"Why won't you stop killing?!", screams a character in the climax of The Grudge 2. Oy. Too right. How long is this going to go on?
The Grudge 2 contains 3 stories. The first one starts off only a few days after the first film, with Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) arriving in Tokyo to bring her hospitalized sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) home. She's considered mentally ill and under police custody after trying to burn down The House at the end of the first movie. Aubrey gets caught up in the mix when she meets Hong Kong reporter Eason (Edison Chen) and learns the truth about Karen's sickness and the grudge that haunts her. The second story takes place two years later, following three schoolgirls who enter the house for a dare and pay the price. The third takes place in Chicago, where an America family experiences the rage that destroyed Kayako's family. How the curse managed to travel across the ocean is a mystery that's only revealed in the climax of the film, where the three completely separate stories finally collide.
This is the sixth of these Grudge movies that I've seen. To those of you at home not keeping score, this ghastly ghoulish franchise started with two Japanese TV movies called Ju-On: The Curse, 1 & 2. They were then "remade", with mostly new materials, into two Japanese theatrical features called Ju-On: The Grudge, 1 & 2. Then came the American Grudge two years ago which functions as a sequel as well as a remake. Now there's this movie. All six entries were directed by one man, a man named Takashi Shimizu.
(I wonder if Grudge producer Sam Raimi would try to one-up him by directing seven Spider-man movies.)
I had the pleasure of meeting Shimizu in person a while back, and he admitted to an audience that he's made so many of these films, it was very hard t stay fresh and original. It shows. No wonder, because all six films have the exact same formula. They're the horror version of a variety show, with non-linear chapters following different characters meeting their doom in the hands of Kayako and her son Toshio. They feel more like an episodic, self-contained television series. This is why the American Grudge films can be seen as English-speaking sequels instead of remakes. They don't invalidate the stories in the 4 films that came before them. Same house. Same ghosts. Caucasian victims.
So what's the appeal of this film? Obviously, it's the scares. As desperately unoriginal the movie is, Shimizu is still an expert in manipulating sounds and images to create tension. Consistent to his style, he never relies on jump scares. Rather, he makes his scenes so still and stiff; that the slightest movement or sudden cut of the camera alone can send chills down your spine. That's where Christopher Young's score can be very intrusive. While perfectly suited for the film, its absence would have given the film a suffocating quiet dread that makes the Japanese Ju-On films so damn scary.
Most Asian countries are extremely superstitious, hence the popularity of fares such as the Ju-On or Ringu series. Films like these are not about giving you a jolt and a scream in the theater. It appeals to that tiny fear of the supernatural we keep hidden inside us. It's supposed to make you notice how quiet it is being alone in your room at night; question the things you see in the corner of your eyes; and make your palm sweat when you walk into the dark empty kitchen. While I heartily endorse this film, I can't recommend going to the theaters to see it. It's a film that's meant to be watched alone, in the dark, in your quiet home, not with a Friday night crowd.
Which leads me to question the effectiveness of a Grudge movie with an American cast. Never mind the sub-par acting by all the actors involved. The premise of a vengeful spirit that tails you home after you disturb its resting place is something that's deeply rooted in Asian folklore. So is the image of a long-haired ghost woman, which is something of a staple in Japanese ghost stories dating back centuries (complaining that Asian horrors use this archetype is like criticizing vampire movies for portraying vampires with fangs). There is a slight cultural clash that creates an inconsistency between the actors and the setting it's trying to present. By placing the story in Japan and keeping the ghosts Japanese, they're trying to appeal to the wrong sensibilities. It's just a very different culture, with a different perception of the weight that these ghosts carry. The film still works, because fear is a universal language, but it's anyone's guess if a cynical modern Westerner would swallow the pill as easily.
If you are a fan of this type of scares, and you don't demand a satisfactory resolution to enjoy a story, then you probably won't mind stomaching the same thing all over again (for the sixth time, in my case). Yes, there's nothing new here. Yes, it's a retread. Yes, I hope that Shimizu moves on and make more unique films like Marebito instead of cranking out The Grudge 3. Still, the movie's intention is clear, and you should probably realize what kind of film to expect. At least this one doesn't redo any materials like the first Grudge did.
It's one heck of a creepy film. That's all you need to know.
"The Grudge 2" opens October 13, 2006 and is rated PG13. Horror. Directed by Takashi Shimizu. Written by Stephen Susco. Starring Amber Tamblyn, Arielle Kebbel, Edison Chen, Jennifer Beals, Matthew Knight, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sarah Roemer, Takako Fuji, Teresa Palmer.
