Review

Okay we have three separate plots that intertwine and then make sense towards the end of the movie.

Big breath

Aubrey Davis is sent to get her sister Karen back from Tokyo. Karen of course fell under the grudge effect in the first U.S movie. Aubrey is somewhat of a moaning Muriel, fails to save Karen, investigates the ghostly happenings, and comes into grudge town herself.

Meanwhile three teen chicks from the International School go check out the house for laughs, and become victims of the ghostly duo and their cat of ultimate eee-vil. Children shouldn’t really play with dead things, as horror can tell us.

And if that’s not enough to keep you interested, in Chicago Trish moves in with her boyfriend Bill and his two children Lacey and Jake. Weird things are going on in the next apartment, and before you can say “is that a blue faced kid there”, the grudge is seeping into Trish’s new home totally ruining a breakfast. Let’s go unwind an anticipated sequel.

I simply love these complex Japanese inspired ghost stories; you get more going on in one of these than a crate fill of teen horror lite. Seems lots of people got confused by Shimizu’s latest venture in revenant land and hence have been panning the movie. Sorry going to come across as arrogant here, but if you don’t understand this movie then get your arse down the teen section of the video store you are too stupid to watch adult movies. Of course after watching about five of the various Grudge/Ju-On movies I might be starting to decode what Shimizu has going down.

The grudge univese is expanded upon and a damn fine movie explodes onto our screens.

The movie opens with a scene so disconnected from the rest of the movie, that it really only makes sense with the last couple of scenes expanding it, and finishes with a bathroom scene that may put baths off your personal hygiene list for some time. Bill, as we learn the character’s name later, is sitting down to a breaky of bacon goodness. This is pretty domestic bliss time till Trish, we later learn yadda yadda, proceeds to pour boiling fat over his head and then scone him with a fry pan. She then sits down for a quiet coffee and some Trish time. Now how can’t you get hooked with an opening like that, and it is the only overtly violent scene in a pretty bloodless movie.

Director Shimizu then spends about 80 odd minutes developing his three sub-plots, cutting between them, before finally making the opening scene perfectly meaningful to the audience who have stuck with him. Love that approach, thank you Tarantino et al. You are in for one hell of a ride till things eventually resolve themselves, and the normal Japanese attempts to scare the panties off you ensue.

There’s some diabolically disturbing scenes in Grudge 2 and Shimizu rings every ounce of tension and terror he can out of them. If you don’t like being scared, then keep the flock away from this movie. Highlights include a phone box bad hair day, photo development gone spectacular wrong, and the normal hijinxs we have come to expect from that house. And in case you are wandering yes we get the weird walking and moving ghostly chick, here explained finally, the blue faced kid who pops up unexpectedly, that darkish ghost, and of course the cat. Plenty of revenants to be going on with, and Shimizu skillfully blends the differing fright aspects of each one into a full on assault on the viewer. You are not going to get out of this movie lightly end of day.

As seems par for the course with Japanese styled horror you have sudden shock scenes, things happening to the side of focus, and all that imagery jazz going down heavily. Western filmmakers seem unable to duplicate what the Japanese do so well, and the post MTV schlock has certainly damaged the genre. Added to this is the sans gore in the movie, Shimizu isn’t trying to bludgeon you over the head with his scare factor, he’s actually out to give you nightmares.

Okay so I voted an 8/10 ergo there’s a couple of weak points to Grudge 2. Karen’s early demise was somewhat heartless since we have followed her tribulations through the first movie. Horror regulars will be cool with that, as the genre has repeatedly shown it has no remorse in dealing with characters in sequels, but the non horror audience wont be entirely happy with that development. And before anyone starts screaming “dude spoilers” this was well documented in the trailers and marketing plan. The problem I had with Karen’s demise was that it was a tad Monty Pythonesque, if you have seen the movie you will get what I mean here.

The other issue I had with the movie was a been there, seen that, got the T-shirt thing going down. Grudge 2 operates as a sort of Ju-On greatest hits, Shimizu has used the same scenes in the Japanese movies and there really is nothing breath takingly new here. But what the heck, the movie is strong enough to cope and not many people wandering into the U.S release are going to have a background in the original Japanese shock fests.

There’s not a single bad performance being given in Grudge 2, the Director gets the best out of a pretty good cast and you will believe in their reactions to things that go bump in the night. Special mention time here, as there are a lot of people crowding the screen. Amber Tamblyn (Aubrey) hit the right note for me, she was intense, introverted, and just did what a gal had to do. Edison Chen (Eason) went low note, and that sure was working. The dude has actor chops and kicked arse with his Hong Kong journalist with an obsession role. Arielle Kebbel (Allison) for once played the ugly duckling, and freaking nailed it. Who would have thought, you go girl! And finally SMG delivered on her limited screen time, the Buffster may not be able to carry a whole movie, but she stakes the limited screen time stuff like a vampire slayer on steroids.

Christopher Young handed in a creepy score, and Shimizu decided to use it sparingly. When it kicked in it was intense, had me crying for mommy, and perfectly matched the visuals. The use of incidental sound was high on the agenda, and this really worked in the movie’s favor.

Director Shimizu screamed out at me “can you dig it one more time”, and I gave him a high five on the movie. Grudge 2 nailed it’s genre posters to the wall, was an intelligent attempt at scaring the panties off the audience, and demanded concentration with it’s intricate plot devices. You just get dragged into the movie, and the Director throws many a curve ball at you. One intense experience that shows what good movie makers can do in the often-jaded horror genre. I totally had a good time with this movie, and got a hell of a lot more out of it than I invested.

Guess horror is in some trouble when a core well-intentioned movie doesn’t send the Box Office into overdrive. A decent budget of $20 million saw a world wide return of $69.7, which is a win for Sony. North American domestic was $39.1, and Grudge 2 scared up $1.6 in Australia.

If you want a movie to hit all the right nerves then Grudge 2 is waiting and willing to do the hitting. Gore hounds and horror lite enthusiasts won’t be enjoying themselves, and equally those who feel they shouldn’t have to concentrate on a flick should go get something else. Some readers may be over the whole grudge thing, and I don’t blame you, so if slightly grudged out then you are excused. For the rest of you go score the DVD, it demands attention, but will pay you back for the time invested. Get ready for a bumpy ride, this movie will rasp on your scare bone.