Pajiba

i'm still not sure if i want to see this or not...not really for the quality or lack thereof, but simply because i couldnt sleep almost at all for 3 days on end, haha.

good review as always, thanks jeremy!

Can you believe that I was actually listening to the song "Spirits in the Material World" when I saw this title? WEIRD!

Thanks, Jeremy. I guess you changed my mind--maybe I'll rent this some rainy day. Like you I went through a major J-horror (and C-horror and K-horror) phase a few years back; I'm more into the K-horror now because there's something interesting going on with the way the Korean directors tend to blend traditional staid drama with the spooks. But even that is waning.

That said, as repetitive as any genre gets, there's always a great wonderful ping! of innovation now and again, so hope springs etc.

I didn't understand 'The Grudge'. It was good, horror-wise, but incredibly difficult to follow. Still, whatever makes you not sleep at night.

I saw The Grudge and I didn't find it hard to follow, though at times it was a little confusing. The Grudge II was more confusing I think, but the scare tactics were good enough that I didn't really care. Certainly a pleasant surprise to see a film like this that had me glancing behind me more than necessary.

I saw the Grudge and found it relatively easy to follow. I also thought it sucked.

I'm guessing that they're always female, because who wants to watch a MAN scream and cry? I don't.

This movie sucked, and EVERYONE in the theatre thought this movie sucked. There was actually a part that was supposed to be all creepy (some weird old guy on the bus playing peekaboo with *gasp* the ghost) but honestly people in the theatre started cracking up because it was so ridiculous and self indulgent. Skip it.

I am an avid horror watcher. I loved the American Ring better than Ring-oo, but I took my sister to see the Grudge and it was God Awful. Everyone in the theater thought so and they were Tweenage GIRLS.

Sure, sometimes the second can be better than the first, and I took into account the various episodes that were never explained for the movie to make perfect sense, but GOD.

I laughed when I heard a sequel was coming, and I just can't believe you on this. I'd think of renting this for backround at a party if those gutteral 'noises' weren't so prevailent within.

The first movie scared the living hell out of me, and I normally don't even bat an eyelash at horror movies. Its probably my ferocious manliness.

I pass.

I must admit that I am among the seemingly few who found myself genuinely scared by The Grudge.

When I heard they were making a sequel I was excited, but assumed it would be little more than a half-hearted version aimed at a younger audience. Although the movie isn't without fault, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Grudge 2 offered numerous scenes as frightening as The Grudge. If you're not a fan of J-horror, this probably will do nothing for you, but if you are then enjoy it like I did!

I was hoping for a more scathing review. There is no way I'd see this movie. The first one was horrible, it wasn't scary in the slightest. While watching it I fluctuated between laughing and feeling irate about the fact that I was expecting to be scared but came not even close. Aside from the fact that the story was practically non-existent and went no where, the extent of the horror seemed to be some weird girl crawling on the floor and making a ludicrous creaking noise, all the while we never even get to see a full glimpse of her. This movie should never have been re-made.

I agree with Saila on the first 'Grudge' sucking (and why), and that I was also expecting a more scathing review.

I'm so tired of it though, I mean it's scary, but you can always expect either the kid or the woman who makes that weird sound to kill whoever they're going after. It's not so much the lack of logic, but the desire for an actual plot or just maybe a completely different action to take place would make it less predictable. I preferred Ju-on, whatever...

Has anyone here watched "Shutter"? It's a Thai horror film and apparently scarier than Ju-On.

Definitely did not expect to read this kind of review. I as well, am tired of these repetitive movies. It's not a film, let's be honest. Damn you, now I have to watch it.

The Soup on E! put it quite well:
The Grudge-2...Movie Lovers-0.

The reason why they live in Japan populated by crackers is... this movie is aimed at crackers. In the Japanese version, you can rest assured it's populated by pajama-wearing motherfuckers. Or ninjas. Hope this helps.

"It's like having a really great meatloaf recipe -- no matter how good it is, it's still freakin' meatloaf."

Man this quote reveals one thing - you've never had a really great piece of meatloaf. Done right it's nothing to sneeze at.

I loved the first one. I'll love this one. Though I'm admittedly pretty easy when it comes to the Asian horror. Ghosts freak me out.



T at October 16, 2006 02:02 AM



'Shutter' is great, if you dig this kind of movie. It's one of my favorites.

My husband and I both thought "The Grudge" was boring and only vaguely atmospheric.

We saw "Grudge 2" in the theatre, and while I jumped much more than he did, he did get a little spooked, too. It was pretty scary - we were both impressed by a sequel that actually BEAT the first one.

Although I found the review to be well-executed and reasonable, more interesting to me than the movies themselves are the polarized reactions that people have to this particular horror genre. I either hear people say that they were scared out of their wits by these movies, and couldn't shower or sleep for weeks; or on the opposite end of the spectrum, that they weren't scared in the slightest and even laughed. I fell into the former group rather than the latter and am acutely embarrassed to admit that even the PREVIEWS of the first one freaked me out so badly that I couldn't sleep. Therefore, I will be skipping the sequel not because of its quality or lack thereof, but because I need all the sleep I can get. For some reason there is just something about the images in these movies that deeply disturbs me - the herky-jerky way the woman ghost walks, all the gagging and the gutteral noises, the creepy little dead boy. I guess if I were to actually watch the movies I would wind up in a loony bin. So thanks, Mr. Fox, for allowing me to vicariously read your review and pretend I've the fortitude to watch the movie.

