The Grudge 2 Review (2006) Worth Watching?

It's about an American girl who catches the grudge curse while in Tokyo and brings it home stateside.

The Grudge 2 was directed by Takashi Shimizu (who also directed Innocent Curse and Flight 7500) and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (from The Return and The Grudge), Amber Tamblyn (from 127 Hours and Blackout) and Arielle Kebbel (from The Uninvited and Red Mist).

What Was Once Trapped, Will Now Be Unleashed

The Grudge 2 is a sequel to the American remake of Ju-on: The Grudge, not a remake of Ju-on: The Grudge 2. In Ju-on 2 a film crew catches the curse while filming a TV show in the grudge house. In this one an American teenager at an international school in Tokyo is pressured into checking out the grudge house by a couple of bullies. The poetic justice here is that the bullies also catch the curse (not a spoiler, this all happens early).

Not only does this sequel take the plot in an entirely new direction, but they also flip the origin script. Also, Kayako can now pull people into the house against their will which really isn't cool.

Like many sequels, The Grudge 2 was clearly made to give people more of what they already liked about The Grudge, pale ass Toshio making creepy cat sounds and Kayako running around scaring everyone to death. This is what I was expecting and honestly fearing. Ju-on 2 was terrible. It was a quick and dirty sequel that didn't really expand on the story in any way, it was just more of the same. This one, however, not only expanded on the story but it seriously upped the shock factor in several key scenes. A couple that come to mind are a disgustingly awesome milk jug puke drinking scene and a very cool classroom scene. The classroom scene in particular was some good horror. Can't give anything away, so let's just say it's second only to the classroom scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street and a bit ahead of the classroom scene in Hereditary.

Alright, so all that being said, The Grudge 2 is a pretty weak movie.

There's a few good things about it, but ultimately it looks like a sequel, feels like a sequel and has cheap teen scream written all over it. Bringing the grudge to Chi-town (aka The Windy City, aka Mud City, aka Chiraq aka Chicago) was a weird detail that felt forced. And the movie jumps around to a few different locations and points in time which repeatedly throws the pacing off. A few crazy scenes make it a fun watch, but it does severely lack the style and atmosphere of the original remake. "Original remake" sounds like an oxymoron but this franchise is chock full of multiple remakes many sequels and even a few spin-offs.

Worth Watching?

If you like The Grudge movies, I actually do think this sequel would be worth checking out. It's not a great movie on its own, but it's a good addition to the series.

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