much shows how into this I was. Fans of Takashi Shimizu and both his US and Japanese entries to the series will no doubt lap this up, how ever personally I found this a very dull affair. 5/10
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 – UK trailer
Buy It: amazon.co.uk
