The Grudge 2 got incredibly bad reviews when it was released in October of last year. I wasn’t eager to see it, not being a huge fan of the franchise to begin with (yes, I saw the first Japanese Grudge film… wasn't impressed). So maybe my expectations were low, but I actually enjoyed The Grudge 2; sure, it's a retread of everything we have already seen in the series, but I thought the actors were very good, the special effects and cinematography were much-improved since the last go-round, and the soggy story was buoyed with some welcome embellishments.
The story picks up in America, where Karen's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) family is sick with worry over what happened to her in Japan (see: the first Grudge remake). She's been hospitalized and can't even speak of the terrible things that happened to her, so Karen's younger sister Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) heads to the Far East to see what's what. At the hospital, she meets an earnest young journalist (Edison Chen) who's trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to Karen in "the most haunted house in all of Japan." They join forces in hopes of busting the ghosts.
Meanwhile, an American family (Christopher Cousins, Jennifer Beals, Matthew Knight and Sarah Roemer) is experiencing the evil effects of a Grudge-like haunting. And meanwhile still (there are three converging plotlines here) a trio of plaid-skirted schoolgirls (Arielle Kebbel, Teresa Palmer, Misako Uno) studying in Tokyo are on the run from the vengeful spirits of murdered mom Kayako (Takako Fuji) and her spooky son, Toshio (Ohga Tanaka).
I really don't get all the vitriol hurled at this film in the reviews. I mean, it's not different enough from the first American version (all of the Grudge films have been directed by the same man, Takashi Shimizu) to warrant dissent from fans, yet it is distinctive enough to perhaps change the minds of those who didn't care for the previous Grudge films. However, I did notice that the DVD I received for review was the Unrated Director's Cut — I didn't like the PG-13 version of the first Grudge remake, but warmed up a bit to that film's Unrated Director's Cut DVD — so maybe that's a contributing factor.
While the ghosts are still not scary to me, I was much less-bored watching The Grudge 2 — as I said, maybe my expectations were lower than the belly of a black cat, but I do unhesitatingly recommend the DVD for a rent.
The DVD has plenty of extras.
— Holding a Grudge: Kayako & Toshio Featurette – This mini-doc introduces us to the Grudge ghosts and explains how they came to be, how they're evolved over the six feature films (and one short), why Toshio had to be recast, and so on. We do hear the voice of Takako Fuji, the actress who plays Kayako, but the makers of the featurette wisely chose not to show her out of makeup.
— Tales from The Grudge with Introduction from Sam Raimi – The producer quickly introduces three short (a little over two minutes, each) Grudge-inspired films directed by Toby Wilkins. They're short, and sickly sweet (beware of hairballs!).
— Cast & Crew Reel Change Montage – This is a rather unusual, kind of arty, cinematic collage of actors and film-crew holding the "sticks" to indicate reel changes as the motion picture was being shot, from start to finish.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
Links:
[1] http://www.horror.com/php/article-1406-1.html