Film Reviews

The Grudge 2

• Rating:
• Director: Takahashi Shimizu
• Starring: Amber Tamblyn
• Details: US / 95mins (15A).

Takahashi Shimizu must be bored silly. After directing the same movie, all Ring rip-offs, four times without ever managing to ignite a creative spark, Tak must be fed up. But no one is as tired as the audience after watching another do-as-little-as-possible-and-still-get-the-money-from-the-kids-horror. Taking up where we left off from The Grudge, Aubrey (Tamlyn) goes to Tokyo to help her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who fell victim to the terrible blight in the first film, but is soon exposed with the same curse that afflicted her sister. Aubrey, with the help of journalist Eason (Chen), tries to get to the bottom of it before the rage spreads even further. Meanwhile, back home, a family is exposed to the curse when their next-door neighbours' daughter returns from Tokyo. The Grudge 2, like its predecessor, is really a horror sketch show with a jump or a scare coming at the end of every sequence, and this overkill is the real downfall of the movie. That, and the fact that there's no escaping the fact that the set up isn't really interesting enough to sustain 30 minutes - let alone an hour and a half, a sequel and two remakes. You can see the scary moments coming from miles out, and the usual 'let's just get the emotionally-dead characters into stupid situations without explaining why' formula is used in abundance here. Avoid at all costs.

Review by Gavin Burke