The Lincoln Log

The horror sequel to 2004’s “The Grudge,” a remake of Japan’s “Ju-On,” creates one of the most confusing atmospheres in movies. “The Grudge 2” focuses on two confounding stories combined into one whole movie.

The whole “Grudge” series focuses on a house that is cursed by the Japanese woman and her son, who were killed by the husband in the house. The reason was that the husband had found out that his wife was lurking around the streets of Japan with another man. The husband became a madman and killed his wife. Afterwards he drowned his only son in the bathtub of the house and hung himself. The story goes on that the wife had held a “grudge” and that she and her son would haunt whoever comes into the house. They would, of course, eventually kill them.

In the “The Grudge 2,” Allison, played by Arielle Kebbel, enters the house with two of her friends as a dare. Afterwards, Allison is haunted by the son and wife from the house. She goes to a psychiatrist to help her to get through her hallucinations.

The other story in the movie focuses on Karen Davis’ (Sarah Michelle Gellar) sister, Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn), who is sent to Japan to take care of her sister who had been in the fire at the haunted house (explained in “The Grudge”). At the hospital, Aubrey meets Eason (Edison Chen), a journalist looking for the story on Karen and the fire at the house. Amber and Eason decide to go to the haunted house to try and solve the mystery of this house.

In my opinion, “The Grudge 2” is almost a remake of “The Grudge.” In the movie, Aubrey and Eason are trying to figure out the house’s history on their own. If you saw “The Grudge,” you would already the history of the house. But in “The Grudge 2,” it explains all the details again. If there were no title to the movie, a majority of the people would not expect it to be a sequel.

Director Takashi Shimizu created a weak storyline to this sequel. There were little mini stories within the movie and at the end of the movie; they tried to combine it all to make sense. But all it did was make a really confusing and crappy ending. During the movie, Allison, was basically at two places at once which left me dumbstruck. I clearly noticed that Allison was in Illinois and Japan during the movie. It could have been different times, but then they would have to explain in that way.

“The Grudge 2” cannot compare to its predecessor. “The Grudge” had more scares than its sequel because the suspense is lost when you know what’s coming next. “The Grudge 2” had put up many really frightening scenes which made the movie better but its plot had overruled it. The movie contains violence and disturbing images which gives the movie its PG-13 rating. But after the film, I think its intensity and horrific scenes should put the movie a the edge of an R-rating. “The Grudge 2” is in theaters everywhere. You can also find “The Grudge,” “Ju-On,” and “Ju-On 2” at a Suncoast near you.

2 out of 5 stars