A particular favourite of mine is "Gawi", also known as Nightmare.
It is yet another ghost story, Korean, and has some fantastic stuff in it. :)

I saw this as a 'fun' thing to do. I was admittedly scared but totally unimpressed. The movie was stupid and the parts of the movie involving dialogue caused one member of our group to literally fall asleep. The acting, especially by the three schoolgirls in one of the opening scenes, is terrible as well.

Were you paid to write that? Because usually there are good reviews on this site. The Grudge was one of the worst horrow movies ever made. The Grudge 2 follows the same path, just further down.

This movie sucked, did not scare, just annoyed. Skip.

I'm suposed to see this movie today with my friend.I am very easily scared.Would this movie scare me to death?Although it's just a movie I can't help but being scared to see it...would anyone suggest it?

Ju-on kept me out of my basement for a week. I haven't seen "Grudge" but if part two holds up to Ju-on, I'll give it a chance

When it comes to Japanese ghost movies, there's a reason why the ghost is usually a female wearing white and has long, black hair: old folklore. Not because one movie director or writer came up with the idea and everybody else just said, "Hey, good idea, I'mma steal it." Well, not until Hollywood decided to get involved and thought they were doing something original.

The story of Oiwa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsuya_Kaidan) is the most famous.

Frankly, the orignal Japanese version of The Grudge wasn't too good; the remake was worse.

You also brought up a question that's always been in my mind: Why is the heroine of these movies (at least in the American version) always some blonde chick?

... I like meatloaf...

I have just come back from watching The Grudge 2 and can honestly say its worth watching just for the scares. I jumped more in that movie than I ever have at the cinemas. I do agree that it is totally confusing. Me and my mates were sitting at the end trying to figure out what the hell happened and what happens now. To be honest if you umming and urring about watching it then watch it. Worth it for the jumps not the storyline. WATCH IT :)

Saw the movie yesterday and I didn't have that hard of a time understanding it. It seemed that there were three stories that were going on that were relavent to each other. The first one was similar. They are kinda confusing at times though. But both of them had us jumping left and right. The stories aren't great but not that bad. I would recommend this to people who enjoyed the first one. If you didn't like the first you probably won't like the second. It was better than the first to me and more scary too.

Saw this last night with the boyfriend and didn't really know what to expect (he saw the first, but I didn't). I have to say that it wasn't as predictable as I expected, and it was pure genius (spoiler ahead) to take something as comfortable and secure as a hooded sweatshirt and make it an instrument of destruction. Also, now at least I understand why superstitious people in Japan usually cover their mirrors when not in use.

Oh... btw... not to confuse anyone, but I'm not the same Carla as the first one who commented. Thanks.

It sucked. I really did like the first one, I understood it. I was excited for this one, but it was a serious waste of money. They didn't stick to it, you were supposed to actually go INTO the house to get cursed....but this one, nope...shit you could have lived in a different country, not even know about the cursed house..and you're cursed. I didn't like it at all. Sure it made me jump a few times..but that was it. By the end of the movie we were all "what the hell was that about"...I seriously hope they don't make a third one. They should have stopped at the first one, I was happy with that ending. It just didnt' do it for us.

What a load of rubbish. I dont know if it was just the film I saw, but was it not that on occasions you could actually see the microphone used for recording sound. and at one point you could actually see the camera. Tp be frank the making or the film is rubbish, i cant believe it was allowed to be screen. Horror more like Comedy Made me laugh though !!!

Thanks for the review. I loved this movie very much and I enjoy reading reviews from people that have the same Ideas as I do.

America is ver unoriginal. They should never have tried to remake any Japanese movie. American's do not understand the stories well, even though they make perfect sense. I am very disappointed that people can think this movie can be good, and also think that any other American remake of Japanese is good. It's not right, and America should not be trying to copy what they do not know.

i hated this movie never saw so much crap in my life i didnt like the first one and now i m sure i dispuise the sequel. what a giant load of crap next thing you know the grudges will take over the world

I agree with Mike. I saw the Grudge 2 at the dollar movie theater and thought it was a complete waste of time. I was never scared and never felt like the story made sense. Granted, it explained what the heck was going on this time around but 1 and 2 were horrible.

Did not care for it, nosirree. Part of the problem was the narrative. The action was broken up into three separate stories, which were all interconnected, but tonally completely different. I actually found the portion set in Chicago to be the most engrossing part of the movie, and cared much more about those characters than Amber Tamblyn's overly-emotional and helpless mess.

Some of the haunting sequences had an unintended effect, as well. Seeing the ghost come lunging out of such mundane objects as a developer tray and hoodie sweatshirt cracked me up more than anything.