Dr Lenera
Posts: 3450
Joined: 19/10/2005
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The first Grudge was a revelation,a remake of a non-English language horror movie that was almost as good. More importantly,it was geniunely frightening,with a truly eerie atmosphere,some terrific 'jumps' and much that was just chilling. The blob on the video monitor,the ghost under the bed and the ghost in the loft were perhaps the high points in a truly scary film.
The sequel's main problem is that it can't even begin to be as scary as the original,partly because it surprised everyone how scary it was. Watching the second one,one is ready for the scares,and they come in quick succession,but they don't work as well,because we expect them and know what most of them will be like. It's obvious that director Takashi Shimizu is starting to run out of ideas {well,he does seem to have spent his entire career making versions of The Grudge!},after all there are only so many ways that you can make a long haired Japanese woman and a blue Japanese boy scary. A few scenes do still chill though,and there are two outstanding moments,one involving a photograph developing tray,another involving a girl and her school psychiatrist,"but they'll not gone,they're here"!. A really freaky moment,but there's just too much that falls a little flat,even the odd use of bits from the Japanese films which hadn't been used in the first American Grudge.
In terms of plot it's quite well constructed despite the jumping around in time,and having some of the action set in America rather than Japan is a nice touch. However,it never reaches it's full potential. An interesting plot element is introduced involving the woman ghost's mother {who was an exorcist and possibly screwed up her daugher},and then discarded.
With an omnipresent score which is working too hard to try and be frightening and acting that is mostly just reasonable,The Grudge 2 isn't at all bad,but if there is going to be a Grudge 3,Shimizu and scriptwriter Steven Susco need to think up some new situations and some new things for their ghosts to do.
< Message edited by Dr Lenera -- 23/10/2006 10:19:19 PM >
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