Marc
06-09-2004, 10:39 AM
I finally had the opportunity to watch Ju-On: The Grudge 2. For those of you not familiar with this series, it's a Japanese horror franchise that is considered one of the scariest films to date. The series started off with two direct-to-video movies (just titled Ju-On) which was then followed up by a theatrical release, Ju-On: The Grudge.
As with a lot of Japanese shows, the creators sort of reinvent the story as they go along. Even though the direct-to-video and movies have the same themes, the stories are completely different. The basic premise of the story is that a man murders his wife and child then suddenly dies in the street days later. The house is bought by a new couple and each in turn dies mysteriously. The reason? Ju-On of course! The spirits of the wife and child are so angry and rage filled that they want revenge for their deaths and that includes the innocent people who had nothing to do with their murders.
Ju-On has always had an interesting way of presenting itself to the audience. It's non-linear in its editing (ala Pulp Fiction) by following one character for a bit, they disappear, move on to the next character, repeat. All characters are connected, sometimes by close ties, other times by threads. One of the fun things about Ju-On is seeing how the characters know each other, no matter how trivial.
The Grudge 2 picks up after the events of the first movie. A television show is doing a special on the house where the murders occurred. After the shoot, everyone goes their seperate ways... and start being haunted by Ju-On. People die and disappear... all the same night. It is the job of the director of the show and the celebrity actresses guest hosting the show (dubbed "the horror queen") to figure out what is happening because, for one reason or another, they were not killed nor did they disappear like everyone else.
Not quite as scary as its predecessor, The Grudge 2 still packs some pretty good scares into its 90 minutes. With a good story and good cast, anyone who has seen the original will enjoy this one. If you've never seen this series it's definitely worth checking out. Just watch it with the lights off.
And see it before the Americanized remake comes out.