The highly anticipated sequel that is The Grudge 2 hit theaters today on the, I'm very certain, targeted date of Friday October 13.  The first film was a stepping stone for Japanese H Films to finally be seen in mainstream America and to be fully exposed to their ingenuity, amazing storylines, and chilling atmospheres.  It also was in my opinion the greatest PG-13 horror film ever made and probably that iwll ever be made.

The sequel however is not even remotely near the brilliance that was the original.  With storylines branching from Tokyo, Pasadena, Chicago, and Hong Kong, this film doesn't now where it wants to go.  The first film had a complicated storyline and structure with the hazy chronological time references and overlapping character stoyrlines, but it all fit.  This film has so many storylines you wonder why they even promoted Amber Tablyn as the lead actress because there is not one actor in this film that has more screen time than the other.

The story is quite similar to the first.  The cursed mother and son still haunt and kill anyone that enters their now burned down and dilapidated house.  Sarah Michelle Gellar reprises her role but should be considered more of a cameo.  Her sister Aubrey heads to Tokyo to find out what happened to her and gets caught up in The Grudge along the way.

The main storyline of Aubrey and the news reporter investigating her sister was fine.  I had no problems with it.  However the fifteen others that acompany it were way out in left field and seemed so preposterous that it made me just pray for the Fade to Black effect to come that occured once every five minutes.  The cursed mother and son also were given cuts in their screen time for some unknown reason as well.  The woman especially should go down in history as one of the creepiest horror villians in history.  The way she moves and growls is truly scary, but she had to take a backseat to some stupid divorce family storyline in Chicago.

The script was pretty weak.  Even for horror standards.  The scenes had no contininuity.  I know Japanese horror is more about atmosphere rather than scares, but this movie just bored me to death.  The time cuts were ridiculous and were so hard that the movie just didn't flow.  One second you are in a hospital in Tokyo, the next you are in an apartment in Chicago.  Very sloppy writing and story.  They could have done a much better job even with the basic narritave they portrayed with this film.

Takashi Shimizu is a great director.  His shots are great, but this film seemed a little to predictable.  Every jump out scare was seen a mile away.  This film actually played out like a PG-13 film unlike the first that could have easily been rated R and not made that big of a commotion.  Shimizu also had a fetish for women's legs in this film as well.  Every single female in this movie had a skirt on.  EVERY SINGLE ONE.  I like legs too, but these girls were skeletons.  At least get some girls that have a little thickness to their legs.

In short, The Grudge 2 is a lazily made film.  It seemed to be rushed and not properly made.  Characters would appear and disappear in the blink of an eye and wouldn't eve be thought of again.  People would die via smash cuts and black outs and dissolves.  No deaths were shown or embellished.  Just POOF!  your gone.  The ending paves way for a third installment, but I really hope they don't.  This franchise will be hurled deep into the ground if they do.

* 1/2 out of ****    

Quoted Text The highly anticipated sequel that is The Grudge 2 hit theaters today on the, I'm very certain, targeted date of Friday October 13.  The first film was a stepping stone for Japanese H Films to finally be seen in mainstream America and to be fully exposed to their ingenuity, amazing storylines, and chilling atmospheres.  It also was in my opinion the greatest PG-13 horror film ever made and probably that iwll ever be made.

The mediocre 5.7/10 score on IMDB and the 40% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (22% cream of the crop reviewers) says otherwise.

How was it highly anticpated exactly?

The people im IMDB are absolute idiots though. Movies like Return of the King are higher up on the 250 list than things like 2001, Citizen Kane or Rear Window. It makes absolutely no sense. It's a great site, but the people who use it are stupid most of the time. I liked the first Grudge. I seriouesly don't understand most people's problems with it. It's short and to the point and the performances are above average for a film of this genre.

I haven't seen the Grudge 2and I don't think I will see it until the DVD comes out. I'm not a go to the movies for horror kinda guy. I'm more of a DVD man so I can turn it off if its really, really bad. Ah, the magic of home entertainment systems.


Cheers, Chism.

I know the director of the Grudge series and I think he did a great job and the storyline was better then the remake. He didn't just remake the japanese version so it's not a remake. The acting was better and the story was also.