JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2 (2003)

Made hot on the heels of its predecessor, Ju-On: The Grudge 2 casts us back into the world of relentless supernatural malevolence conjured up from the incredible imagination of director Takashi Shimizu. As explained in the first movie, the grudge is held by the ghosts of Kayako (Takako Fuji) and her young son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki), a mother and son brutally murdered in the family home by their husband and father. Due to the grisly manner of their deaths, the souls of the pair remain in the house, cursing it and dealing death indiscriminately to all who enter.

From the very beginning of this sequel, it becomes apparent that their grudge is far from over, as a young couple suffer a serious car accident when Toshio suddenly appears in the footwell of their car. Badly injured, the driver is left comatose, and his partner, famous horror actress Kyoko Harase (Noriko Sakai), is informed by hospital staff that her unborn baby has died in the crash. Devastated, she attempts to find a return to some semblance of normality, but the tapestry of her life begins to unweave at a frightening pace when she lands a role in a documentary about a haunted house...unfortunately for all involved, it's the damned domain within which the grudge resides. The presence of the filmmakers at the location reawakens the curse, and Kayako and Toshio set about extracting their retribution on the interlopers, with the result being that after a short time, everyone involved with the production apart from Kyoko, is either missing or dead. As the body count rises, Kyoko is stunned to hear the news that her baby is doing well, the verdict given by her doctor during a routine health check, and wonders if the child she is carrying is hers after all.
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 is the type of movie that works best when watched alone in the middle of the night, and frankly I would defy anyone to see it and remain aloof from proceedings; in a similar manner to the first Ju-On or some of the better J-Horror flicks such as Ringu, it's an involving, gripping watch which provokes a wide spectrum of emotions from wary tension to outright fear. Shimizu combines excellent photography with dynamic and unsettling sound effects plus a very creepy musical score to create a dark, heavy atmosphere, which, in tandem with a non-linear yet easy to follow narrative, lures you into the house of the damned and holds you there whether you like it or not. His style of filmmaking is finely contrived to unbalance spectators whilst setting them up for the next shock, and constant viewer vigilance throughout is the order of the day; blink and you might miss a frame featuring a lurking, shadowy figure or the hint of an impending fright, which of course, allows for a great deal of empathy between viewer and onscreen character, as both us and them wonder "what the hell was that?!?"

As with the previous installment, Ju-On: The Grudge 2 also lingers long in the mind afterwards, so this film might not be for you if you're the type who frets at a bump in the depths of the night .Considering it a little more critically, the film does often feel like little more than a rehash of the original, but, as the old adage goes, if it isn't broken then why fix it?One thing I do take issue with is a storyline that seems to be almost a complete departure from the first film's conclusion. In Ju-On, the original grudge seems to be held by Kayako's husband, who killed her and Toshio, along with the family cat, after a fit of rage. This was revealed at the end, when Rika (Megumi Okina) discovered that Kayako and Toshio were tortured yet benign spirits, and that in actual fact the real killer was their husband/father, who himself committed suicide shortly after murdering them. However here there's no sign of the demented butcher (or the cat, barring the opening few minutes), which more or less invalidates the original's conclusion; indeed, by dispensing with the peripheral poltergeists from the first movie whilst setting both Kayako and Toshio in the role of supernatural slayers, Shimizu has completely altered context of his tale, converting Kayako and Toshio from tragic, pitiable characters into outright killers themselves. For me, this change significantly detracts from the sequel's consistency and continuity in comparison to the original.
Ultimately though, Ju-On: The Grudge 2 is an excellent film that, whilst perhaps not quite reaching the heights of its predecessor, comes highly recommended. To add to this, Premier Asia's UK DVD package has obviously been worked on extensively as is clear by the number of extra's crammed onto the second disk. Holding more insight and verbal than any but the most die hard fan could handle, its clear that Premier intend to show respect to this Asian horror sequel. Under the broad title of 'Promotional Galley' is a smorgasbord full of trailers and footage from the Japanese premier and various Asian promotional campaigns. Most is very forgettable but its there for the enthusiasts all the same. The real meat is held in the menu titled 'The Curse Continues' where one can find a making of and a behind the scenes feature, along with an interview with writer/director Takashi Shimizu and 4 deleted scenes. Rounding out the generous extras is a feature called 'House of Horrors', which is an interactive walk around the cursed house complete with a few surprises along the way.