ShareThisBy BETSY PICKLE
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
In a pop-culture climate in which horror equals gore, it's refreshing to see a film like "The Grudge 2." Aside from messy housekeeping and far too much stringy black hair, there's nothing in it to provoke judgment from the squeamish, but the movie still provides numerous good scares and an overall unsettling tone.
A sequel to the 2004 hit directed by Takashi Shimizu and based on his own earlier Japanese hit, "The Grudge 2" brings back director Shimizu and star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Gellar is around only part of the time, but judging by the consistently creepy mood, Shimizu never even took a potty break.
"The Grudge 2" is one of those rare instances in which the sequel improves on the original. Viewers still have to put up with a flimsy explanation about the titular curse at the start of the film, but this time the story delivers a more satisfying elaboration. And while it's confusing to watch events unfold in both Japan and the United States, the logic becomes clear and makes the prospect of another sequel easier to swallow.
After a domestic moment gone awry in a U.S. setting, "The Grudge 2" switches to Tokyo. Allison (Arielle Kebbel), a new student at the International High School, is being courted by Vanessa (Teresa Palmer) and Miyuki (Misako Uno), mean girls who torment Allison by taking her to the scariest house in Japan and spooking her with the mythology of "The Grudge."
Meanwhile, Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) flies to Tokyo at the command of her ailing mother (Joanna Cassidy) to check on her estranged sister, Karen (Gellar), who has been hospitalized after a suspicious fire at the Tokyo haunted house. Karen, under police guard, communicates a terror to Aubrey that leads the younger woman to join forces with journalist Eason (Edison Chen) and investigate the house.
In another plot line that takes its time establishing a connection, Trish (Jennifer Beals) has married Chicago widower Bill (Christopher Cousins) and moved in with him and his kids, Jake (Matthew Knight) and Lacey (Sarah Roemer). Jake, already on edge because of the new family dynamics, starts hearing weird noises in the next apartment and becomes spooked.
The ghostly boy (Ohga Tanaka) and woman (Takako Fuji) are as frightening as before, but their status becomes more haunting psychologically. Tamblyn, as the nominal star, imparts her own haunting quality, in addition to seemingly having a doppelganger in Kebbel.
Stephen Susco's script makes "The Grudge 2" a more cerebral experience than the first film, but the point is still to scare viewers. Susco and Shimizu never forget that.
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality.
Four stars (out of five).
