The Grudge 2
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:26 pm
What? Nobody else has started in on this?
Yeah, I was considering skipping it (hair ghost, pale boys, J-Horror remake trauma/overload), but the film my wife and I saw for our anniversary (MAN OF THE YEAR) didn't do the trick, either. So I reverted to type.
After all, I liked the prequel to the CHAINSAW remake quite a bit, so maybe I had another surprise in store?
I wish I could tell you that THE GRUDGE 2 was a knockout from beginning to end. Seeing JU-ON: THE GRUDGE on the big screen before the American remake came out remains one of my favorite "scary movie" experiences ever. Also liked the sequel on DVD. The remake was... well... a remake. Hardly deserving of "worst of the year" honors, but as I'd already essentially seen it?
It's just like HALLOWEEN. The original scared the holy hell out of me on the big screen way back when. But Michael Myers will never scare me again. It's been done to death. Ditto Freddy, and Jason never scared me to begin with. But I digress.
The J-Horror business has now been given the SCARY MOVIE business in 3 and 4. Hair ghosts and meowing boys are now punchlines. And that's why THE GRUDGE 2 just can't hit the ceiling. Takashi Shimizu gives us a knockout opening scene and any number of terrific "buildup" passages... but whenever the spectre actually shows up? Anticlimax. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... RRREEEOOOOOOWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
And PLEASE--no more backstories. I didn't need to know that Kaoko's mother was an exorcist any more than I needed to know that Michael was Laurie's brother. It doesn't help--and the whole business about tracking down the granny was nothing but a goose egg that could have been cut in its entirety.
And that's a bloody shame, because THE GRUDGE 2 really does have it all over the original (remake) everywhere else. The theme of the contagious nature of domestic violence, the way in which the separate elements come together, and the most surprising and refreshing "no compromise" attitude (guess you can thank Sam Raimi for getting this a PG-13) lead to some of the year's most disturbing "horror" material. Oh, and plenty of nice schoolgirl and cheerleader outfits, too.
If only it weren't the umpteenth such film, this could have been dynamite. As it is, it's still worth a look.
Yeah, I was considering skipping it (hair ghost, pale boys, J-Horror remake trauma/overload), but the film my wife and I saw for our anniversary (MAN OF THE YEAR) didn't do the trick, either. So I reverted to type.
After all, I liked the prequel to the CHAINSAW remake quite a bit, so maybe I had another surprise in store?
I wish I could tell you that THE GRUDGE 2 was a knockout from beginning to end. Seeing JU-ON: THE GRUDGE on the big screen before the American remake came out remains one of my favorite "scary movie" experiences ever. Also liked the sequel on DVD. The remake was... well... a remake. Hardly deserving of "worst of the year" honors, but as I'd already essentially seen it?
It's just like HALLOWEEN. The original scared the holy hell out of me on the big screen way back when. But Michael Myers will never scare me again. It's been done to death. Ditto Freddy, and Jason never scared me to begin with. But I digress.
The J-Horror business has now been given the SCARY MOVIE business in 3 and 4. Hair ghosts and meowing boys are now punchlines. And that's why THE GRUDGE 2 just can't hit the ceiling. Takashi Shimizu gives us a knockout opening scene and any number of terrific "buildup" passages... but whenever the spectre actually shows up? Anticlimax. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... RRREEEOOOOOOWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
And PLEASE--no more backstories. I didn't need to know that Kaoko's mother was an exorcist any more than I needed to know that Michael was Laurie's brother. It doesn't help--and the whole business about tracking down the granny was nothing but a goose egg that could have been cut in its entirety.
And that's a bloody shame, because THE GRUDGE 2 really does have it all over the original (remake) everywhere else. The theme of the contagious nature of domestic violence, the way in which the separate elements come together, and the most surprising and refreshing "no compromise" attitude (guess you can thank Sam Raimi for getting this a PG-13) lead to some of the year's most disturbing "horror" material. Oh, and plenty of nice schoolgirl and cheerleader outfits, too.
If only it weren't the umpteenth such film, this could have been dynamite. As it is, it's still worth a look.